2010-2011 Season Calendar

September October November December January February March April May 
 

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.

Tickets  $25, $15, $10  Call 212.799.1259
or e-mail admin@jupitersymphony.com
Printable Calendar &Ticket Order Form (pdf)

 
September
Monday, Sept. 13, 2pm and 7:30pm Grande Grander Grandest 
Misha Vitenson violin
Cynthia Phelps
viola
Jason Vieaux
guitar
 

Anton DIABELLI  IIIme Grande Sérénade Op. 66
 
• charming melodies whipped up in the Biedermeier era (1815-1848) by the Austrian composer of the waltz theme of Beethoven
s Diabelli Variations, and publisher of Beethoven, Schubert and Rossini ~ for flute, clarinet and guitar

Luigi BOCCHERINI  Guitar Quintet No. 6 in G Major G. 450 • 1798
  • commissioned by the Marquis of Benavente, a Catalan guitar dilettante, this gem is a beaut

BEETHOVEN  String Quartet No. 13 in Bb Major Op. 130, and the Große Fuge Op. 133 • 1826
  • the Mount Everest of string quartets—a most radical work, with the wildest, grandest fugue imaginable

Monday, Sept. 27, 2pm and 7:30pm Go for Baroque
Gerald Ranck harpsichord
Misha Vitenson
violin
Frank Morelli
bassoon
 

Joseph Bodin de BOISMORTIER  Concerto in E Minor Op. 37 No. 6 • 1732
  • all the instruments—flute, violin, oboe, bassoon and continuo—get to show off in the French composer’s alluring, graceful quintet

VIVALDI  Chamber Concerto in G Minor RV 107 • 1716
  • here’s another chance for the flute, violin, oboe, bassoon and continuo to excel in pyrotechnics

TELEMANN  Quartet in Bb Major TWV 43:B2 • before 1768
  • like a breath of fresh air ~ by the leading composer of the early and mid-18th century in Germany for 2 violins, viola and continuo

VIVALDI  Bassoon Concerto in A Minor RV 497 • circa 1734-1735
  • calls for a bassoon virtuoso to toss off the arpeggios, rapid scales and register leaps Jan Ditmas

Jan Ditmas ZELENKA  Trio Sonata No. 5 in F Major • [1715]
  • a contrapuntal jewel requiring considerable virtuosity and stamina, by the Bohemian composer highly esteemed by Bach and Telemann ~ for 2 oboes, bassoon and basso continuo

BACH  Bassoon Concerto in A Minor RV 497 • 1744
  • as director of the
Bachische Collegium Musicum, Bach made this transcription from his Violin Concerto in A Minor BWV 1041 for the group’s weekly informal concerts at Gottfried Zimmermann’s coffeehouse, a trendy watering hole on Leipzig’s swank Catharinenstraße

 
 
 
October
Monday, Oct. 4, 2pm and 7:30pm a Romantic Palette
Michael Brown piano
Stefan Milenkovich
violin

 

Niels GADE  Fantasiestücke Op. 43 • 1864
  • impressive rhapsodies from Denmark’s most prominent 19th century composer, whose work was championed by Mendelssohn, who, in turn, was adored by and influenced the Dane ~ for clarinet and piano

Thomas Dyke Acland TELLEFSEN  Piano Trio Op. 31 • 1861
  • Chopin, his teacher and friend, looms in the Norwegian composer’s splendid, lyrical trio

BRUCH  Trio Pieces Op. 83 • 1909
  • Max Felix, his gifted clarinettist son, was the impetus for the creation of these glowing character pieces in his autumnal years ~ for clarinet, viola and piano

MENDELSSOHN  String Quintet No. 2 in Bb Major Op. 87 • 1861
  • brilliantly written at age 36 during his recuperation at the Bad Soden resorts near Frankfurt, the glorious quintet draws its inspiration from early Beethoven quartets

Monday, Oct. 18, 2pm and 7:30pm Trios con Brio
Adam Neiman piano
Misha Keylin
violin
 

Alessandro ROLLA  Trio concertante No. 2 in C Minor • between 1808 and 1810
  • by Paganini’s teacher ~ for string trio

BEETHOVEN  Trio in Eb Major, arranged from the Wind Sextet Op. 71 • 1796
  • on May 15, 1805 the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung reported that “Great pleasure was given by a beautiful Sextet in Eb by Beethoven, a composition which shines magnificently by reason of its high-spirited melodies, original harmonies and an abundance of new and surprising ideas” ~ the arrangement by kleinmeister A. F. Wustrow (c.1786-1852) for clarinet, horn and piano was published by Simrock in 1828

SCHUBERT  Piano Trio in Bb Major Op. 99 • 1827
  • of this celestial piece Schumann declared, “One glance at Schubert’s Bb Trio—and the troubles of human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.”

