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Performance 20/20 Flipbook PDF
T. Clark Saunders, Acting Dean David Westfall, Director, Instrumental Studies Division Rita Porfiris, Chair, Performance
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T. Clark Saunders, Acting Dean David Westfall, Director, Instrumental Studies Division Rita Porfiris, Chair, Performance 20/20 Chamber Music Janet Arms and Emlyn Ngai, Associate Chairs Ignacy Grzelazka, assistant
Performance 20/20 Sunday, March 8, 2014
2:00 pm
Berkman Recital Hall
Heptade for Trumpet and Percussion in 7 movements (18’)
André Jolivet (1905-1974)
Seth Bailey, trumpet; Jianpeng Feng, percussion Ben Toth, coach
Summer Music for Wind Quintet, Op. 31 (14’)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Shannon Vandzura, flute; Diego Vasquez, clarinet; Amy Mitchum, oboe Emily Crompton, horn; Kristen Powell, bassoon Ayako Oshim and David Wakefield, coaches Reflections: Music for Viola, Double Bass, and Stereo Tape (9’)
Kaitlin Springer, viola; Kevin Huhn, double bass Robert Black and Rita Porfiris, coaches
---intermission—
Frank Proto (b. 1941)
Quintet No. 3 in D flat major (22’) I. Allegro moderato II. Intermezzo III. Andante IV. Vivo
Victor Ewald (1860-1935)
Grant Davis, Seth Bailey, trumpets; Laura Weiss, horn; Brian Johnston, trombone; Kayla Davis, tuba Scott Mendoker, coach
Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 (30’) I. Prelude: Lento II. Fugue: Adagio III. Scherzo: Allegretto IV. Intermezzo: Lento V. Finale: Allegretto
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Fernando Vizcayno, Kevin Seto, violins; Kaitlin Springer, viola; Ignacy Gaydamovich, cello; Cihan Yücel, piano Anton Miller and Mihai Tetel, coaches
Program Notes
André Jolivet's initial pursuits in music lead him towards musical theater, however changed many times in his career. His interests towards show music continued until he heard a recital of music by Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel. This immediately changed his path in music and can be heard in his early period. It was after listening to a recital of Arnold Schoenberg that he became interested in Atonal Music, and at the bequest of an early teacher he began studying with Edgar Varese. While studying Atonality, Jolivet found himself trying to bring music back to its original foundation, it's meaning and magic in relation to incantatory expressions and the religious beliefs of different peoples. This ancient meaning of music is apparent in the piece Heptade, for solo trumpet and percussion. Each movement is different in feel, groove, and rhythmic complexity, relying heavily on the virtuosity of the performers. The piece is a joining of Atonality with extended technique and a very primal union between trumpet and percussion. - note by Seth Bailey Long considered a staple of the 20th Century woodwind quintet repertoire, Samuel Barber's Summer Music for Wind Quintet, Op.31 (1956) is one of the most beautiful pieces written by the composer. During the decade following Wold War II, when composers were experimenting with new sounds and techniques as a reaction to what you might call Romantic lushness, Barber did not shy away from writing a beautiful melody. One of America's most loved composers during this period, he achieved incredible success, winning the Pulitzer Prize twice (in 1958 and 1962). Like his compatriot Aaron Copland, Barber's music can proudly be labeled middle-brow and democratic- for the common man. Even before the war, Barber had proved himself with Adagio for Strings, which is lush and emotionally wrenching. His heart is on his sleeve. Summer Music just feels good, no matter who you are. Though at first glance the piece might be a bit perplexing, in reality the formal breakdown is very clearcut. Most of the material repeats and is interspersed throughout. Written amidst his career success, Barber received the commission for Summer Music in 1953 from the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. He worked out a lot of his ideas, however, with the New York Woodwind Quintet. According to current NYWQ members, as the story goes, Barber asked the musicians to show him
the most difficult techniques on their instruments. Barber then put these into Summer Music. Though probably eclipsed by extended techniques today, the piece still poses a challenge to any group. Far from being an etude, the result is beautiful. We are all lucky to have this gem of a piece. -note by Diego Vasquez Frank Proto’s Reflections: Music for Viola, Double Bass, and Stereo Tape was first performed in a home in 1979. Frank Proto (born 1941 in Brooklyn, NY) is a self-taught American composer and bass player. His lack of tradition and love of different genres bred a hybrid style, in which one moment of modernistic harmonies can transform into a full out rock & roll riff. This piece is unique because of the instrumentation. Viola and double bass are not usually seen together, and stereo tape adds to this sort of strange atmosphere Proto created. Proto also plays with the variety of volumes in this piece. The viola and double bass both have moments where they must be amplified, but the sound quality must remain unchanged. According to his own instructions “the overall sound level should be on the high side. NOT BLASTING AND PAINFUL, but very full. The effect should be orchestral and hall filling”. The tape adds an electrical element. It frequently fills out the ‘orchestra’, playing the high pitches that would be present in the violin section or the flute. It also adds texture and rhythm, and it adds more “instruments” to the mix electronically. It really does turn a duo into an orchestra. Reflections could be divided into three sections. There is a purely instrumental introduction between the double bass and viola. The interplay between the instruments is sinuous. The line and harmonic movements are very smooth and dark sounding. The low register of both instruments is ominous throughout. The second section has more of a jazz/rock feeling. The tape joins the duo, which has a very cool, energetic rhythmic line. Viola and Double bass are frequently playing in rhythmic unison, with less harmonic interest than percussive quality. Gradually, the tape falls away while viola and double bass wind down. The instruments fall back to the beginning character and complete the piece with no true resolution. The dissonance leaves the audience questioning. -note by Kaitlin Springer
Victor Ewald was a professor at the College of Technology in St. Petersburg, a passionate musician, and played cello in a string quartet. Ewald was a composer, though his music is not particularly well known today. It is Ewald's music for brass- he wrote six works for brass quintet –that has best survived. In Ewald’s Quintet No. 3 in Dflat Major, the Allegro moderato is dominated by its smooth and melodic opening idea; the music grows more animated as the movement proceeds, but the opening theme returns continually to restore order. The Intermezzo is in ABA form: it opens with a genial unison section, but the middle section- with its bright fanfaresprovides sharp contrast. The Andante, briefest of the four movements, is expressive and animated, despite the slow tempo, and Ewald rounds the quintet off with a noble Vivo movement that returns to the lyric manner of the opening movement. -note by Laura Weiss The Quintet for piano and strings in G minor, Op. 57, by Dmitry Shostakovich, was composed in 1940. The Beethoven String Quartet requested it after an enthusiastic premiere of his first string quartet. The premiere took place in November of 1940 with composer at the piano. It proved an immediate success. Literaturnaya Gazeta described the work as "a portrait of our age...the rich-toned, perfect voice of the present." During 1941, Shostakovich's Piano Quintet received the inaugural Stalin Prize. The “voice of the present” indeed is the key to performing this piece, however not in the sense as we see communism of 1940 from our perspective of time and place. It is a glorification of its victory, imperialism, and sadness of daily life juxtaposed with the uplifting ideals of communism. The quintet has five movements; Prelude introduces the heartfelt theme, which weaves itself throughout the work. After the fugal, grave movement, there follows a brief scherzo, and an intermezzo. The work ends with a brilliant finale. The work has many melodies and ideas that made its way to his 2nd piano trio and 8th string quartet. -note by Ignacy Gaydamovich