TIMELESS MASTERWORKS THE COMPOSER’S WORLD

From his earliest years, Villa-Loboswas enthralled with the indigenoussongs and dances of his native land,and he made several trips into theBrazilian interior to study the nativemusic and ceremonies. Beginningwith his earliest works, around1910, his music shows the influenceof the melodies, rhythms, andsonorities he discovered. He beganto compose prolifically, and, thoughoften ridiculed for his daring newstyle by other Brazilian musicians,he attracted the attention of thepianist Artur Rubinstein, who helpedhim receive a Brazilian governmentgrant in 1923 that enabled him tospend several years in Paris, wherehis international reputation wasestablished. Upon his permanentreturn to Rio de Janeiro in 1930,Villa-Lobos became an importantfigure in public musical education,urging the cultivation of Braziliansongs and dances in the schools.He made his first visit to the UnitedStates in 1944, and spent theremaining years of his life traveling inAmerica and Europe to conduct andpromote his own works and those ofother Brazilian composers.Assobio a Játo (The Jet Whistle) forFlute and Cello, composed in NewYork in 1950, was one of a numberof chamber and solo works fromhis later years in which Villa-Lobosexplored the areas of virtuosity andextended techniques for traditionalinstruments. The piece is in aClassical three-movement form (fast–slow–fast), and exhibits the tunefulinfluence of Brazilian popular andfolk music that was the inspirationaland stylistic engine which drove allof Villa-Lobos’s output. Assobio aJáto takes its curious title from theeffect at the very end in which theflutist blows air directly into theinstrument to produce a rushing,whistling sound reminiscent of ajet engine. During the 1950s, whenVilla-Lobos was annually making tripsto France and the United States butbefore commercial jet travel wasavailable, perhaps this piece was amusical sign of his eager longing fora quicker, more modern way ofair transportation.Micro-Concerto for Solo Percussion, Flute,Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and PianoSTEVEN MACKEYBorn February 14, 1956 inFrankfurt, Germany.Composed in 1999.Premiered on November 3, 1999 inNew York City by percussionistDaniel Druckman and the New YorkNew Music Ensemble.Duration: 20 minutesCMS AT SPAC“I imagine . a kind of vernacularmusic from a culture that doesn’treally exist,” says Steven Mackey,one of America’s most adventurousand admired composers. Mackeywas born in 1956 in Frankfurt,Germany to American parents butgrew up in northern California,SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018

MICRO-CONCERTOEXPLORES A VARIETY OFMORE COMPLEX ROLESTHAT THE INDIVIDUALCAN PLAY IN RELATION TOTHE ENSEMBLEwhere he excelled in sports andimitating Jimmy Hendrix on hiselectric guitar. Mackey entered theUniversity of California at Davisas a physics major but switchedto music after being overwhelmedby Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring;he graduated summa cum laudein 1978 with a degree in guitar andlute but with the ambition of being acomposer. He did his graduate workin composition at SUNY/Stony Brook(M.A., 1980) and Brandeis University(Ph.D., 1985), and was appointed tothe Princeton University faculty assoon as he finished his doctorate;he became a full professor therein 1993 and is now William ShubaelConant Professor of Music at theschool. During his first years atPrinceton, Mackey establishedhis distinctive creative voice,which his faculty colleague andfellow composer Paul Lansky said“synthesizes the influences of LedZeppelin, Stravinsky, Monteverdi,Muddy Waters, Mahler, Monk, andothers.” Mackey won the prestigiousKennedy Center Friedheim Award in1987 for his string quartet FumeuxFume (“He who fumes and lets offsteam provokes hot air”), inspiredby a piece of the little-known14th-century French composerSolage, and he has since receivedCMS AT SPACGuggenheim, Lieberson, andTanglewood fellowships, a secondFriedheim Award, Stoeger Prizefrom the Chamber Music Society ofLincoln Center, several awards fromthe American Academy of Arts andLetters, Princeton University’s firstDistinguished Teaching Award, 2012Grammy for Best Small EnsemblePerformance (for Lonely Motel), andmany commissions.Mackey wrote of Micro-Concerto(1999), “When I was a youngcomposer in the mid-1980s, theso-called ‘Pierrot’ ensemble (flute,clarinet, violin, cello, and piano,named after Schoenberg's PierrotLunaire), with or without addedpercussion, was the ubiquitous ‘modmusic’ group . Micro-Concertoexplores a variety of more complexroles that the individual can play inrelation to the ensemble. In Part 1:Chords and Fangled Drum Set, therhythm is front and center. I imaginethat the piano chords harmonizethe rhythm instead of the rhythmmeasuring the harmonies.Part 2: Interlude No. 1—Vibes Solois a short, lyrical ballad.In Part 3: Click, Clak, Clank,the percussionist is neither anaccompanying rhythm section norleading melody. I think of it as acontextualizing and interpretingnarration spoken in some imaginarytongue-clicking language.In Part 4: Interlude No. 2—Marimbaand Cello, the two instrumentsare completely co-dependent; thestory is told only by their interplay.In some sense they are a singleinstrument with timbres no moreSUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018