Monday, Oct. 25, 2pm and 7:30pm Divine Romanticism
Xiao-Dong Wang violin
Maxim Lando piano
 

Chistian Frederik Emil HORNEMANN  String Quartet No. 2 in D Major • 1861
  • wonderful melodies by Grieg’s lifelong friend, who was characterized by Carl Nielsen as “the bright flame, the purifying fire in Danish music, doing away with everything artificial, insincere and false”

Max BRUCH  Piano Trio in C Minor Op. 5 • 1858
  • premiered by none other than Ferdinand David (concertmaster of the Gewandhaus orchestra and teacher of Joseph Joachim, who later conducted the premiere of the Brahms Serenade in D) and Friedrich Grützmacher (principal cellist of the Gewandhaus orchestra)

BRAHMS  Serenade No. 1 in D Major Op. 11 • 1857-1859
  • wrought over three winter seasons at the Court of Detmold, the Serenade began life as a piece for wind or string octet, then evolved into a nonet (now lost) and was eventually scored for orchestra. After its successful premiere, conducted by Joachim, Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann that the music “really seemed to reach the audience...the applause continued until I showed myself on the stage” ~ reconstructed by Chris Nex for 5 strings and 5 winds

 
 
 
November
Monday, Nov. 8, 2pm and 7:30pm Radicals
Roman Rabinovich piano
Anton Barakhovsky
violin
 

BEETHOVEN  String Trio No. 3 Op. 9 • 1797
  • in the dramatic key of C Minor with a heavenly adagio movement, it’s considered the best work of his early stage

Antoine REICHA  Clarinet Quintet in Bb Major Op. 89 • 1808
  • you’ll savor 4 movements of early Romanticism by the Czech-born French “Father of the Wind Quintet”—a friend of Beethoven and Haydn, and influential teacher of Berlioz, Gounod, Liszt and Franck in counterpoint and fugue

César FRANCK  Trio concertante in F# Minor Op. 1 No. 13 • 1840
  • the Belgian-born French composer’s pioneer use of the cyclic form in this striking piano trio was admired by his contemporaries, and later by Vincent d’Indy

Monday, Nov. 22, 2pm and 7:30pm 3 Titans
Mikhail Kopelman violin
Elizaveta Kopelman
piano
 

MOZART  Clarinet Quartet No. 3 in F Major • after 1791
  • transcribed from the 1786 Piano Trio in G Major K. 496 by Johann André, the publisher who acquired Mozart’s manuscripts from his widow Constanze

Bedrich  SMETANA  Piano Trio in G Minor Op. 15 • 1855
  • completed in two months, the trio was written in memory of his beloved first daughter Bedriska, killed by scarlet fever at age 4 ~ the heartrending elegiac piece was condemned by critics at the premiere, but praised by Liszt (his friend and teacher), and in our time by Harold Schonberg, who said it is “of unusual loveliness”

BRAHMS  String Sextet No. 2 in G Major Op. 36 • 1864-1865
  • a gorgeous, luscious work, with subtle reference to his one-time fiancée Agathe von Siebold, made immortal by the notes a-g-a-d-h-e in the first movement

 
 
 
December
Monday, Dec. 6, 2pm and 7:30pm
William Wolfram piano
Vadim Gluzman
violin
Cynthia Phelps viola
 

Johannes Meinardus COENEN  Wind Quintet in A Minor • 1850-1865
  • a street in Amsterdam is named after the once-renowned Dutch composer and bassoonist, whose unique, virtuosic quintet points to the influence of Mendelssohn and Niels Gade

Josef SUK  Meditation on an old Czech hymn “Saint Wenceslas” Op. 35a • 1914
  • reflecting the onset of the Great War, the mood of the haunting chorale for string quartet by Dvorák’s son-in-law and favorite pupil is dark, yet deeply moving ~ based on the symbolic spiritual folk song “Svatý Václave” in honor of the Duke and later patron saint of Bohemia, Václav or Saint Wenceslas, who in the 10th century was murdered and succeeded by his brother Boleslav the First

DVORÁK  Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major Op. 81 • 1887
  • a tour de force of sunny disposition by “The Idol of Prague”

Monday, Dec. 20, 2pm and 7:30pm Piano Virtuosos
Adam Neiman piano
Xiao-Dong Wang
violin
 

