|
20-concert series: Mondays at 2pm and 7:30pm
All performances, except where noted, are held at
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023
Find out more about the
Jupiter Players and our
Guest Artists. |
|
|
 |
Monday, Sept. 8,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Lucille Chung
piano
Xiao-Dong Wang violin |
|
BEETHOVEN “Gassenhauer” Trio Op. 11 • 1797
• to be played by the flute (usually it’s the clarinet), cello and piano
~ a hit tune by Joseph Weigl, whose Concertino you can hear on November
10, is the inspiration for the variations movement of this “Street Song”
trio
Carl CZERNY Grande Sérénade Concertante Op. 126 • 1827
• “a riot of concerto-like fireworks” (in the words of Fanfare) by
Beethoven’s pupil ~ for clarinet, horn, cello and piano
BRAHMS String Quintet in F Minor • 1862
• Discover an old friend in new clothes in this reconstruction in 1947 by
Sebastian Brown: “Before destroying the original manuscript [written for
string quintet with 2 cellos], Brahms arranged this work as a Sonata
for 2 pianos (Op. 34bis). He later arranged the Sonata as a Quintet
for piano, 2 violins, viola and cello (Op. 34). It is on these two
arrangements that the present suggested reconstruction is based.” |
Monday, Sept. 22,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Sergey Ostrovsky violin
Cynthia Phelps viola
Inga Kapouler piano |
|
HAYDN Divertimento in F Hob. XV:40 • circa 1760
• one of his earliest piano trios, written some months before he quit
working for Count Morzin in Vienna and moved to Eisenstadt to become the
Esterházy Kapellmeister
Carl STAMITZ Quartet in D Op. 8 No. 1 • 1773
• Papa Mozart called Carl and his brother Anton “2 wretched scribblers,
gamblers, swillers and adulterers,” but a contemporary music
lexicographer, E. L. Gerber, rebuts Leopold’s characterization, noting
that “it is a great undertaking to live in Germany as a free artist, and
he who tries and wishes to succeed must not have any less art than Stamitz…in
his relationships, as highly esteemed for his honorable and noble
character, as for his art.”
MOZART “Kegelstatt” Trio K. 498 • 1786
• no skittles here, as its nickname suggests, but a towering creation for
clarinet, viola and piano
Joachim RAFF Die schöne Müllerin (“The Lovely Maid of the
Mill”) • 1876
• a suite in 6 movements for string quartet—No. 7 in D—by the third
foremost German composer in his day, after Wagner and Brahms ~ it’s a
musical tale of a Young Man who finds by chance The Mill and then The
Maiden, and after settling the Disquietude of love, makes his Declaration,
and in the end The Wedding takes place. |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Oct. 6,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Giora Schmidt violin
Einav Yarden piano |
|
SCHUBERT String Trio in Bb D.581 • 1817
• the young composer at the accomplished age of 20, having already
written an astonishing amount of music—more than 300 songs, five
symphonies, four masses, seven string quartets, among many others
MOZART Clarinet Quartet No. 1 in Bb K. 317d
• 1779-1781
• arranged from the Violin Sonata K. 378, possibly by his
publisher Johann André
Leander SCHLEGEL Piano Quartet in C Op. 14 • 1886
• absolutely luscious Romantic music by the Dutch composer, renowned
during his time as a Schumann and chamber music pianist
|
Monday, Oct. 20,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Andrius Zlabys piano
Celeste Golden violin |
|
HAYDN Symphony No. 97 in C • 1792
• the sixth and last of his Symphonies from his first London visit ~
arranged for flute, string quartet and piano ad libitum by Haydn’s
concertmaster and impresario, J. P. Salomon, who was a savvy publisher to
boot
Johann RUFINATSCHA Piano Quartet in Ab • 1870
• exquisite melodies from the Tyrolean composer, whose musical
achievements and notoriety in his day for a time unhinged the confidence
of Brahms, whose own work is said to be influenced by “schöne Rufi” ~ the
music is from the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck ~ he’s
not in Groves
Carl FRÜHLING
Trio in A Minor for clarinet, cello and piano Op. 40 • circa 1925
• in spite of his impoverished and miserable circumstances in Vienna, Frühling wrote a gorgeous, joyful late-Romantic work ~ also not in
Groves |
