2016 Chamberfest (Post 1): Stravinsky, Ligeti and Mendelssohn

On Monday evening I went to Paul Hall to hear the opening night performance of Juilliard's 2016 Chamberfest, a series of recitals given every January by Juilliard musicians and their coaches, all of whom pass up a week of winter vacation in order to practice and rehearse.  The program on this occasion featured works by Stravinsky, Ligeti and Mendelssohn. 

The evening began with Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat (1918) performed by Kako Miura, violin; Zachary Hann, clarinet; Joseph Lavarias, bassoon; Brian Olson, trumpet; Addison Maye-Saxon, trombone; Nicholas Kleinman, double bass; and Jake Darnell, percussion.  The musicians were coached by faculty members David Chan and Raymond Mase.  The work, one of the first products of Stravinsky's neoclassical period, was originally conceived as a theatrical presentation with libretto by Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz.  Written at a time when Stravinsky was in dire financial straits - his funds from Russia had been cut off in the aftermath of the Revolution - it was a sort of mini-musical, a far cry from the lavish Ballets Russes productions whose scores he had composed only a few years earlier.  The storyline, a variation on the medieval danse macabre, was adapted from an old Russian folk tale that told how the Devil sought to trick an unsuspecting soldier into parting with his violin.  The setting gave Stravinsky a golden opportunity to display his satirical wit.  It also provided him a chance to explore the idiom of jazz, a genre he had only recently discovered. As he related in Expositions and Developments:

"My choice of instruments was influenced by a very important event in my life at that time, the discovery of American jazz. . . .The Histoire ensemble resembles the jazz band in that each instrumental category—strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion—is represented by both treble and bass components. The instruments themselves are jazz legitimates, too, except the bassoon, which is my substitution for the saxophone. . . .The percussion part must also be considered as a manifestation of my enthusiasm for jazz."

One wonders what jazz Stravinsky could have come across in 1918 Europe while World War I was still in progress.  He later claimed: "My knowledge of jazz was derived exclusively from copies of sheet music, and as I had never actually heard any of the music performed, I borrowed its rhythmic style not as played, but as written."  The music that resulted had a distinctive if unsettling sound that in one movement at least was almost carnival-like.  Midway through the performance there was a pause as violinist Kako Miura stepped offstage to replace a broken string.

L'Histoire du Soldat premiered in 1918 in Lausanne where it was conducted by Ernest Ansermet, another Ballets Russes alumnus and himself a great admirer of jazz.  In addition to the suite for the original seven instruments performed here, Stravinsky also completed an arrangement for clarinet, violin and piano.

The next work was Ligeti's Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano, Hommage á Brahms (1982) performed by Patrick Doane, violin; Emily Schaefer, horn; and Vatche Jambazian, piano.  Their coaches were Sylvia Rosenberg and Eric Reed.  This was really the most interesting piece on the program.  Before the ensemble began playing, pianist Vatche Jambazian briefly addressed the audience and emphasized the influence Latin and Caribbean rhythms had had on Ligeti's music at this point.  He then dedicated the performance to the late Pierre Boulez.

Even if the subtitle described the work as a homage to Brahms, the connection would at first appear limited to the use of the same instrumentation in both works.  Nevertheless, the two composers, each in his own way, had to deal with the same problem - balancing the brassy sound of the horn so that it did not overwhelm that of its two partners.  But the destabilizing effect of the horn was precisely what Ligeti here sought to exploit.  Beyond that, the composer, at an impasse after having composed Le grand macabre, may have been looking to Hungarian folk music for inspiration just as he had in his early Concert Românesc in which two horns introduce the opening material of the third movement.  Moreover, the use of the horn in the trio's elegiac final movement, marked lamento, added a unique element of pathos that would have been difficult to duplicate with other instrumentation.  In the event, the piece evidently did help the composer find his way forward.  As the Wikipedia article notes:

"The Trio was a turning point in Ligeti’s career. It is considered to be the watershed moment that opened up his "third way," a style that Ligeti claimed to be neither modern nor postmodern."