Friedrich KALKBRENNER  Quintet in A Minor Op. 81 • 1826
  • a technical display for the unusual combination of piano, clarinet, horn, cello & double bass by the German composer, who (with Camille Pleyel) was instrumental in launching the career of the unknown Chopin in 1832 through a concert he promoted ~ the recital at Salons Pleyel was the talk of the town, attended by celebrities that included Liszt, Mendelssohn, the Farrencs, Friederick Wieck and his daughter Clara, and Madame Marie Pleyel, one of Kalkbrenner’s star pupils

LISZT  La Vallée d’Obermann • 1880
  • melancholia pervades this enchanting, brooding, introspective piece for piano trio—a depiction of the emotions of Obermann, the hero of Étienne Pivert de Senancour’s novel ~ while Chopin thought Liszt’s music vulgar, Liszt was impressed by Chopin’s sensitivity and they became friends, and even played four-hand music together—Chopin playing the bass part, lest Liszt should drown him out

CHOPIN  Piano Trio in G Minor Op. 8 • 1829
  • warm and genial, with a magnificent piano part, the neglected trio was composed at the impressionable age of 19, when he heard Hummel and Paganini

 
 
 
January
Monday, Jan. 10, 2pm and 7:30pm
William Wolfram piano
Stefan Jackiw
violin
Cynthia Phelps
viola
 

Joseph Martin KRAUS  String Quartet in G Minor Op. 1 No. 3 • 1784
  • aka “The Fugue Quartet” ~ by “The Swedish Mozart”

MOZART  Quintet in Eb Major K. 452 • 1784
  • in a 19th century transcription for piano quartet by Gustav Adolf Glossner ~ shortly after its premiere, Mozart proclaimed it to be “the best thing I have written in my life”

HAYDN  Cassation in Eb Major Hob II:40 • 1781
  • equally soloistic parts for oboe, bassoon and string trio and challenging passages for clarino or high horn propel this sextet par excellence

Ernö von DOHNÁNYI  Piano Quintet in C Minor Op. 1 • 1894
  • Brahms was so taken with the resplendent quintet played by his house guests—the legendary conductor Arthur Nikisch and Kneisel Quartet—that he staged its premiere in Vienna in late 1895, this time with Dohnányi at the piano

Monday, Jan. 24, 2pm and 7:30pm Mojomusic
Alon Goldstein piano
Misha Keylin
violin
 

RACHMANINOFF  String Quartet No. 2 in D Major • 1896
  • endearing Russian rarity

Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR  Clarinet Quintet in F# Minor Op. 10 • 1895
  • “The Black Mahler”—son of a Sierra Leonean Creole father and English mother—composed this highly individual and rhythmically complex quintet when he was 20, seventeen years before he succumbed to pneumonia ~ much admired in his day, the lyrical and appealing quintet was played by none other than Richard Mühlfeld, for whom Brahms wrote his Clarinet Trio and Clarinet Quintet

DVORÁK  Piano Trio No. 2 in G Minor Op. 26 • 1876
  • be captured by its magic Slavic spell, at times laden with tragic emotion, his expression of grief for the death of Josefa, his two-day-old daughter

 
 
 
February
Monday, Feb. 7,  2pm and 7:30pm American Hot Dogs
Roman Rabinovich piano
Dmitri Berlinsky
violin
Cynthia Phleps
viola
 

COPLAND  Sextet • 1937
  • when his Short Symphony for orchestra proved too difficult to perform, the Brooklynite made this version for clarinet, piano and string quartet and “toyed with the idea of naming the entire piece The Bouncing Line because of the nature of the first section”

Randall THOMPSON  Suite • 1940
  • purebred American music by the New Yorker, most known for his choral works ~ for oboe, clarinet and viola

Samuel BARBER  Summer Music • 1955
  • lovely lyrical melodies for woodwind quintet in one blissful movement evocative of languid summer days ~ born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, not too far from his alma mater, the Curtis Institute

Mrs HHA BEACH  Piano Quintet in F# Minor Op. 67 • 1907
  • named Amy Marcy Cheney at birth, the New Hampshire native scores high marks for this eloquent, exuberant Romantic quintet, which the Boston Transcript review of its premiere described as “rhapsodic ... substantial ... variously imagined and restlessly expressive”

Monday, Feb. 21, 2pm and 7:30pm Irresistibly French
Adam Neiman piano
Stefan Milenkovich
violin
 

Georges AURIC  Trio • circa 1938
  • breezy, piquant conversation between the oboe, clarinet and bassoon by a member of the avant garde group Les Six

