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MOZART String Quartet in C Major, K. 465, “Dissonance” Adagio; Allegro Andante cantabile Menuetto: Allegro Allegro molto

BARTÓK String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7 Lento; attaka Poco a poco accelerando all’allegretto; Introduzione: Allegro; attaka Allegro vivace

I N T E R M I S S I O N

BRAHMS String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 No. 1 Allegro Romanze: Poco adagio Allegretto molto moderato e comodo; Un poco più animato; attaka Allegro

Philharmonia Quartett Berlin

t h e m u s i c a l l i a n c e s e r i e s

Additional support is also provided by:

Music Alliance: A co-presentation of The Friends of Chamber Music and UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance

This concert is underwritten by the James and Vera Olson Fund for the Arts

The International Chamber Music Series is underwritten, in part, by the William T. Kemper Foundation

Daniel Stabrawa violinChristian Stadelmann violinNeithard Resa violaDietmar Schwalke cello

White Recital Hall - UMKC7:30 pm Friday, October 10

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String Quartet in C Major, K. 465, "Dissonance"Wolfgang Amadè Mozart (1756-1791) Mozart moved from Salzburg to Vienna in 1781. Initially still in service to the Archbishop of Salzburg, he soon dissociated himself from the Archbishop’s entourage and embarked upon a career as an independent musician. The following few years proved to be his happiest and most successful. It seems very likely that the historic meeting between Haydn and Mozart took place during the winter of 1781. The older master encouraged Mozart, and the warm friendship and musical stimulation each provided to the other enriched the creative output of both composers. For his part, Mozart returned to the string quartet, a medium he had neglected for some ten years. Between 1782 and 1785 he completed six quartets, which the Viennese firm of Artaria published in 1785. Collectively, they are known as the ‘Haydn Quartets’ because of their dedication to the older master, who had become Mozart’s mentor and friend. They are an unusual example of Mozart freeing himself for a while from the restrictions, real or imagined, of commissioned music. Mozart appears to have made a conscious effort to emulate Haydn’s innovative Op. 33 quartets (1781). During the early 1780’s, there is no denying the significant contact between the two composers and the strong mutual influence between them. Yet these quartets are highly individual, born of Mozart’s innermost soul. They are also the pivotal chamber music of Mozart’s first few years in Vienna. Though he described them in his dedication as the “fruit of a long and laborious endeavor,” all six quartets glow with the effortless polish of genius. K. 465 was the last of the six to be completed; the composer seems to have cast it as the musical climax of the set. It earned its nickname from the extraordinary opening measures, the only slow introduction in any of the Mozart string quartets. Mozart used the chromatic scale liberally throughout the so-called Haydn quartets, but this opening is unlike anything else in the Mozart canon, and indeed has been the subject of great controversy since it was written. What is its mood: tragedy? mystery? mournfulness or perhaps regret? It is music that probes the heart, demanding entrance to emotional corners, secret places one doesn’t always admit to.

The Adagio introduction of the first movement is grounded in the key of C Major only tenuously, by the opening cello notes. The same measure also establishes, albeit ambiguously, a slow pulse of triple time. Other than that initial bass line, we would have no clue to a tonality of C Major until the 16th measure. Mozart swims through the circle of fifths, flirting with an impossible number of keys along the way, seemingly leaving no tonal implication untouched in the sinuous chromaticism of his contrapuntal fabric. It makes for dizzying listening. The familiar brightness of sunny C Major is a relief when we arrive at the Allegro of this remarkable opening movement. A highly imitative texture dominates. Mozart had learned a great deal from Papa Haydn about sharing the development of musical ideas equally among his four players; throughout the movement and the entire quartet, the cello is an important and integral part of the texture. C is the lowest note on both the cello and the viola, a note which provides additional resonance in this C Major work. Without compromising the integrity of his bass line, Mozart imparts much imagination to the lower voices.

String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7 Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

The six string quartets of Béla Bartók are among the twentieth century’s greatest achievements in the realm of chamber music. For depth, consummate artistry, and musical drama they are rivaled only by the Shostakovich quartets. Because Bartók’s six essays in the genre span three decades, they also constitute an overview of his artistic development. The First Quartet has received somewhat less attention than the others, probably because it is more derivative. Although this piece followed Bartók’s first ethnomusicological work in his native Hungary, his efforts to distill an authentic Hungarian style were still in the formative stage. Viennese taste reigned supreme when Bartók was learning music, thus it is no real surprise to hear echoes of Strauss, Brahms, Reger, and even Wagner, in his early works. Bartók was also becoming acquainted with the music of Claude Debussy. Occasional hints of whole-tone scales in the String Quartet Op. 7 may plausibly be traced to Debussy.