disparate than the clickers andsamba whistle that are part of thepercussionist’s instrument in Part3. This movement flows withoutpause into Part 5: Tune in Seven. Inthe first half of the movement, thepercussionist is one of six playerstossing around a set of variationson the Tune. Toward the end, thepercussionist returns to the ‘fangleddrum set’ and shifts the focus back towhat must be (along with singing) themost fundamental form of musicalexpression—hitting things in time.The two interludes are played onbig, standard pieces of percussion‘furniture,’ but the main movementsfocus on small moves and subtledistinctions. They are full of fussydescriptions of how to play somehand-held ‘toy’ just so. This micromanagement of small muscle groups,and the fact that the concerto soloistis accompanied by the smallestorchestra imaginable, suggestedthe title.”Quartet in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, Viola, andCello, Op. 47ROBERT SCHUMANNBorn June 8, 1810 in Zwickau, Germany.Died July 29, 1856 in Endenich,near Bonn.Composed in 1842.Premiered on December 8, 1844in Leipzig.Duration: 29 minutesIn 1842, Robert Schumann turnedfrom the orchestral genresto concentrate with nearlymonomaniacal zeal on chambermusic. Entries in his diary attest tothe frantic pace of his inspiration:“June 4th: Started the Quartet in Aminor. June 6th: Finished the Adagioof the Quartet. June 8th: My Quartetalmost finished. June 11th: A goodday, started a Second Quartet. June18th: The Second Quartet almostfinished up to the Variazioni. July 5th:Finished my Second Quartet. July8th: Began the Third Quartet. JulyCMS AT SPAC10th: Worked with application on theThird Quartet.” Schumann’s threestring quartets, published togetherunder the single opus number41, were completed in a frenzy ofcreative activity within just six weeks,after which he never wrote anotherwork in the form. Having nearlyexhausted himself, he and his wife,Clara, took a holiday at a Bohemianspa in August, but he again threwhimself into composition soon afterhis return: the Piano Quintet (Op.44) was begun in September and thePiano Quartet (Op. 47) on October24th; both were finished before thePhantasiestücke for Piano, Violin,and Cello (Op. 88) was created inDecember. Schumann, drained bythree months of feverish work, thenslumped into a state of nervouscollapse, and he was unable tocompose again until the followingFebruary, though his achievementSUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018

of 1842—the composition of sixchamber music masterpieces infive months—stands as one ofthe greatest bursts of creativeinspiration in the history of the art.The Piano Quartet’s openingAllegro, a fully realized sonata form,gives the main theme first in a slow,hymnal, introductory configurationbefore it is presented in a quicktempo, staccato transformationto launch the main part of themovement. The second theme,announced in imitation betweenpiano and strings, begins withan accented note followed by arising scale pattern. The start ofthe development section is markedby recalling the slow introduction.The Scherzo is a veritable dancefor a whirling dervish. To balancethis furious rhythmic exercise, twocontrasting trios are interspersedin the movement. The principaltheme of the Andante, a beautifulmelody enfolding many wide leaps,is entrusted to the cello. Followinga central interlude, the viola singsthe theme again with detailedembroidery from the violin. TheFinale is dominated by a plenitudeof fugue. The movement’s thematicabundance is overshadowed only byits pervasive imitative texture, whichSchumann contrived to make soundvivacious rather than pedantic. 2018 Dr. Richard E. RoddaCMS AT SPACSUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018