After intermission, the program closed with a performance of Mendelssohn's Piano Sextet in D Major, Op. 110 (1824) performed by Annika Jenkins, violin; Emily Liu, viola; Alaina Rea, viola; Keith Williams, cello; Douglas Aliano, double bass; Qilin Sun, piano.  The coach was Daniel Phillips, best known as violinist with the Orion Quartet.  In spite of the high opus number (the work was published posthumously), the sextet was an early work written when Mendelssohn was only fifteen years old.  For a composer of any age the instrumentation here was unusual.  Schubert had used something similar in his Quintet in A major a few years earlier, but it's doubtful that Mendelssohn had had an opportunity to hear that work.  It may have been simply that Mendelssohn chose the instrumentation he felt would show the pianist, his sister Fanny, to best advantage.  Despite his youth, Mendelssohn already had an excellent grasp of chamber composition.  He would write his famous Octet only a year later. But the sextet was not as substantial an effort as the Op. 20.  It did have an attractive sound, however, and was important for having been the first piece in which the composer recalled music from an earlier movement (the menuetto) in a later one (the closing allegro vivace).

All the musicians worked hard to give the best possible renditions of their respective pieces.  Considering how short a time they had to rehearse together the level of virtuosity they displayed at the performances was nothing short of amazing.

Met Opera: Sondra Radvanovsky Sings in Anna Bolena

In the 1970's Beverly Sills made history at the City Opera by performing in all three of Donizetti's "Tudor Queens" operas in a single season.  This year Sondra Radvanovsky is attempting to duplicate Sills's feat, this time at the Met, beginning with Anna Bolena which I saw on Saturday afternoon as part of my subscription series.  Later in the season I'll be seeing Radvanovsky as Elizabeth I in Roberto Devereux.

In spite of Donizetti's overwhelming success with such signal works as L'elisir d'amore  and Lucia di Lammermoor, none of the three Tudor operas has ever managed to win wide acclaim.  They were rarely performed during the twentieth century and it's only in the last few decades that they have begun to reappear as part of the standard repertory.  The first production at the Met of Anna Bolena, the same seen on Saturday, was staged only in 2011.  Part of this may have had something to do with how prolific a composer Donizetti was.  During his short lifetime he composed some 70 operas and it was perhaps inevitable that some should have fallen to the side.  Another factor may have been the scarcity of qualified bel canto singers.  This same circumstance kept a number of Bellini's operas from being as frequently performed as they deserved.  Beyond this, though, the opera has long had a reputation for being slow moving.  Rudolf Bing once referred to it as “an old bore.”  This is not really fair.  While it may be true that nothing very much happens in the first scene of Act I, for example, it is on the other hand filled with some of Donizetti's most beautiful music and arias.

Certainly Anna had an auspicious enough beginning.  With a libretto by Felice Romani, who later collaborated with Donizetti on L'elisir, and the legendary Giuditta Pasta in the title role the opera was a stunning success at its 1830 premiere in Milan.  In the next two decades there were a number of performances throughout Europe and the U.S.  Then it was pretty much consigned to oblivion until Maria Callas took over the role at La Scala in a production designed by Luchino Visconti.  All this history made me extremely curious to see the opera for myself and to form my own opinion.

If nothing else, the performance was a triumph for Radvanovsky whose voice soared in the bel canto arias as beautifully as it had several seasons ago when I saw her perform in Norma.  Beyond that, I found the opera itself fascinating and a solid work of art that well deserves a place in the repertory of any major opera company.  Anna's mad scene at the end of Act II was in some ways even more skillfully done than that which Donizetti fashioned for Lucia di Lammermoor.  Even though this was a relatively long work (over 3 1/2 hours with only one intermission), the drama was so absorbing that time passed quickly.

Radvanovsky had a great deal of assistance from a strong cast in making this performance so huge a success.  The critical role of Giovanna Seymour was taken at the last minute by Milijana Nikolic filling in for Jamie Barton who was ill.  Ironically, Barton herself was a replacement for Elina Garanca who withdrew upon the death of her mother before the run had even begun.  Nikolic may not be an exceptional talent but she was more than adequate here, especially in the dramatic confrontation with Anna that opens Act II and culminates in the duet Sul suo capo aggravi un Dio.

