FINE ARTS QUA RTE T RALPH EVANS | EFIM BOICO | ROBERT COHEN | JUAN-MIGUEL HERNANDEZ DECEMBER 11, 2016 Shostakovich, Schubert, Mozart arts.uwm.edu/quartet Presented by The UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts The Fine Arts Quartet 2016-17 season is supported in part by: Co-Presenting Sponsors Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Norman & Lucy Cohn Family Fund Sheldon & Marianne Lubar of the Lubar Family Foundation Katharine & Sandy Mallin Guest Artist Sponsors Mrs. Susan DeWitt Davie Fine Arts Quartet Patrons Albert & Laurie Asch Dr. P. Rae Katz Sheldon L. Burchman, MD & Dolores Cohen Shirley S. Connell Barbara Costanzo Elizabeth Dahlk Penelope Egan Adam Burns & Elizabeth Escobar Russel C. Evans Patricia Gollhardt Jones & Neil Gollhardt Jean Gurney & Earl M. Lemon Judith K. Hestoft Alvin & Regina Holzman Jeanne Jacobs Jewish Community Foundation of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation Sarajane & Robert Kennedy Henry G. Koc Leonard & Carol Lewensohn Medical College of Wisconsin Dr. Richard C. Murray Elaine & Howard N Myers Dr. Leonard & Gloria Parker Patricia Parsons Dr. Marjorie Piechowski Ronald & Barbara Poe Mary Pollock Eleanor Quint David A. Rasmussen Allen & Patricia Rieselbach Rockwell Automation Charitable Corporation Dr. Lucille B. Rosenberg Joseph & Glenna Shutkin Beatrice & George Strick Jim Ward Phyllis Wax Otto & Hilde Wiegmann Mark Williamsen Marian Weinberg Dr. Marie E. Weiss Jane Zeft Donors as of NOV 17, 2016 – All gifts are added to the UWM Foundation/Fine Arts Quartet Fund 2 UWM Peck School of the Arts D E C E M B E R 11, 2 016 | F I N E A R T S Q UA R T E T, Z E L A Z O | 7 : 3 0 P. M . String Quartet No.1, Op.49 (1938).......................................................................Dmitri Shostakovich Moderato(1906-1975) Moderato Allegro molto Allegro String Quartet in A Minor (“Rosamunde”), Op.29..................................................... Franz Schubert Allegro ma non troppo (1797-1828) Andante Menuetto: Allegretto Allegro moderato INTERMISSION Piano Concerto No.23 in A Major, K.488..................... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) (orchestra parts arranged for string quintet by Ignaz Lachner in 19th Century) Allegro Adagio Allegro assai Alon Goldstein, piano Alexander Bickard, string bass Featuring the work of over 150 independent designers of clothing, accessories, home goods and gifts MONTHLY CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS HOURS Mon - Fri 11-7 | Sat 11-6 | Sun 11-5 2224 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Bay View | 414-747-9229 www.SparrowCollective.com Fine Arts Quartet | December 11, 2016 3 PROGR A M NOTES || TIMOTHY NOONAN Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 49 In spring 1937 Dmitri Shostakovich was invited to the join the faculty of the Leningrad Conservatory. Coming on the heels of a scathing review in Pravda of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, and with the responsibilities of a baby daughter, Galina, born a year earlier, he was glad to accept, and began teaching in September. He taught composition as well as instrumentation, and participated in sessions of performance and analysis of important and often non-Russian works. In 1938, before he became a full professor in June 1939, he composed the first of his fifteen string quartets (written over the span 1938-1974), on a commission from the Glazunov Quartet, also affiliated with the Conservatory. He had recently completed his famed Fifth Symphony. Shostakovich reported that he wrote the first portion of the quartet “as a kind of exercise in quartet writing,” and said that he initially planned to call the piece the “Spring” Quartet. The piece is mild, not passionate, not often loud, evocative of youth: in the words of Ian MacDonald, it is a work of “studied simplicity.” The work’s initial movement was originally planned to be the finale, and the finale was to be first. The first movement begins with a repeated-note idea that proves to figure prominently in later portions of the work. The movement is essentially in sonata form, albeit with just a brief transition in place of a full development section and an abbreviated recapitulation. Its second theme is accompanied by a cello ostinato figure featuring glissandi. The second movement is a theme with three variations, beginning in A minor; the theme is in the manner of a Russian folk tune, presented by the viola. As is often found in Russian variations, the theme is present in each one, while the background changes. The brief scherzo and trio in C-sharp minor is muted throughout and maintains a quiet dynamic level. The contrasting trio section in F-sharp major takes on the style of a waltz. And the structure of the finale resembles sonata form, with a full development section. It ends, uncharacteristically for Shostakovich’s quartets, loudly and firmly in C major. Schubert, String Quartet in A Minor, D. 804 “Rosamunde” Franz Schubert composed 15 major string quartets, in addition to juvenilia and some lost works. His first, catalogued as D. 18, was written in 1810 or 1811, when Schubert was 13 or 14. The