Alexandre TANSMAN  Septuor • 1931-1932
  • devilish syncopations and expressive melodic lines enliven the Polish-born French composer’s playful neoclassical septet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, viola and cello

Camille SAINT-SAËNS  Septet in Eb Major Op. 65 • 1880
  • another marvelous, tantalizing septet, this one for trumpet, string quartet, double bass and piano, with 17th-century dance forms adapted to a neoclassical style

Gabriel FAURÉ  Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor Op. 15 • 1879
  .• hauntingly beautiful, it’s a cherished gift from one of the most elegant and refined of all composers, and Saint-Saëns’s devoted and most famous student

 
 
 
March
Monday, Mar. 7,  2pm and 7:30pm by Prodigies
Seymour Lipkin piano
Misha Vitenson violin
 

WEBER  Clarinet Quintet Op. 34 • 1815
  • an early Romantic mini-concerto written by the cousin of Mozart’s wife Constanze for his friend, the virtuoso clarinettist Heinrich Baermann, and string quartet

Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL  String Quartet in G Major Op. 30 No. 2 • before 1804
  • exquisite music by the pupil of Mozart with whom he lived, and Haydn, whom he succeeded as Kapellmeister at Esterházy

MOZART  Piano Concerto No. 14 in Eb Major K. 449 • 1784
  • composed for his student Barbara von Ployer, Mozart performed it for the first time in Vienna on March 17, telling his father that “it won extraordinary applause” ~ Ployer played it a week later, and in May Mozart informed Leopold that it could also be performed “a quattro,” that is with string quartet.

Monday, Mar. 21,  2pm and 7:30pm Serpent Sighting
Charles Neidich clarinet  

Ignaz Joseph PLEYEL  Parthia in Eb Major Ben. 219 • date not known
  • Haydn’s star pupil takes us on a Viennese classical airing with 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons ~ the Austrian-born French composer and publisher enjoyed immense popularity in his lifetime and also won the admiration of Mozart, who told his father to get hold of Pleyel’s quartets as “you will find them worth the trouble”

Iwan MÜLLER  Trio in G Minor • date not known
  .• the Estonian is barely remembered for his refinements to the clarinet and invention of the alto clarinet, and remembered even less for his compositions, but Neidich and two of his former students—Vadim Lando and Hana Kim, both of whom were principal clarinettists of the Jupiter Symphony— may blow us to bits with this rare piece

WEBER  Harmonie J. ahn. 31 • 1808
  • he’s in his windy element in this Adagio and Rondo for 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons

BEETHOVEN  Grand Serenade • [1805]
  • Bernhard Crusell, the illustrious Finnish clarinettist and composer, made this masterful arrangement of the Beethoven Septet with a wicked Eb clarinet part for flute, Eb clarinet, 2 Bb clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet, bass trombone and serpent ~ here’s your chance to get an up-close look at a musical “reptile,” if you dare

Monday, Mar. 28,  2pm and 7:30pm
Roman Rabinovich piano
Dmitri Berlinsky
violin
 

HAYDN  Divertimento a tré in Eb Major Hob. IV:5 • 1767
  • musicologist Karl Geiringer noted of this trio that “the horn has some really interesting technical problems to master, and occasionally the instrument’s role as the ardent singer of Romanticism is foreshadowed” ~ written for Printser, a horn virtuoso in the court orchestra at Esterházy

Georg-Friedrich FUCHS  Duo for clarinet and horn Op. 5 • 1793
  • Haydn and Christian Cannabich taught composition to the German-born French clarinettist, who became the highest-ranking musician in the Garde Nationale the year he wrote this duo

MOZART  Piano Trio in C Major K. 548 • 1788
  • composed in the same period as his last 3 symphonies at the peak of his creativity, it anticipates the “Jupiter” Symphony

Robert KAHN  Serenade in F Minor Op. 72 • 1923
  • radiates with the influence of Brahms whom he met in 1887 ~ for piano, clarinet and cello

Arnold SCHOENBERG  Verklärte Nacht “Transfigured Night” Op. 4 • 1899
  • dense, lush Romanticism from the Modernist composer before he abandoned tonality, in a superb transcription for piano trio done in 1932 by his pupil Edward Steuermann ~ based on a poem of Richard Dehmel, the programmatic music captures the despair, angst, love, nobility and radiance of the story of a couple in love walking through the woods on a moonlit night, the woman’s confession that she is bearing the child of another man she never loved, and the man’s acceptance of both woman and unborn child as his own, transforming all from darkness to light