Monday, Oct. 27,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Adam Nieman piano
Stefan Milenkovich violin
Cynthia Phelps viola
Gina Cuffari soprano |
|
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS String Quartet No. 1 • 1915
• one of his earliest pieces, influenced by European opera
Francis POULENC Sextet • 1939
• charged with enormous charm and wit ~ for piano and wind quintet
Cécile CHAMINADE Portrait (Valse chantée) • 1904
• a lyrical salon piece in the French Romantic style, it premiered April
1904 at the Salle Aeolian in Paris, with soprano Jean Leclerc, flute
virtuoso Emilio Puyans, and Chaminade on piano ~ poem by Pierre Reyniel
Ernest CHAUSSON Piano Quartet in A Op. 30 • 1897
• brilliant, luminous, sublime |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Nov. 10,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Misha Keylin violin
Bridget Kibbey harp |
|
Johann Christian BACH Oboe Quartet in Bb
• glowing with elegant and warm melodic charm ~ by the tenth of Johann
Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena’s twelve children
Joseph WEIGL Concertino • circa 1815
• Haydn’s god-child and pupil of Salieri, and Kapellmeister at the court
theater in Vienna composes a piece with singable melodies for harp and
four winds
E. T. A. HOFFMANN Quintet in C Minor • 1805-1807
• delightful music for harp and string quartet by the Romantic author of
the macabre stories on which Jacques Offenbach based his opera The
Tales of Hoffmann ~ his fantastic writings exerted an influence on
Brahms
BRAHMS String Quintet No. 2 in G Op. 111 • 1890
• from the last decade of his life, “this magnificent work is the grand
climax of Brahms’s chamber music for strings” H.C. Colles
|
Monday, Nov. 24,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Mikhail Kopelman violin
Elizaveta Kopelman piano |
|
Alexander BORODIN Quartet in D • 1852-1856
• based on Haydn’s Piano Sonata Hob. XVI:51 ~ for flute, oboe,
viola and cello
Johann SOBECK Wind Quintet in F Op. 9 • 1879
• the principal clarinetist of the Royal Theater in Hanover for 50 years
pens a spirited and festive work for virtuoso winds ~ another who’s not in
Groves
Ernő (aka Ernst von) DOHNÁNYI
Piano Quartet in F# Minor • 1891-1893
• dark and brooding introspection pervades this moving youthful piece,
which predates his 1895 Piano Quintet No. 1, Op. 1 ~ not yet
published, the music is from the editor Thomas Cimarusti
DVOŘÁK
Piano Quintet in A Op. 5 • 1887
• in contrast, Dvořák’s wonderful musical landscape is sunny and
uplifting. But the Quintet was almost lost: although well received at its
premiere in 1872, Dvořák was dissatisfied with it and destroyed the
manuscript. The pianist Ludevít Procházka, however, had made a copy of the
score for himself, which enabled the Idol of Prague to revise it
extensively fifteen years later. |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Dec. 8,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Christine Goerke soprano
Ilya Itin piano
Xiao-Dong Wang violin |
|
Franz Alexander PÖSSINGER
Trio in D Op. 28
• for flute, viola and horn ~ Beethoven thought enough of the Viennese
composer and violinist to entrust him to arrange his 4th Piano Concerto
for string quintet and piano ~ he’s not in Groves
Richard STRAUSS “Ein Alphorn hör’ ich schallen” • 1876
• “I Hear an Alphorn Sounding” is an astonishing song for soprano, horn
and piano composed for his father when the young Richard was 14 ~ with a
fiendishly difficult horn obligato
Robert KAHN Jungbrunnen “Fountain of Youth” Op. 46 •
1886-1920
• his remarkable song cycle, the lyrics by the Jewish poet Paul Heyse,
Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1910 ~ a friend of Brahms when he was
a youth, Kahn’s work was suppressed by the Nazis in 1938 after Albert
Einstein persuaded him to flee to England
SCHUMANN Piano Quartet in Eb Op. 47 • 1842
• widely appreciated, except by Liszt, who dismissed it as “too Leipzigerisch,” his way of saying Mendelssohnian ~ premiered in 1844 by
Ferdinand David, the German virtuoso violinist, composer and dedicatee of
the Mendelssohn Octet; Neils Gade, the Danish violist, composer and
friend; Count Wielhorski (on cello), the Russian composer and patron who
promoted Schumann’s concerts; and Clara Schumann on piano.