first 11 were all written by 1816, when Schubert was just 19. The background of these early works lies in his acceptance as a choirboy in the imperial choir in Vienna and his resultant admission into the boarding-school, the Kaiserlich-königliches Stadtkonvikt (where Antonio Salieri was one of his examiners). His voice broke in mid1812—it is recorded that “Schubert, Franz, crowed for the last time, 26 July 1812”—just months after his mother died. Schubert remained in the school for about another year. During his breaks between terms, his family formed a string quartet; his brothers Ignaz and Ferdinand were the violinists, the composer was violist, and their father Franz, a school teacher, was cellist. Schubert’s early quartets came to be as a result of this instance of family music-making. The remaining four quartets he would compose were written in Schubert’s maturity, between 1820 and 1826. They include a very fine onemovement work called the Quartettsatz, D. 703 (1820; a fragment of a second movement survives) and three finished quartets: the present work in A minor, D. 804 (1824), the “Death and the Maiden” quartet in D minor, D. 810 (1824), and his final quartet in G major, D. 887 (1826). Each of these is an example of Schubert the master composer, though he was not yet 30 when they were written, and he would die November 1828 at age 31. 4 UWM Peck School of the Arts PROGR A M NOTES || TIMOTHY NOONAN c o n t. The first movement begins with accompaniment in the lower three voices, the viola and cello offering a five-note figure of four quick notes and then the downbeat. As the first violin enters it sings a minor-key line of pure Schubertian beauty, which is then presented in a varied repeat in the major key. The juxtaposition of minor and major is a device to which Schubert often turned. The theme’s first three notes are embellished with a trill in the transitional section. A pause in all voices signals the second theme in C major, another idea of lyrical beauty. The development section begins with a return of the initial idea, now in D minor, before Schubert turns to literal development. The five-note figure we heard earlier plays a substantial role here as well. The recapitulation expands somewhat on the exposition, and the second theme returns in A major. The movement ends with a coda based upon the opening, bringing the movement to a most satisfying close. The slow movement presents a great Schubertian melody in C major, one based upon a theme from his incidental music for the play Rosamunde, which had its premiere in Vienna in December 1823 and which gives the quartet its nickname. The form of the movement is akin to that of a rondo: the theme is first, a contrasting section follows, and then the first idea returns. The next section is more energetic and developmental in nature. Then the second section recurs, and only in the coda do we revisit the initial theme; the result is an ABACB Coda form. The third movement is, curiously, a minuet, a dance largely supplanted by the scherzo in instrumental works such as this by around 1800. The trio section is in A major. The finale has been described as Hungarian in style, partly because of the grace notes in its main theme, and it is a movement that applies the principles of classical sonata form freely. It is in A major, the minor mode of the quartet’s opening now behind us. The memorable second theme in C-sharp minor is dominated by dotted rhythms, and there is just a suggestion of a development section before the recapitulation. But within the recapitulation development takes place before the events of the exposition resume and the dotted second theme begins. The grace-note figure from the initial theme figures prominently in the brief coda that concludes this great quartet. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 The Viennese phase of Mozart’s career began in 1781, as he moved to the imperial capital from his native Salzburg. Early in this period, he composed three piano concertos, K. 413-415 (nos. 11-13). Then, in early 1784, he turned again to the genre, producing a remarkable body of work over the next few years. 12 concertos, nos. 14-25, date from 1784-86, and these works are treasured today as among Mozart’s supreme achievements. This evening we hear a perennial favorite, no. 23, K. 488, which Mozart dated March 2, 1786, just 22 days before the date of no. 24, K. 491. Today’s performance presents a transcription of the concerto for piano, string quartet, and string bass by German composer and conductor Ignaz Lachner (1807-1895). As is the standard procedure in a classical concerto, the first movement of K. 488 begins with a passage for orchestra prior to the entrance of the soloist. Remaining in the home key throughout, it presents a succession of ideas that Mozart will then draw upon over the course of the movement. The entrance of the soloist marks the beginning of the exposition, analogous to that of sonata form, and the piano’s first appearance is a statement of the theme that began the movement; in essence, we proceed through the orchestra’s opening statement, now with the participation of the soloist and now carrying out the