 
 
 
April
Monday, Apr. 11, 2pm and 7:30pm Sparklers
Alessio Bax piano
Stefan Jackiw
violin
Cynthia Phelps
viola
 

Max REGER  Serenade in D Major Op. 77a • 1904
  • pleasant excursions for the flute, violin and viola through post-Romantic territory

MOZART  String Quintet in C Major K. 515 • 1787
  • among the greatest of his chamber music masterpieces

MENDELSSOHN  Sextet in D Major Op. 110 • 1824
  • a bravura showpiece penned at age 15 for the unconventional scoring of piano, violin, 2 violas, cello and double bass

Monday, Apr. 25, 2pm and 7:30pm for Russophiles
Ilya Itin piano
Dmitri Berlinsky
violin
 

Nikolay RIMSKY-KORSAKOV  Allegro in Bb from “Les vendredis” Book II No. 1 • 1899 .
  • one of 16 string quartets for the collaborative effort published by Mitrofan Petrovich Beliaeff, whose Friday soirées dedicated to the advancement of Russian music were attended by most of the major composers of the day, including Tchaikovsky

Ferruccio BUSONI  Suite in G Minor • 1880
  • the Italian prodigy met Brahms and Rubinstein at age 9 and wrote this beautiful piece for clarinet and string quartet at age 14 ~ In 1886, upon the urging of Brahms, Busoni moved to the cultural center of Leipzig, where he met Tchaikovsky, who took a keen interest in him ~ When he won the first Rubinstein competition, Tchaikovsky described the 24-year old laureate as “remarkably interesting” and with a “brilliant mind,” who “will soon be talked about....”

Anton RUBINSTEIN  Bal costumé Op. 103 • 1879
  • Inga Kapouler joins Ilya Itin for this piano 4-hands romp through a couple of the ballet suite’s 20 numbers, distinctive for their vivid portrayals ~ Tchaikovsky was one of Rubinstein’s earliest students

TCHAIKOVSKY  Piano Trio in A Minor Op. 50 • 1882
  • passionate lyricism prevails in this magnum opus, composed in remembrance of his mentor and close friend, Nikolai Rubinstein, younger brother of Anton ~ the massive trio was first performed at the Moscow Conservatory (founded by the Rubinstein brothers) in March 1882, with Sergey Taneyev at the piano

 
 
 
May
Monday, May 2, 2pm and 7:30pm
Lina Tetriani soprano
Stephen Beus
piano
Stefan Milenkovich
violin
 

Johann Georg LICKL  Cassazione in Eb Major • 1798
  • once attributed to Mozart, the admirable quartet is for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn

SHOSTAKOVICH  7 Romances on poems of Alexander Blok Op. 127 • 1967
  • this sublime, bleak, searing testament to the 50th anniversary of the Russian “October Revolution” is arguably one of the greatest vocal compositions of the 20th century ~ for soprano and piano trio, the Blok Suite is dedicated to soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, who sang the premiere with her husband, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (his protégée Wendy Warner plays this day’s program), violinist David Oistrakh, and pianist Moisey Vainberg ~ the foreboding Symbolist poems are by one of Russia’s preeminent poets

Béla BARTÓK  Piano Quintet • 1903-1904
  • an early work, the dramatic Romantic quintet hints of Brahms and Strauss, with a distinct Hungarian flavor ~ Bartók performed its premiere with the Frill Quartet in Vienna

 Monday, May 16, 2pm and 7:30pm Movers & Shakers
Adam Neiman piano
Anton Barakhovsky
violin
Paul Neubauer
viola
 

Johann STRAUSS  Emperor Waltz • 1889
  •catch a bit of “Waltz Fever” with this impeccable 1925 transcription for piano, string quartet, flute and clarinet by Arnold Schoenberg for the Private Performance Society

Richard STRAUSS  Metamorphosen Op. 142 • 1945
  • powerful, poignant and stunning utterance from a grief-stricken Strauss at age 80, under the weight of Germany in ruins—an outpouring of feeling against the destruction of centuries-old German culture and heritage that included the bombing of his beloved opera house, the Hoftheater in Munich, and the destruction of several other venues in Dresden, Weimar, Berlin and Vienna ~ reconstructed by Rudolf Leopold for 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli and double bass when an initial sketch for string septet was found in 1990

BRAHMS  Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor Op. 25 • 1861
  • the dazzling finale with the wild gypsy Rondo alla Zingarese will surely bring the house down

 
 
 

*All programs are subject to change.

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