Credit should also be given to Stephen Costello as Percy, Ildar Abdrazakov as Henry VIII and Tamara Mumford in the "pants role" of Smeaton.  Marco Armiliato's conducting was workmanlike and showed a good understanding of the Donizetti's music.

David McVicar's production was handsome in an understated way.  The use of bright red color for the Queen's canopied bed at the beginning of Act II in an otherwise monochromatic set was a nice visual touch that suggested Anna's bloody end without being too obvious about it.  In case the audience failed to appreciate the allusion, the curtain that fell at the end of the act was the same vivid shade of crimson.

ACJW Ensemble Performs Kurtág, Pintscher, and Schoenberg

I went on Thursday evening to Paul Hall to hear my first recital at Juilliard this season as the ACJW Ensemble, a fellowship program jointly sponsored by Juilliard and Carnegie Hall, performed a program of modern works by György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, and Schoenberg.  The auditorium was filled for the occasion and almost every seat taken.

The evening began with Kurtág's Wind Quintet, Op. 2 (1959) performed by Beomjae Kim, flute, James Riggs, oboe, Stanislav Chernyshev, clarinet, Michael Zuber, bassoon, and Jenny Ney, horn.  By the time this piece was written, Kurtág was a more experienced composer than the low opus number would indicate.  He had already been writing for years music heavily influenced by Bartók to whose work he had been introduced early on by fellow composer Ligeti while the two were still students in Hungary.  It was only in 1957 when he arrived in Paris, where he studied with Messiaen and Milhaud and was first exposed to the music of Webern, that Kurtág realized how limited his musical education had been.  He experienced something of a crisis at that point as he came to realize that all his work up to then had been inauthentic.  With the help of psychologist Marianne Stein, to whom he dedicated his Op. 1 string quartet, Kurtág made a new beginning.  Upon his return to Budapest, he continued to follow his new found path.  Though Soviet censorship in his home country was strict, Kurtág had less trouble conforming to its demands than had his friend Ligeti who was eventually forced to flee Hungary once and for all.  One reason for this was that Kurtág's pieces were, by inclination as well as necessity, comparatively modest and low profile.  Reminiscent of Webern's works, they were miniatures in which were compacted whole worlds of feeling.  His Op. 2, played here, was a dense eight-movement work that shifted abruptly from one tempo to the next. So short were the movements that the ensemble actually repeated the first movement so the audience would better be able to absorb it.

The next work was Pintscher's Study II for Treatise on the Veil (2005) performed by Siwoo Kim, violin, Danny Kim, viola, and Michael Katz, cello.  The work drew its inspiration from the two eponymous large scale abstract paintings by Cy Twombly that were completed in 1968 and 1970 and exemplified the artist's "grey-ground" period.  (The second of these is coincidentally now on view at the Morgan Library through January 25th.)  In speaking of the paintings, Pintscher described their impact on his musical work:

"My own Treatise cycle refers to this series of work, while also acting as an hommage to an artist I very much admire; an artist whose work heavily influenced the structural make-up of my very own compositions, especially in recent years... I often find myself wishing that I was able to draw directly onto the sound of the instruments like a painter…"

Interestingly, Twombly's paintings were themselves inspired by a musical work, The Veil of Orpheus (1953) by the French musique concrète composer Pierre Henry, a long recording of the sound of cloth being ripped apart.  The tearing noise went on interminably and was intended by the composer as a representation of Orpheus's loss of Eurydice at the moment he disobeyed the gods' command and turned to look back upon her.

This performance of his string trio was actually coached by Pintscher who, among his other responsibilities, is a Juilliard faculty member.  (He will also become this year the principal conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy.)  Before beginning the piece, violinist Siwoo Kim spoke briefly to the audience and explained that the composer had suggested to the players that their bowing should in a sense mimic the brushstrokes Twombly had used in creating his paintings.  Kim also spoke of the influence the recently deceased Pierre Boulez had exerted upon Pintscher and then dedicated the performance to the memory of the late composer/conductor.