change of key that is intrinsic to the sonata form exposition. Sometimes Fine Arts Quartet | December 11, 2016 5 PROGR A M NOTES || TIMOTHY NOONAN c o n t. Mozart gives the piano a new idea as the second theme, but not in this case, as the piano plays the same one the orchestra offered, solo, and in the secondary key. A formal cadence with a trill signals the return of music for orchestra only, during which Mozart curiously gives us a new theme, the most structurally unusual element of this movement. The piano then reenters with the development section, which concludes with a long preparation for the recapitulation. The orchestra plays its opening, with the piano soon joining in. Before the section ends, Mozart carefully inserts a return of the new theme that followed the exposition, and the orchestra also returns to it in the passage following the soloist’s section, just before the cadenza. Mr. Goldstein will perform Mozart’s own cadenza. The second movement is cast in sonata form with no development section, in the dark and rather rare key of F-sharp minor. Its opening for the piano alone is an exquisite utterance, heard again at the recapitulation. A touching coda, with wide leaps for the piano and pizzicato in the strings, ends the movement quietly. The finale is a marvelous sonata-rondo. The refrain is offered by the piano alone, and in each of its appearances over the course of the movement, Mozart varies the way it ends. The first episode is in E minor, and it ends with a strong preparation for the return of the refrain. The second episode is again in the minor mode—F-sharp minor, the key of the slow movement. As it prepares for the return of the refrain toward its end, Mozart denies us the expected refrain, rather turning to the passage that prepared the first episode; this was a variant of rondo form that Mozart used often and so effectively. The return of the first episode, now in the home key, is the element that renders this not a rondo, but a sonata-rondo. Denial of the refrain makes it ultimate return all the more dramatic. A joyous coda brings this jewel of the repertoire to a close. 6 UWM Peck School of the Arts A B O U T T H E F I N E A R T S Q UA R T E T They have been called the “The Dream Team” and were declared by the Washington Post “one of the gold-plated names in chamber music”. But these statements seem inadequate when you consider that American first violinist Ralph Evans was a prizewinner in the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the “fiercest, most nerve-shredding competition in the classical world”; that Russian-born second violinist Efim Boico was chosen by Daniel Barenboim to be concertmaster of the Orchestre de Paris, that Canadian violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez recorded with Norah Jones and Chick Corea, and the British cellist Robert Cohen, in the words of New York Stereo Review, “plays like a God”. Despite their unique and diverse musical makeup and the individual impact each artist has had on the world of music, there is an overwhelming force that drew them together and marks the Fine Arts Quartet as a musical entity like no other. They have an instantly identifiable sound, an intense beauty, a deeply warming, fluent communication that envelopes their audience. It has been called a sound from the Golden Era, a sound that restores and enriches. The Fine Arts Quartet holds an extraordinary and legendary history of its own. Founded in Chicago in 1946, now celebrating its 70th anniversary season, the Quartet has recorded over 200 works and continues to tour throughout the world. The thirty-three year membership of Evans and Boico has created a unity of violin sound like no other. Four years ago, Cohen brought his extraordinary musical passion to the Quartet, followed shortly by Hernandez with his dynamism and heartfelt warmth. The Fine Arts Quartet are an inspiration to young chamber ensembles and have nurtured many of todays top international quartets whilst teaching as guest professors at the major conservatoires of Paris, Lyon, Lugano and London. They are Artists-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and give masterclasses at summer schools in the US and throughout Europe. They also go into the heart of communities, introducing music with flair, humour and passion to school children, demonstrating close-up their excitement and love for the music and their instruments. The Quartet’s recordings have received numerous distinctions. Most recently on the Naxos label: Fauré Quintets with pianist Cristina Ortiz “Gramophone award-winner and recording of legendary status” (Gramophone Magazine). Franck Quartet “Editor’s Choice” (Gramophone Magazine). Glazunov, Mendelssohn and Fauré CD’s were each “Recording of the Year” (Musicweb International). “Four American Quartets” album “BBC Music Magazine Choice”. Schumann “one of the very finest chamber music recordings of the year” (American Record Guide). Mozart Quintets “Critic’s Choice” (American Record Guide). CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming ((contemporary music), given jointly by Chamber Music America and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Many