THE COMPOSER'S WORLDTuesday Evening, August 21, 2018 at 8:00Spa Little TheatreALESSIO BAX, pianoLUCILLE CHUNG, pianoWU HAN, pianoSEAN LEE, violinCLAUDE DEBUSSY(1862-1918)MATTHEW LIPMAN, violaDAVID FINCKEL, celloMIHAI MARICA, celloSonata for Cello and Piano (1915)PrologueSérénadeFinaleMARICA, CHUNGIGOR STRAVINSKY(1882-1971)Petrushka for Piano, Four Hands (1910–11,rev. 1946)The Shrove-Tide FairPetrushka’s RoomThe Moor’s RoomThe Shrove-Tide Fair Towards EveningCHUNG, BAX—INTERMISSION—JOHANNES BRAHMS(1833-1897)Quartet No. 1 in G minor for Piano, Violin, Viola,and Cello, Op. 25 (1857-61)AllegroIntermezzo: Allegro ma non troppoAndante con motoRondo alla Zingarese: PrestoWU HAN, LEE, LIPMAN, FINCKELPLEASE TURN OFF CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES.Photographing, sound recording, or videotaping this event is prohibited.

NOTES ON THE PROGRAMSonata for Cello and PianoCLAUDE DEBUSSYBorn August 2, 1862 in St. Germain-enLaye, near Paris.Died March 25, 1918 in Paris.Composed in 1915.Duration: 12 minutesWhen the Guns of August thunderedacross the European Continentin 1914 to plunge the world into“the war to end all wars,” ClaudeDebussy was already showingsigns of the colon cancer that wasto end his life four years later.Apprehensive about his health andtormented by the military conflict,his creative production came to avirtual halt. Except for a BerceuseHéroïque written “as a tribute ofhomage to His Majesty King AlbertI of Belgium and his soldiers,”Debussy wrote no new music in1914. At the end of the year, heundertook (with little enthusiasm)the preparation of a new edition ofChopin’s works to help compensateDurand for the regular advancesthe publisher had been sending.The death of Debussy’s motherin March 1915 further deepenedhis depression. That same month,however, he appeared in a recitalat the Salle Gaveau with thesoprano Ninon Vallin, and his moodbrightened somewhat during thefollowing months. “I have a fewCMS AT SPACideas at the moment,” he wroteto Durand in June, “and, althoughthey are not worth making a fussabout, I should like to cultivatethem.” That summer he completedEn blanc et noir for Two Pianosand the Études for Piano, andprojected a series of six sonatas forvarious instrumental combinationsinspired by the old Baroque schoolof French clavecinists. The first ofthe Sonatas, for Cello and Piano,was completed quickly in July andAugust 1915 during a holiday atPourville, near Dieppe; the secondone, for Flute, Viola (originallyoboe), and Harp, was also written atPourville before Debussy returnedto Paris on October 12th. Surgeryin December prevented him fromfurther work until October 1916,when he began the Sonata for Violinand Piano. A sonata for oboe, horn,and harpsichord never went beyondthe planning stage; the remainderof the projected set did not get thatfar. The Violin Sonata, completedin 1917, was his last importantwork; he premiered the piece onMay 5, 1917 in Paris with violinistGaston Poulet, and played it againin September at St.-Jean-de-Luz,where he was summering. It was hisfinal public appearance.For the Cello Sonata’s inspiration,style, and temperament, Debussylooked back far beyond theTUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