|
Monday, Dec. 15,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
William Wolfram piano
Dmitri Berlinsky violin |
|
César CUI 5 Pièces Op. 56 • 1897
• light and cheery
Alexander SCRIABIN Nocturne for piano trio in F# Minor Op. 5 No.
1 • 1890
• Chopin-like
Sergei PROKOFIEV Quintet in G Minor Op. 39 • 1924
• dissonance at its best ~ a commission for the circus ballet Trapeze
~ for clarinet, oboe, violin, viola and double bass
Sergey TANEYEV Piano Quintet in G Minor Op. 30 • 1911
• a monumental Romantic tour de force by the teacher of Scriabin,
Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff ~ he’s sometimes called the “Russian Brahms” |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Jan. 5,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Adam Neiman piano
Rachel Barton Pine violin |
|
Mikhail GLINKA Divertimento brillante on themes from Bellini’s La
sonnambula • 1832
• influenced by Italian opera during his three-year sojourn abroad, which
he spent mostly in Italy ~ for piano, string quartet and double bass
PUCCINI Minuet in A • 1892
• the verismo opera composer writes an itty bitty piece for string
quartet
Nino ROTA Nonetto • 1958-1977
• while best known for his film scores, including many composed for Fellini and Coppola’s The Godfather, Rota has also turned out a
neo-Classical gem for violin, viola, cello, double bass and wind quintet
Vittorio GIANNINI Piano Quintet • 1932
• lush, passionate, irrepressibly Romantic ~ by the Italian-born American
composer
|
Monday, Jan. 19,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Alessio Bax piano
Anton Barakhovsky violin
Cynthia Phelps viola
Alana Vegter horn |
|
MOZART Duo No. 2 in Bb for violin and viola K.
424 • 1783
• written for his friend, Michael Haydn, who could not fulfill a
commission because of illness
Ralph VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS Quintet in D • 1898
• sort of Anglicized Brahms and very beautiful ~ for clarinet, horn,
violin, cello and piano
Frank BRIDGE Piano Quintet in D Minor • 1904
• the English composer’s dense, splendid masterwork, influenced by Brahms
and Fauré |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Feb. 2,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Pei-Yao Wang piano
Misha Keylin violin |
|
BEETHOVEN Piano Quartet No. 3 in C WoO 36 • 1785
• his most ambitious early composition, written at age 14, it’s also one
of the earliest works for the instrumental combination of piano, violin,
viola and cello
Friedrich GERNSHEIM Divertimento Op. 53 • 1887
• a friend of and strongly influenced by Brahms ~ premiered at the
Philharmonic Club in New York in the winter of 1888-89
BRAHMS Clarinet Trio in A Minor Op. 114 • 1891
• his friend Eusebius Mandyczewski, a respected music scholar, upon
hearing the Trio, commented, “It is as though the instruments were in love
with each other.”