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This quartet was one of the first important compositions that Bartók published, a sure mark of his own high regard for it. Partly because of its free approach to tonality (this music may sound conservative to us, but it was quite adventurous for its time), the First Quartet was not performed until two years after its composition. A newly-formed ensemble, the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet, played the premiere. Bartók repaid their loyalty by dedicating the Second Quartet to them in 1920. But emotionally, his first published quartet is associated with the same woman for whom he composed the First Violin Concerto: violinist Stefi Geyer. His unrequited passion for her found expression in the mournful lamentation of the Quartet’s opening movement. That personal stamp was eminently clear to his contemporaries, though they could not have known the circumstances. Reminiscing in 1955, French composer Darius Milhaud wrote: As far back as 1909 I was going to the publishers Eschig, on Rue Lafitte in those days, to study their scores of Bartók, brought out in Hungary, and those of Schoenberg, published in Vienna, for which Eschig was the agent. It was there that I bought Bartók’s first quartet. My Conservatoire friends and I were regularly performing quartets at my place and we had become passionately fond of this work, so full of life and such personal lyricism.

The First Quartet consists of three large movements played without pause. Bartók opens with a slow movement in imitative counterpoint that is melodically related to the Violin Concerto written for Geyer. The movement reaches its most feverish intensity on clear triads, oddly exacerbating the subdued anxiety of the otherwise expressionist language. The second and third movements are progressively faster and often more folklike in character, hinting at his mature style. Bartók’s lifelong predilection for contrapuntal techniques manifests itself here in the finale’s scherzo-like fugue. Other than the absence of unusual string techniques, the principal difference between this early quartet and Bartók’s later ones is the comparative lack of compression. A sense of spaciousness bordering on romantic abandon characterizes this music. The composer takes exactly as much time as he needs -- a solid half-hour, in this case -- to state and develop his ideas. Further, the musical ideas are less explicitly governed by the folk tunes that constitute such an integral part of Bartók’s musical vocabulary in later

works. What this quartet shares unmistakably with its five siblings is a powerful sense of rhythmic drive, particularly in the last movement, and a steady increase of energy that assists in driving the narrative to its dramatic conclusion. String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Opus 51, No. 1 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Johannes Brahms left no excess baggage behind when he died in April 1897. Unlike Beethoven, who hoarded all of his musical sketches and conversation notebooks, Brahms left no record of his creative thought processes. If a composition did not satisfy him after revision, he destroyed it. Occasionally he reworked one composition into another; the Piano Concerto in D Minor, Op. 15, for example, was originally conceived as a symphony. But Brahms took the legacy of Beethoven very seriously, and it is not without reason that his Symphony No.1 in C Minor, Op. 68, was hailed as “the Beethoven Tenth” when it was premiered in 1876. The composer had waited until the age of 43 to contribute to the symphonic canon. Brahms held the genre of the string quartet in much the same reverence, for many of the same reasons. Beethoven’s monumental contribution to the string quartet literature remains unparalleled in the history of western music. It must have been a formidable psychological obstacle to the young Brahms.

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Master ClassPhilharmonia Quartett Berlin Saturday, October 11 10 AM – 12 PM White Recital Hall

All of our Master Classes are FREE and open to the public. Please join us!