After intermission, the program ended with Schoenberg's best known work, Verklärte Nacht (1899), that avatar of Viennese fin de siècle decadence.  It was performed very well by Kobi Malkin and Siwoo Kim, violins, Dana Kelley and Danny Kim, violas, and Michael Katz and Andrea Casarrubios, cellos.  The sextet is a haunting setting for Richard Dehmel's verses, and a fine piece of music in its own right, but it has been so overplayed in recent years (it is also scheduled to be performed next week at Chamberfest) that it's now almost impossible to listen to it with equanimity.  The work has become the Schoenberg for people who don't like Schoenberg (i.e., the twelve-tone technique).  It's hard to believe now that this excursion in post-Wagnerian Romanticism could ever have been so controversial as to have been rejected by the Vienna Music Society for having been too innovative in its use of an inverted ninth chord.  Not to mention what in those days was regarded as objectionable sexual content.

Juilliard 2016 Chamberfest Tickets Now Available

Tickets for Juilliard's annual Chamberfest series became available today online only at Juilliard's website.  The weeklong festival of free recitals offers music lovers an opportunity to hear some of the greatest works of the chamber repertoire, many of them seldom performed, played by top level Juilliard musicians.  The recitals, other than the Wednesdays at One performance at Alice Tully Hall and the closing performance at the Sharp Theater, will all be held at Paul Hall.

The programs I plan on attending myself are as follows:

• Monday, January 11th at 7:30 p.m. - Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat (1918); Ligeti, Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano, Hommage á Brahms (1982); Mendelssohn, Piano Sextet in D Major, Op. 110 (1824)

• Wednesday, January 13th at 1:00 p.m. - Wagner, Siegfried Idyll for Chamber Orchestra, WWV 103 (1869); Fauré, Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15 (1879, rev. 1883)

• Wednesday, January 13th at 7:30 p.m. - Schoenberg, String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 (1910); Mendelssohn, Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66 (1845)

• Friday, January 15th at 7:30 p.m. - Mendelssohn, Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 49 (1839); Schubert, Piano Trio in E-flat Major, D. 929 (1827)

• Saturday, January 16th at 3:00 p.m. - Schumann, Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 63 (1847); Messiaen, Vision de l'Amen for Two Pianos (1943)

I'm really exciting to be attending these great recitals.  I've gone in previous seasons and have always been thrilled by the quality of the performances.  They're really not to be missed by anyone with a love of great music.

Jupiter Players Perform Pauer, Schumann and Schubert

On Monday afternoon at St. Stephen's Church the Jupiter Players performed their first recital of 2016.  The program was entitled Austro-German Gems and did indeed feature works by the German composers Ernst Pauer, Schumann and Schubert.  The real focus, though, was on the nineteenth century arrangers Friedrich Hermann and Robert Wittmann, both of whom did an excellent job in transcribing the two better known works.

The program opened with Schumann's Bilder aus Osten ("Pictures from the East"), Op. 66 (1849), a series of piano impromptus for four hands arranged here for string quartet by Friedrich Hermann of the Leipzig Conservatory.  I have never heard Schumann's original piano version of this work and was able to find very little background concerning it - Did Schumann intend to perform it himself with Clara by his side? - other than a brief note on a sheet music vendor's website:

"As can be seen from the preface of the first edition, Schumann was inspired by the 'Maqama' - a genre of Arab rhymed prose - by the medieval poet Hariri in the translation by Friedrich Rückert. Schumann could not banish the protagonist in the Maqama, Abu Said, whom he likened to the German character Till Eulenspiegel from his thoughts whilst he was writing the works. This explains the 'foreign character' of the pieces."

This five-movement piece highlighted the composer's skill at writing for the piano.  At the time he produced it, Schumann was at the height of his powers and his incipient madness had yet to manifest itself.  The present arrangement was of exceptional quality, so much so that one would have thought the quartet was the original form in which the music had been written.  Hermann was a respected composer himself and had studied as a violinist under Ferdinand David and Felix Mendelssohn.  Through them he had a genuine connection to the older French violin style of Viotti and Kreutzer.

