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4-7-1994

Concert: The Vermeer Quartet Concert: The Vermeer Quartet

The Vermeer Quartet

Shmuel Ashkenasi

Mathias Tacke

Richard Young

Marc Johnson

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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation The Vermeer Quartet; Ashkenasi, Shmuel; Tacke, Mathias; Young, Richard; and Johnson, Marc, "Concert: The Vermeer Quartet" (1994). All Concert & Recital Programs. 9066. https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/music_programs/9066

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ITHACA

ITHACA COLLEGE CONCERTS 1993-94

THE VERMEER QUARTET

Shmuel Ashkenasi, violin Mathias Tacke, violin Richard Young, viola Marc Johnson, cello

Quartet in D minor, op. 34

Allegro Alla Polka: Allegretto scherzando Adagio Finale: Poco allegro

Hommage to Mihaly Andras: Twelve Microludes, op. 13

INTERMISSION

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

Gyorgy Kurtag (b. 1926)

Quartet in C-sharp minor, op. 131 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Adagio, ma non troppo e mo/to espressivo Allegro molto vivace Allegro moderato Andante, ma non troppo e mo/to cantabile Presto Adagio quasi un poco andante Allegro

Walter B. Ford Hall Auditorium Thursday, April 7, 1994

8:15 p.m.

The Vermeer Quartet records for Orfeo and Teldec Records . Exclusive Management: ICM ARTISTS, LTD.,

40 West 57th Street, New York City, NY 10019 Lee Lamont, President

The Vermeer Quartet is in residence at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.

Program Notes

Antonin Dvorak. String Quartet in d, op. 34, B. 75

In November 1877, after Dvorak was honored with the Austrian Ministry of Education's annual award for his Moravian Duets, Dvorak received a congratulatory note from Eduard Hanslick who wrote that "Johannes Brahms, who together with me has proposed this grant, takes a great interest in your fine talent. ... " Hanslick suggested that Dvorak show more of his work to Brahms. In response, Dvorak delivered a number of his manuscripts to Vienna in early 1878 for Brahms' review, among them the String Quartet ind, B. 75. The quartet, which was begun on 7 December 1877 and completed eleven days later, was dedicated to Brahms "out of gratitude and a deep respect for your incompara-ble musical works." Brahms wrote to Dvorak (March 1878):

To occupy myself with your things gives me the greatest pleasure. . . . You write rather hurriedly. If you would fill in the numerous missing sharps, flats, and naturals, then perhaps you would sometimes look more closely at the notes themselves, and the partwriting, etc.

Forgive me, but it is very desirable to point out such things to a man like you. I consider myself honored by the dedication of the quartet ....

Dvo1ak replied to Brahms (15 October 1878),

You were so kind as to draw my attention to a number of things in my works, and I can only say how grateful I am to you for now I've discovered a lot of wrong notes and replaced them. I found myself forced, especially in the d minor quartet, to alter many things, all the more so as you were so kind as to accept my dedication of the work . . ..

On 12 December 1877, Brahms wrote to his publisher, Simrock, suggesting they publish the Moravian Duets (B. 60) that Dvorak submitted for the 1877 grant. Simrock not only published the duets, they commissioned Dvorak to write something akin to Brahms' Hungarian Dances (WoO 1) for piano duet. Dvorak accepted the commission, and his Slavonic Dances (B. 78) catapulted him to public renown. Brahms also arranged to have the d minor quartet, which was premiered in 1882, published by Schlesinger in 1880.

The work may be dedicated to Brahms, but the quartet reveals more of a spiritual affinity with Schubert than Brahms. In learning to compose, Dvorak used Schubert as one of his models, and this quartet imitates Schubert's style, particularly his harmonic vocabulary and abundant melody. The quartet clearly reflects Dvorak's admiration for Schubert. The closing melodic figure of the primary theme in the Allegro, cast in single-movement sonata form, serves as the opening motive for the secondary theme in the relative major and dominates the development section. The second movement, normally a scherzo, is replaced

by a lively polka in B~, with a slower trio in B in the style of a Landler. The Adagio in D for muted strings is one of the most lyrical and expressive of Dvorak's slow movements. Here Dvocak, a violist, reveals his intimate knowledge of strings and their tonal possibilities; the string parts are beautifully and effectively written. Like the Allegro, the second theme in the Adagio grows out of the closing motive of the primary theme. Moreover, the second theme of the opening movement (Allegro) recurs in the Adagio where it is grafted into the closing measures of the coda in parallel thirds in the second violin and viola above a tonic pedal. The fugal imitation in the primary theme group in the finale, another single-movement sonata form , reveals, more so than the Allegro or the Adagio, Dvorak's mastery of counterpoint. With this quartet, Dvorak is approaching maturity as a chamber music composer.