Béla Bartók

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One powerful indication of this preoccupation is the fact that Brahms wrote more than 20 string quartets. Only three survive: the two quartets of Opus 51, and Opus 67 in B-flat Major. None of the others met the exceptionally high standards he set for himself, hence he destroyed them. The first of these repudiated works was one he had brought to Robert Schumann, who had approved the work enthusiastically and encouraged his protégé to publish it. In spite of the older composer’s endorsement, Brahms withdrew the quartet and its music is lost, presumably burnt by the composer. The loss to music posterity of that quartet and its successors is incalculable: at once tantalizing to the imagination and tragic for the music lover. Certainly the three quartets that do survive are doubly precious because of the paucity of companion pieces. Brahms worked on the Opus 51 quartets from the mid-1860s, periodically setting them aside in favor of a series of choral pieces culminating in A German Requiem. He finally completed the two quartets in summer 1873, shortly after turning 40. The opus bears a dedication to Dr. Theodor Billroth, a prominent surgeon and amateur musician who had become one of the composer’s closest friends. The C Minor quartet is the more aggressive of the pair. Extensive double stops in the inner voices – second violin and viola – suggest that Brahms was still grappling with the textural issues presented by chamber music without piano. His harmonies often required more than four voices. Still, the movements cohere, sharing a sense of thematic and spiritual unity that make this quartet an admirable first-published effort in the genre. Brahms was emulating the Beethoven of the three Rasumovsky Quartets, Op. 59, rather than his late quartets. In scale, structure, and developmental technique, the C minor quartet cleaves to Beethoven’s Opus 59 model. The minor mode prevails in all four movements. The surging first theme, in the unusual and expansive meter of 3/2, sets forth in the opening measures the basis for the entire work. Subtle relationships link the themes throughout the quartet. Indeed, the piece may be argued as the extended consideration of a single musical idea.

Program Notes by Laurie Shulman ©2014

Found a word or phrase that you are unfamiliar with? Check out our extensive Glossary beginning on page 118 to discover the meaning.

One of the brightest young instrumental talents to emerge from Finland today, Juho Pohjonen has attracted great attention as one

of the Nordic countries’ most intriguing and talented pianists.Juho Pohjonen was selected by András Schiff as the winner of the 2009 Klavier Festival Ruhr Scholarship. In addition, he has won numerous prizes in both Finnish and international competitions, including: First Prize at the 2004 Nordic Piano Competition in Nyborg, Denmark, First Prize at the International Young Artists 2000 Concerto Competition, Stockholm, the Prokofiev Prize at the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition 2003, and prize winner at The Helsinki International Maj Lind Piano Competition 2002.He made his debut at the Aspen Music Festival performing Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles… in 2012-13, and in that same year, was selected as one of fourteen musicians to work with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln’s ‘CMS Two Residency Program for Outstanding Young Artists.’ Mr. Pohjonen has given recitals in Hong Kong, Dresden, Hamburg, Helsinki, London (Wigmore Hall), New York (Carnegie Hall), San Francisco, Vancouver, Warsaw and at the Lucerne Piano, Savonlinna and Bergen festivals. He has performed with orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Danish National, Finnish Radio Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic and Lahti Symphony - with whom he toured Japan. Most recently, he has worked with such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marek Janowski, Hugh Wolff and Lionel Bringuier.His debut recording Plateaux featured a performance of Scandinavian composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s piano concerto Plateaux pour Piano et Orchestre with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and a solo piano piece For Piano. His sensational opening recital at the 2010’s Music@Menlo Festival led to a recording for the Music@Menlo Live 2010 series entitled Maps and Legends: Disc 8.

For more information visit www.juhopohjonen.com Juho Pohjonen appears courtesy of Kirshbaum Demler and Associates

PHilharmonia Quartett BerlinHailed as “four of the best” by the British press after their

debut at Wigmore Hall in London over two decades ago, the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin has celebrated a critically acclaimed career. The Quartett has established itself among the world’s premier string quartets, with its 20-plus years of travelling internationally and its extensive and diverse discography. Their concert calendar has taken them to destinations throughout Europe, North and South America, as well as Asia. Lord Yehudi Menuhin commented: “I’d like to hear music always played as beautifully as you play.” Founded in 1984 by the principal concertmaster and the section leaders of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Quartet appears regularly at the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie and Wigmore. Annual appearances include performances at the Berlin Festival, Salzburg Festival, Bath Festival, Wigmore Hall, as well as a series of five performances each season presented by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Other performance highlights have included an invitation by his Excellence Pope Benedict XVI to perform a private concert at the Vatican, and regular invitations from the Spanish Royal Family to the Palacio Real to play on the royal Stradivari instruments. The ensemble’s extensive discography includes recordings of the quartets of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Shostakovich and Reger for the Thorofon Classics label. The Reger recording was awarded the German Record Critics prize. The quartet is a two time recipient of the “ECHO KLASSIK” award for Chamber Music. Until the sudden death of the cellist Jan Diesselhorst in February 2009 the members of Philharmonia Quartet Berlin had never changed. Cellist Dietmar Schwalke continues the tradition of superb ensemble playing on the great stages of the world.

For more information visit: www.philharmonia-quartett-berlin.de/en Philharmonia Quartett Berlin appears courtesy of Alliance Arts Management

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