Impressionism of his earlierworks to the elegance, emotionalreserve, and textural clarity of themusic of the French Baroque. Inits revival of old techniques andmodes of expression enfolded in20th-century harmonic garb, thepiece is one of the harbingers ofthe “Neo-Classical” movement thattouched so many composers duringthe following decades, though itsstructure would better be called“Neo-Baroque” since it is basednot on the Beethovenian model ofcontinuous thematic developmentbut rather on the 18th-centurysectional design employed byLeclair and Couperin. The Prologuethat opens the Cello Sonata not onlyprovides a gateway to the work butalso a thematic source for its latermovements. Debussy said that hetried in this composition to evokethe spirit of the old Italian commediadell’arte, and he achieved thisquality most fully in the insouciantSérénade that occupies the middlemovement. The finale, a sectionalstructure, not only refers to thetheme of the Prologue, but also hintsat Debussy’s early song Fantoches,to a text by Verlaine. For all itsdetermined reactionary tendencies,however, the Cello Sonata is still soessentially imbued with the rich andmisty harmonies marking Debussy’smost characteristic works thatEnglish musicologist Ernest Newmansaid it consists “mostly of a fogopening now and then, and giving usa momentary glimpse of ravishinglybeautiful countryside."Petrushka for Piano, Four HandsIGOR STRAVINSKYBorn June 17, 1882 in Oranienbaum, nearSt. Petersburg.Died April 6, 1971 in New York City.Composed in 1910-11, revised in 1946.Ballet premiered on June 13, 1911 inParis, conducted by Pierre Monteux.Duration: 39 minutesStravinsky burst meteor-like ontothe musical firmament in 1910with the brilliant triumph of hisfirst major score for the BalletRusse, The Firebird. Immediately,Serge Diaghilev, the enterprisingCMS AT SPACimpresario of the troupe, soughtto capitalize on that successby commissioning Stravinsky towrite a second score as soon aspossible. Stravinsky was alreadyprepared with an idea that hadcome to him even before finishingThe Firebird. “I saw in imaginationa solemn pagan rite,” he recalled inhis Autobiography of 1936. “Sageelders, seated in a circle, watcheda young girl dance herself todeath. They were sacrificing herto propitiate the god of spring.Such was the theme of Le Sacre duTUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

Printemps.” Diaghilev was as excitedabout this vision as was Stravinsky,and he sent the composer off towrite the score with all possiblehaste. Stravinsky continued the storyin his Autobiography:“Before tackling The Rite ofSpring, which would be a long anddifficult task, I wanted to refreshmyself by composing an orchestralpiece in which the piano wouldplay the most important part—asort of Konzertstück. In composingthe music, I had a distinct pictureof a puppet, suddenly endowedwith life. Having finished thispiece, I struggled for hours to finda title that would express in a wordthe character of my music and,consequently, the personality ofthis creature. One day I leaped forjoy, I had indeed found my title—Petrushka, the immortal and unhappyhero of every fair in all countries.Soon afterwards, Diaghilev came tovisit me. He was much astonishedwhen, instead of the sketches ofthe Sacre, I played him the pieceI had just composed and whichlater became the second scene ofPetrushka. He was so pleased with itthat he would not leave it alone, andbegan persuading me to developthe theme of the puppet’s sufferingsand make it into a whole ballet.”Though his progress on the scorewas interrupted by a serious boutof “nicotine poisoning,” Stravinskyfinished the work in time for thescheduled premiere on June 13, 1911.The production was a triumph.Tableau I. St. Petersburg, theShrove-Tide Fair. Crowds of peopleCMS AT SPACstroll about, entertained by ahurdy-gurdy man and dancers.The Showman opens the curtainsof his little theater to reveal threepuppets—Petrushka, the Ballerina,and the Moor. He charms them intolife with his flute, and they begin todance among the public.Tableau II. Petrushka’s Room.Petrushka suffers greatly fromhis awareness of his grotesqueappearance. He tries to consolehimself by falling in love with theBallerina. She visits him in his room,but she is frightened by his uncouthantics and flees.Tableau III. The Moor’s Room. TheMoor and the Ballerina meet in hisroom. Their love scene is interruptedby the arrival of Petrushka, furiouslyjealous. The Moor tosses him out.Tableau IV. The Fair. The festivescene of Tableau I resumes withthe appearance of a group ofwet-nurses, a performing bear,Gypsies, a band of coachmen,and several masqueraders. At thetheater, Petrushka rushes out frombehind the curtain, pursued by theMoor, who strikes his rival downwith his sword. Petrushka dies. TheShowman assures the bystandersthat Petrushka is only a puppet, buthe is startled to see Petrushka’sjeering ghost appear on the roof ofthe little theater.The version of Petrushka for piano,four hands, intended to be used bothfor rehearsals of the ballet and forperformance of the music in intimatespaces, was created simultaneouslywith the orchestral score in 1911 andrevised in 1946.TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