Gyorgy Kurtag. Hommage a Mihaly Andras: Twelve Microludes, op. 13

Born in 1926 in Lugoj, Romania, Gyorgy Kurtag moved to Hungary in 1946 (he became a citizen in 1948) and enrolled in the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest where he studied composition with Sandor Veress (1946-49) and Ferenc Farkas (1949-55). In 1955 he received degrees in composition, piano, and chamber music. Following the 1956-57 uprising in Hungary, Kurtag went to Paris to study with Marianne Stein in 1957-58; he took composition lessons with Darius Milhaud and Oliver Messiaen at the Conservatorie. Kurtag has been professor of chamber music at the Liszt Academy of Music since 1967.

The Twelve Microludes (1977-78), Kurtag's second work for string quartet, are dedicated to the German town of Witten, where they were premiered in April 1978. The microludes, Kurtag's fourth distinct set, are written as an homage to Mihaly Andras, a Hungarian composer and conductor of the Hungarian Opera who was one of Kurtag's classmates at the Academy. These inventive miniatures, one for each note of the ascending chromatic scale from C (like Bach's 48 preludes and fugues), have a performance time of approximately 9 1/2 minutes. Written with aphoristic phrases that make Webern seem verbose, the movements last from about 15 seconds (no. 4) to a minute and 45 seconds (no. 5).

This freely tonal work, which is a study in delicacy, is built on pedals (nos. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12), ostinati (nos. 3, 9, 10), and fragmented melodic lines (nos. 4 and 12). Numbers 1, 2, 6, and 11 have chorale textures; numbers 3 and 4 serve as a bridge to number 5 which has a phrygian melody in the violin. Although Kurtag has a restrained use of string timbres, the greatest contrast in timbre occurs in number 10 (tremolos, sul ponticello, and col leg no). "These pieces," as Schoenberg wrote in June 1924 in the preface to Webern's Bagatelles, op. 9, "will only be understood by those who share the faith that music can say things which can only be expressed by music."

Ludwig van Beethoven. String Quartet in c-sharp minor, op. 131

During his final years {1824-27), Beethoven concentrated on string quartets, beginning with the three commissioned by Prince Galitzin (opp. 127,

30, I 32) and completed in February I 825, November I 825, and July 1825, respectively. The c-sharp minor string quartet, begun late in I 825 and completed by July 1826, is one of Beethoven's greatest quartets and, according to Thayer, "the culmination of the grief and pain caused by the conduct of his nephew" (under Beethoven's guardianship). The op. 131 quartet originally was dedicated to Beethoven's friend Johann Wolfmayer, but on 19 March 1827 Beethoven sent a letter to the publisher to change the dedication from Wolfmayer to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, a Lieutenant Field Marshall of the 8th Infantry Division who had made a place for Beethoven's nephew in his regiment following the nephew's attempted suicide. The quartet was sent to the Schott and Sons' agent in Vienna for publication on 12 August 1826; it was published in June 1827, three months after Beethoven's death. There is no record of a public performance of this quartet during Beethoven's life.

The op. 131 quartet, purported to be Beethoven's favorite, is a unique composition: it is divided into seven numbered sections which are performed "attacca." The numbered sections are in six distinct keys: c#, D, b, A, E, g#, md c#, respectively. The quartet commences with a 4-voice fugue, the subject of which returns in inversion in the quartet's final numbered section (Allegro). The latter section is in single-movement sonata form. A recitative (no. 3) connects the second section to a set of five variations (Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile). The sixth section (Adagio quasi un poco andante) connects the scherzo (Presto) in duple meter with a double trio to the seventh and final section, an allegro. This quartet, which, according to William Drabkin, "takes the listener on a long and varied journey through a variety of keys, moods and textures," stands alone in the poignancy, passion, and depth of its musical ideas.

Mary I. Arlin

THE ARTISTS

The Vermeer Quartet, with performances in virtually every major city in North America, Europe and Australia, has achieved international recognition a one of the world's foremost chamber ensembles. Formed in 1970 at th Marlboro Festival, the Quartet has since performed at such prestigious festivals as Tanglewood, Aldenburgh, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Bath, Lucerne, Flanders, Stresa, Schleswig-Holstein, South Bank, Berlin, Santa Fe, Edinburgh, Great Woods, Spoleto, Ravinia and the Casals Festival. The members of the Vermeer Quartet are on the Resident Artist Faculty of Northern Illinois University at DeKalb and give annual master classes at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Each summer, they are the featured ensemble for Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine. The Vermeer Quartet makes its permanent home in Chicago and is the resident quartet for Chamber Music Chicago. It has recorded extensively for Teldec Records, and its discography includes quartets of Beethoven, Dvofak, Verdi, Mendelssohn and Schubert. The Vermeer Quartet's members are originally from Israel, Germany, New York and Nebraska, thus bringing to the ensemble a unique blend of musical and cultural backgrounds. Switzerland's Suisse writes, "Out of this alchemy is born a thing of beauty which one can define, without hesitation, as perfection.