The next work was Pauer's Piano Quintet in F major, Op. 44 (c. 1855) for piano, flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon.  The four-movement piece was written while Pauer was living in England and was dedicated to Franz Lachner with whom Pauer had studied in Munich a decade earlier.  Though Pauer was highly respected as a pianist, the review in The Musical World following the quintet's London premiere was decidedly mixed:

"Herr Pauer's new quintet, coming between Mozart and Mendelssohn, had scarcely a fair chance.  It was like an abstraction between two things of flesh and blood.  The quintet, however, is clever, brilliant for the piano, nicely written for the wind instruments and, though altogether unambitious in style - if style, indeed, it may be said to possess, having no individual character of its own - is very creditable to Herr Pauer's talent as a composer."

I'd have to agree with the reservations expressed by the anonymous reviewer .  The quintet was a pleasant enough work but clearly derivative.  The influence of Mozart's K. 452 and Beethoven's Op. 16, both written for similar instrumentation, could be heard throughout.  Though the piece was well crafted, there were no moments when the music rose above the level of a light divertimento.

After intermission the program concluded with Schubert's Sonata for Four Hands in C major, Op. 140, D. 812 (1824), nicknamed the "Grand Duo," here arranged for piano trio by Robert Wittmann.  Schubert's original version is considered one of his more important works for piano and the best of his four hand pieces.  It is so symphonic in its sound that Schumann at one time thought it a draft for a larger work, and the piece has in fact been orchestrated a number of times, most notably by Joseph Joachim.  After having listened to the arrangement played at this recital, I could easily understand why this should have been so.  The piano trio form seemed hardly large enough to contain the music even though Wittman's transcription was exemplary.  The fact that the trio was performed by such capable musicians - Drew Petersen, piano; Danbi Um, violin; and Mihai Marica, cello - made it that much easier to appreciate Schubert's accomplishment.

Upcoming WQXR Broadcasts from Carnegie Hall - Spring 2016

Now that we're in the second half of the season, it might be a good idea to take a look at some of the upcoming concerts at Carnegie Hall that will be broadcast on WQXR, New York City's classical music station.

• On Thursday, January 14th, the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform Mahler's arrangement for string orchestra of Beethoven's Quartet in F minor, Op. 95, the "Serioso," as well as his Piano Concerto No. 4 with Jan Lisiecki as soloist.  The program will also feature works by Johann Strauss, Jr. and H.K. Gruber. 

• On Sunday, January 31st, Jonas Kaufman will be in recital.  This is one of the most highly anticipated events of the season.  I had previously heard this incredible tenor perform in the title role of Massenet's Werther at the Met but wasn't able to get good seats when tickets to the recital went on sale to Carnegie Hall subscribers in August.

• On Thursday, February 18th, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, with Iván Fischer conducting, will perform Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony.  This is a top-notch ensemble, known for its authoritative interpretations of Bartók, and Fischer is one of the best conductors now active.  On the same bill, Marc-André Hamelin will perform Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.

• On Wednesday, February 24th, violinist Christian Tetzlaff (along with Tanja Tezlaff, cello, and Lars Vogt, piano) will perform a program of piano trios by Schumann, Dvořák and Brahms.

• Only two nights later, on Friday, February 26th, the Vienna Philharmonic, with Valery Gergiev conducting, will perform a program of works by Wagner, Debussy, and Mussorgsky.  I'll actually be at the hall the following evening when the same ensemble again performs works by Wagner and Mussorgsky.  This will give me an excellent opportunity to immerse myself in the music of this magnificent orchestra.

• On Wednesday, April 20th, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of its chief conductor, Mariss Jansons, will perform only one work, Shostakovich's monumental Symphony No. 7, the "Leningrad."

• Finally, on Saturday, May 14th, Yuja Wang will be in recital playing works by Bach, Schoenberg and Chopin.  I had attended last season's recital when this fine pianist performed a program of all Russian works.  I'm very interested in hearing how she handles other areas of the repertoire.

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to offer my best wishes for 2016 to all my readers.  I hope you have great happiness and good health all through the year.  As for me, I'm looking forward in the coming year to attending operas, classical music concerts and recitals, and art and photo exhibits and then sharing my thoughts on those events here in my blog posts.

In an effort to promote my novels, I've finally given in to social media and have set up a profile on Facebook.  If anyone has time to spare and wishes to look, the link is below.  Feel free to send me a friend request when visiting.

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