Quartet No. 1 in G minor for Piano, Violin, Viola,and Cello, Op. 25JOHANNES BRAHMSBorn May 7, 1833 in Hamburg.Died April 3, 1897 in Vienna.Composed in 1857-61.Premiered on November 16, 1862 inVienna by the composer as pianist andmembers of the Hellmesberger Quartet.Duration: 40 minutesThe high-minded direction ofJohannes Brahms’s musical careerwas evident from his teenageyears—as a lad, he studied themasterpieces of the AustroGerman tradition with EduardMarxsen, the most rigorous pianoteacher in his native Hamburg,and played Bach and Beethovenon his earliest recitals; his firstpublished compositions were notshowy virtuoso trifles but threeambitious piano sonatas inspired byClassical models; he was irresistiblydrawn to Joseph Joachim and theSchumanns and other of the mostexalted musicians of his day. WhenSchumann hailed him as the saviorof German music, the rightful heirto the mantle of Beethoven, inan article in the Neue Zeitschriftfür Musik (New Music Journal) in1853, Brahms was only too eagerto accept both the renown and theresponsibility inherent in such alofty appraisal. He tried sketchinga symphony as early as 1855 (notcompleting it, however, until twodecades later), but his principalmeans of fulfilling Schumann’sCMS AT SPACprophecy during the early phase ofhis creative life were piano worksand songs, and then chamber music.Finished compositions did notcome easily for Brahms, however,and he made several attempts tosatisfy himself with a chamber piecebefore he allowed the publicationof his Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8in 1854. (He had destroyed at leastthree earlier efforts in that form.)The following year, he turned towriting quartets for piano, violin,viola, and cello, a genre whose onlyprecedents were the two by Mozartand a single specimen by Schumann.Work on the quartets did not gosmoothly, however, and he laidone (in C minor, eventually Op. 60)aside for almost two decades, andtinkered with the other two for thenext half-dozen years in Hamburgand at his part-time post as musicdirector for the court LippeDetmold, midway between Frankfurtand Hamburg.Brahms was principally based inHamburg during those years, usuallystaying with his parents, but in 1860,when he was 27 years old and eagerto find the quiet and privacy to workon his compositions, he rentedspacious rooms (“a quite charmingflat with a garden,” he said) in thesuburb of Hamm from one Frau Dr.Elisabeth Rössing, a neighbor oftwo members of the local women’schoir he was then directing. Hammwas to be his home for the next twoTUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

THE TWO PIANOQUARTETS WERE FINALLYFINISHED BY EARLYAUTUMN 1861 ANDGIVEN A PRIVATE READINGBY SOME UNKNOWNLOCAL MUSICIANS ANDCLARA SCHUMANNyears, and there he worked on theVariations on a Theme of Schumannfor Piano Duet (Op. 23), HandelVariations (Op. 24), and PianoQuartets in G minor (Op. 25) and Amajor (Op. 26). Brahms dedicatedthe A major Quartet to his hospitablelandlady. The two piano quartetswere finally finished by early autumn1861 and given a private reading bysome unknown local musicians andClara Schumann during her visit toHamm shortly thereafter.

SEAN LEE, violin ROMIE DE GUISE-LANGLOIS, clarinet MATTHEW LIPMAN, viola AYANO KATAOKA, percussion MIHAI MARICA, cello Trio in E-at major for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, K. 498, “Kegelstatt” (1786) Andante Menuetto Rondeaux: Allegretto DE GUISE-LANGLOI