Shmuel Ashkenasi, violin, was born in Israel where he was a student of Ilona Feher. He later studied with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He was the winner of the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington, D.C., was a finalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and was second prize winner at the Tchaikovsky Competition. He has performed with many of the leading orchestras in the United States, Europe, the former Soviet Union and Japan, and has appeared in recital with Murray Perahia and Peter Serkin. He has recorded Paganini violin concertos with the Vienna Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as the Mozart A major concerto and the two Beethoven Romances for Tudor records.

Mathias Tacke, violin, is originally from Bremen, Germany. He studied with Ernst Mayer-Schieming in Detmold, with Emanuel Hurwitz and David Takeno in London, and with Sandor Vegh in Cornwall. He won first prize in the Jugend Musiziert national competition and graduated with honors from the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie, where he was later appointed to the faculty. From 1983-92, Mr. Tacke was a member of the Ensemble Modern, one of the most important professional groups specializing in 20th century music. In this capacity he gave countless premieres, including works by most of today's leading composers. He has made numerous recordings for such labels as Sony, ECM and Harmonia Mundi.

Richard Young, viola, studied with Josef Gingold, Aaron Rosand, William Primrose and Zoltan Szekely. At age 13 he was invited to perform for Queen

) Elisabeth of Belgium. Since then he has been soloist with numerous orchestras and has given recitals throughout the United States. A special award winner in the Rockefeller Foundation American Music Competition, he was a member of the New Hungarian Quartet and the Rogeri Trio. He has taught at the University of Michigan and was chairman of the string department at Oberlin Conservatory. He has appeared at many festivals including the Library of Congress, Puerto Vallarta, Wolf Trap, Saratoga, Kapalua and the Casals Festival.

Marc Johnson, cello, studied in Lincoln, Nebraska with Carol Work, at the Eastman School of Music with Ronald Leonard, and at Indiana University with Janos Starker and Josef Gingold. While still a student, he was the youngest member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has since performed as soloist with that orchestra. In addition to numerous other awards, he won first prize in the prestigious Washington International Competition. Before joining the Vermeer Quartet, Mr. Johnson was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has recorded for CRI Records and has received critical acclaim for his recitals and solo appearances with various orchestras in the United States and Europe.

CONCE~T CALENDAR

APRIL

8 8:15 Jazz Workshop, Steve Brown, musical director 9 8:15 Chamber Orchestra, Grant Cooper, conductor

10 3:00 Faculty Recital, Jonathan Sokasits, piano 12 8:15 Percussion Ensemble, Gordon Stout and

Theodore Rounds, conductors 13 8:15 Opera Workshop, Earl Mccarrol, stage director and

Beverly Patton, music director 14 8:15 Jazz Workshop, Tom Killian, musical director 16 7:00 Global Repercussions Series

Cuarteto Latinoamericano with Roberto Sierra and Mario Lavista, composers

17 3:00 Wind Ensemble, Rodney Winther, conductor 17 8:15 Piano Ensemble, Mary Ann Covert, director 19 8:15 Chorus, Lawrence Doebler, conductor 21 8:15 Percussion Ensemble, Theodore Rounds and

Gordon Stout, conductors 22 8:15 Madrigal Singers, Lawrence Doebler, conductor 24 3:00 Choir, Lawrence Doebler, conductor and

Orchestra, Grant Cooper, conductor featuring violoncellist, Patrick Jee, winner of the High School Competition

25 8:15 Orchestra, Grant Cooper, conductor 26 8:15 Women's Chorale, Janet Galvan, conductor 27 8:15 Concert Band, Mark Fonder, conductor 28 8:15 Symphonic Band, Henry Neubert, conductor

In addition to the concerts listed above, music students give solo and chamber recitals, which are free and open to the public. The Concert Line (274-3356) provides supplemental information about these performances. We appreciate your continued interest in, and support for, our programming.

ITHACA COLLEGE CONCERTS 1994-95 (proposed)

Bolcom and Morris Bach Aria Group

Walden Hom Trio Continuum