Felix Otto DESSOFF String Quintet in G Op. 10 • circa 1880
• a stunning beauty by a close friend of Brahms, who praised his work ~ Dessoff’s daughter Margarete founded the Dessoff Choirs in New York ~
Dad’s not in Groves |
Monday, Feb. 16,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Adam Neiman piano
Vadim Gluzman violin |
|
SCHUBERT Notturno in Eb D. 897 • 1826 or
1827
• in one lovely movement for piano trio, with lilting rhythms and a
melody based on a worker’s song, creating a nocturnal atmosphere ~
published posthumously
Heinrich HOFMANN Octet Op. 80 • 1883
• bubbly, exhilarating, rhapsodic, charming ~ for the unique
instrumentation of string quartet with flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon
BRAHMS Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Op. 26 • 1861
• hugely popular in his lifetime ~ after Brahms had played the premiere
of his massive, enigmatic quartet in Vienna on November 29, 1862 he wrote
to his parents, “Yesterday brought me great joy, my concert went quite
splendidly, much better than I had hoped…. I believe there was real
enthusiasm in the hall…. I played as freely as I’d been at home with
friends—but of course this audience stimulates you very differently from
ours. You should see how attentive they are and hear their applause!” |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Mar. 2,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Seymour Lipkin piano
Stefan Milenkovich violin |
|
HAYDN Divertimento in G Op. 53, No. 1 • 1784
• this piece for string trio is the same as Piano Sonata Hob. XVI:40
~ dedicated to Princess Maria Esterházy, an amateur pianist, it is not
known which came first
Muzio CLEMENTI Sonata No. 3 in C Op. 29 • 1793
• by the first composer to write for the piano
Henry PURCELL Fantasia No. 5 in D Minor • 1680
• an epitome of contrapuntal writing, unveiling his genius
Sir Charles Villiers STANFORD Serenade in F Op. 95 • circa
1906
• a wonderful nonet for strings and winds “that reveals a side of
Stanford’s style in which formal craftsmanship is combined with an
enchanting chemistry unique to the composer— Brahmsian adroitness united
with Mendelssohnian felicity” Jeremy Dibble
BACH Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor BWV 1052 • 1735
• Bach loved it ~ Mendelssohn played it ~ Brahms wrote a cadenza for it |
Monday, Mar. 9,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Roman Rabinovich piano
Anne Akiko Meyers violin |
|
Antoine REICHA Woodwind Quintet in D Op. 91 No. 3 • 1817-1819
• beautifully written ~ by a friend of Haydn and Beethoven, the Quintet
traverses a range of emotions from humor to joy to sadness and tragedy
Guillaume LEKEU Piano Quartet in B Minor • 1894
• the profound beauty of this 2-movement (unfinished) piece will knock
the wind out of you ~ by one of Franck’s most promising pupils, who died
from typhoid fever one day shy of his 24th birthday
Bohuslav MARTINŮ
La Revue de Cuisine • 1927
• witty, spiky, jazzy music for a kooky ballet about love among the
utensils ~ for piano, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, violin and cello
The recipe for double trouble in “The Kitchen Review” goes more or less
like this:
Begin with One Pot, One Lid—their marriage is a fit.
Add Twirling Stick who woos Pot away from Lid.
Toss in Dishcloth, who also ogles at Lid but is challenged to a duel by
Broom.
A moment of revelation then occurs ~ Pot realizes Lid is a better match.
But where’s Lid? …Gone! (probably crestfallen)
…until a huge foot kicks Lid back onto the stage
Wham! Lid is back.
Pot and Lid sashay toward each other in bliss. Clueless
Stick is now attracted to Dishcloth … but being clueless, little does he
know.
SAINT-SAËNS
Piano Quintet in A Minor Op. 14 • 1855
• his thrilling and aspiring early work, revealing the influence of
Schumann |
Monday, Mar. 23,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Misha Keylin violin
Jason Vieaux guitar |
|
SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 7 in D D. 94 • circa 1814
• written around the time he started training as a schoolmaster at his
father’s school, in the house where he was born
PAGANINI Terzetto concertante in D MS 114 • 1833
• for viola, guitar and cello ~ renowned as the first supervirtuoso
violinist, and possibly the greatest of them all, Niccolò was also a
guitarist and his “chamber music is the genuine expression of the more
private side of this composer’s musicality” biographer Danilo Prefumo.
