Program

March 17, 2012      7 p.m.

Philadelphia Camerata

Piano Quartet #2 in Eb Major    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Allegro

      Larghetto

      Allegretto

Trio for Violin, Viola and Violoncello Opus 10     Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877-1960)       Marcia

      Romanza

      Scherzo

      Theme and Variations

      Rondo

Intermission

Piano Quartet in A Major, Opus 26                                   Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

     Allegro non troppo

     Poco Adagio

     Scherzo

     Finale

Tonight's program weaves together music from three centuries.  Mozart, Brahms and Dohnanyi composed in radically different styles, classical, romantic and 20th century post-modern. Think architecturally, and it's like walking down a boulevard with mansions from three different centuries.  We have the compact, classically spare but rococo ornamentations of Mozart's construction.  Then, we will enjoy the equally compact postmodern combination of elements combined in the 20th century home by Dohnanyi (nothing too dissonant, of course; in postmodernism, the artist is free to combine all elements from the past with the freedom of the present).  After intermission, we can explore the voluminous spaces of the romantic palace built by Brahms.

The piano quartet by Mozart, in Eb Major, K.  493  is in three movements, Allegro, Larghetto, and  Rondo, Allegretto. It was composed in 1787 as the second of a pair of piano quartets commissioned and later cancelled by his publisher and friend, Franz Anton Hoffmeister, because the first piano quartet did not sell.  Mozart later composed K.493 anyway.  These two pieces are regarded as the first modern pairing of strings with the modern pianoforte. In the opening Allegro,

begins with a dynamic introduction that wanders for 27 measures before the piano introduces the miraculous melody:  a half note descends in a leap of a minor sixth to an ornamented half note, which rises to a third half note, then descends a minor sixth to the final half note. Simple and complex at the same time: pure Mozart.   In the exposition of this Sonata-Allegro form, the tune then continues with a quicker, contrasting ascent. In the development, Mozart simply repeats the

figure in a rapid stretto using all four voices.contrapuntally.  The Larghetto is an operatic aria, with the piano in the leading role.  The finale, in cut time, evokes a quick gavotte, which dances in and out of the perfectly sculpted rondo form.

Ernst von Dohnanyi was a leading Hungarian musician, best known as a conductor, pianist, and educator, who composed unique music in his spare time.  The Serenade, obviously inspired by Beethoven's Serenade for string trio, opens with a march, just like Beethoven, and reiterates the march in the Rondo, Finale.  The Romanza begins with a spacious tune in the viola, which then is given an arpegiated accompaniment to the violin and cello, which develop the melody. The

Scherzo is a virtuosic tour de force, highly chromatic, and the most modernistic moment of tonight's program.  The Theme and Variations is based on a disarmingly simply melody in ¾ time, and ends with a fantastically expressive tremolo variation.  The final movement, a Rondo, goes lickety split to the return of the opening March.

After Intermission, feel privileged to hear a piece that many critics consider to be Brahms' first symphony.  In all  four movements,Brahms generates huge sonorities, using the simplest melodic techniques.  The opening melody is built on a sustained chord, followed by a slow noodle figure, a close cousin to the trill.  The piano and strings constantly play off each other, maximizing the contrast in tone color.  The slow movement, in particular, gives the piano  a chance to shine.  The Scherzo melody is built on an oscillating figure that recalls the first movement, while the finale is a grand structure built on a Hungarian gypsy figure.  In conception, this quartet is oceanic. Its surface glitters with delicate ripples and massive waves, while beneath the surface, deep currents move with remarkable force.

Program Notes

Yuko Izuhara Gordon,  Piano

Charles Forbes, Cello

Rebecca Harris, Violin

  Michael Strauss, Viola

About the Performers

Rebecca Harris, violinist, performs on both modern and baroque instruments. As a chamber musician, Rebecca has performed at the Cheltenham International Music Festival (UK), in recital in Philadelphia and with early music ensembles Tempesta di Mare, Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Piffaro and Seraphic Fire. Rebecca has been a member of the Teaching Artist Faculty of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2008.

Yuko Izuhara-Gordon, pianist, gave her New York debut at Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Symphony under the baton of Otto Werner Muller, which established her as one of today’s most accomplished young pianists.  Ms. Izuhara-Gordon’s studied at the Juilliard School where she received BM and MM degrees under the tutelage of Joseph Kalichstein and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

Michael Strauss, violist, is on the faculty of the Doylestown Community Conservatory and maintains private teaching studios in Lansdale, Pennsylvania and Chestertown, Maryland. He has performed professionally in Boston (Boston Pops, Opera Company of Boston, Boston Philharmonic), with the Louisville Symphony, The Galilee Symphony of Israel, and the Jalapa Symphony in Mexico.  Mr. Strauss received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in English Literature, from Yale and a Masters Degree, with Distinction in Performance from the New England Conservatory.

Charles Forbes, cellist, studied with Bernard Greenhouse and Pablo Casals, conducting with Jonel Perlea at the Manhattan School of Music, and chamber music with Leonard Shure. He has been on the faculties of Exeter Academy, Manhattan School of Music and Smith, Mount Holyoke and Amherst colleges.  Charles Forbes has given four solo recitals at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. Currently he is on the faculty of the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. Charles played principal cello in the American Symphony (under Stokowski), the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Vermont Symphony, and the Princeton Chamber Orchestra and toured widely as a founding member of the New York Camerata, and for whom many pieces were commissioned.