Joseph KREUTZER Trio in D Op. 9 No. 3 • 1823
• the cantankerous Düsseldorfian writes in the style of Mozart a lovely
example of plein air music for flute, clarinet and guitar, ideal
for summer outdoor concerts ~ yet another not in Groves
Friedrich DOTZAUER String Quintet in D Minor Op. 134 • 1835
• this lively and spirited early Romantic piece with 2 cellos (one
requiring considerable virtuosity) will give much pleasure ~ by a great
cellist and founder of the Dresden school of cello performance ~ the
critic for Allgemeiner musicalische Zeitung wrote that “The mere
mention of the name of this excellent composer is enough to insure those
among the public who truly understand art that the work was a resounding
success.”
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, Apr. 6,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Frank Morelli bassoon |
|
Friedrich WITT Nonet in Eb
• by the same hand that wrote the Jena Symphony, once thought to be by
Beethoven ~ for flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and double
bass
MOZART “Gran Partita” in Bb K. 361 • 1784
• heavenly ~ the pinnacle of his wind music |
Monday, Apr. 20,
2pm and 7:30pm
 |
 |
Roman Rabinovich piano
Dmitri Berlinsky violin
Alana Vegter horn |
|
HAYDN Clarinet Quartet No. 1 in Bb • 1810
• the first of three clarinet quartets arranged from Haydn string quartet
movements by the late-Classical Italian composer and virtuoso clarinetist Vincenzo or Giovanni Gambaro (they may be one and the same man) ~ he or
they are not in Groves
BRAHMS Trio in Eb Op. 40 • 1865
• an incomparable and marvelous horn trio ~ it’s his first creative
output after the death of his beloved mother
Peter Arnold HEISE Piano Quintet • 1869
• one of the most important Danish composers and pupil of Niels Gade
writes the best Danish piano quintet ~ Moreover, “An encounter with
Heise’s music is always somehow joyous, captivating, full of life. In a
Romanticism in which the dominant notion of “great music,” is the tragic,
the sentimental, and the sublime, Heise seems to stand out as the
smiling composer, whose lightness is never pat or superficial. It is
simply that, not possessing a tragic soul, he never tried to pretend that
he did. For this reason, in 1869, he wrote a piano quintet “in a Joyous
F major” offered “in reply” to the Brahms F minor quintet of
1865, which Heise had considered to be “affected by black melancholy.”
Thus his music without ever being fatuous or facile, rewards the listener
with the peaceful and luminous gesture of his love for song and for life.”
Claudio Ronco, musicologist and cellist ~ the music is from the Royal
Library of Denmark in Copenhagen |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Monday, May 4,
2pm and
7:30pm
 |
 |
Einav Yarden piano
Stefan Milenkovich violin |
|
BEETHOVEN Serenade in D Op. 25 • 1801
• at the onset of his deafness, Beethoven penned a cheerful frolic for
flute, viola and cello
Elfrida ANDRÉE
Piano Quintet in E Minor • 1864
• the Swedish composer’s treasure chest of melody and mood ~ Andrée
supported the suffragette movement and she also organized hundreds of
concerts for the poor
Johan Severin SVENDSEN String Octet Op. 3 • 1866
• highly original and vibrant, and a touch nationalistic ~ Grieg sang his
praises, saying that the Nordic composer “has everything that I lack. He
is in my opinion the greatest artist…in all Scandinavia—and one of
the few great spirits in Europe.” |
Monday,
May 11,
2pm and
7:30pm
 |
 |
Alessio Bax piano
Karen Gomyo violin
Cynthia Phelps viola |
|
MOZART Piano Quintet in Eb K. 452 • 1784
• he performed this glorious piece himself on April Fools Day, and in a
letter to his father declared it “the best thing I have so far written in
my life” ~ it was the inspiration for Beethoven’s Quintet for piano and
winds
Erwin SCHULHOFF Concertino • 1925
• An offbeat piece that stretches the capabilities of the flute, viola
and double bass ~ Schulhoff died in 1942 from TB after spending more than
a year at the Wülzburg concentration camp in Bavaria
SCHUBERT “Trout” Quintet Op. 114 • 1819
• probably the most famous of all piano quintets |
|
|
|
|
| |