of the Quartet’s Naxos recordings have been selected for Grammy® Awards entry lists in the “Best Classical Album” and/or “Best Chamber Music Performance” categories. Recent special projects have included the release on Naxos of two of Mozart’s greatest piano concertos in Ignaz Lachner’s 19th century chamber transcriptions of the orchestra parts for string quartet and bass, with pianist Alon Goldstein; a monthly WUWM National Public Radio series by Cohen called ‘On That Note’; and the creation and development of ‘Musical Heights Foundation’ by Hernandez, a nonprofit foundation bringing high-level musical teaching into developing countries. For more details, visit: www.fineartsquartet.com Fine Arts Quartet | December 11, 2016 7 8 UWM Peck School of the Arts BIOGR APHIES Ralph Evans, violinist, prizewinner in the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, concertized as soloist throughout Europe and North America before succeeding Leonard Sorkin as first violinist of the Fine Arts Quartet. Evans, who has toured worldwide with the Quartet since late 1982, has recorded over 100 works. A complete discography is listed at: fineartsquartet.com/evansrecordings Evans, a cum laude graduate of Yale University and Fulbright Scholar in London, studied with Szymon Goldberg and Nathan Milstein in Europe, and subsequently won the top prize in a number of major American competitions, among them, the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York. Evans has also received international recognition for his work as a composer. His award winning composition “Nocturne” has been performed on American Public Television and his String Quartet No.1, released on the Naxos label, has been warmly greeted in the press (“rich and inventive” - Toronto Star; “whimsical and clever, engaging and amusing” - All Music Guide; “vigorous and tuneful” - Montreal Gazette; “seductive, modern sonorities” France Ouest; “a small masterpiece” - Gli Amici della Musica). years. In 1971, he joined the Tel Aviv Quartet as second violinist, touring the world with guest artists such as André Previn and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In 1979, Boico was appointed concertmaster and soloist of the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Barenboim, positions he held until 1983, when he joined the Fine Arts Quartet. Boico has been guest professor at the Paris and Lyons Conservatories in France, and the Yehudi Menuhin School in Switzerland. He is also a frequent juror representing the United States in the prestigious London, Evian, and Shostakovich Quartet Competitions. As music professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, he has received numerous awards, including the Wisconsin Public Education Professional Service Award for distinguished music teaching, and the Arts Recognition and Talent Search Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Juan-Miguel Hernandez, violist, was born in Montreal in 1985. He began studying the violin at the age of seven and switched to viola five years later. He received a bachelor’s degree from the Colburn Conservatory and graduate diploma from the New England Efim Boico, violinist, Conservatory. Hernandez was a first prize enjoys an international winner of the 16th International Johannes career that has included Brahms Competition in Austria, as well as solo appearances under prize winner in both the National Canadian conductors Zubin Music Competition and the 9th National Mehta, Carlo Maria Sphinx Competition. He has appeared as Guilini, Claudio Abbado guest soloist with orchestras in Atlanta, and Erich Leinsdorf, and performances with Seattle, Colorado, Rochester, and Chicago, Daniel Barenboim, Radu Lupu and Pinchas and has performed in the US, Canada, Zuckerman. After receiving his musical South America, Europe, the Middle East, training in his native Russia, he emigrated in and Africa. He is a founding member of the 1967 to Israel, where he was appointed Harlem Quartet, with whom he performed Principal Second Violin of the Israel from 2006-12, as well as the Trio Virado and Philharmonic - a position he held for eleven Boreal Trio. He has appeared on NBC’s Fine Arts Quartet | December 11, 2016 9 BIOGR APHIES c o n t. Good Morning America, the Today Show and the Telemundo Network. His discography includes three quartet CDs as well as multiple collaborations with Chick Corea, Gary Burton and Norah Jones. In 2010 he was honored with the medal of the National Assembly of Quebec. Robert Cohen, cellist, made his concerto debut at the age of twelve at the Royal Festival Hall London and throughout his distinguished international career, he has been hailed as one of the foremost cellists of our time. “It is easy to hear what the fuss is about, he plays like a God” (New York Stereo Review). “Cohen can hold an audience in the palm of his hand” (The Guardian). Invited to perform concertos world-wide by conductors Claudio Abbado, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, and Sir Simon Rattle, Cohen has also collaborated in chamber music with many eminent artists such as Yehudi Menuhin and the Amadeus String Quartet, with whom he recorded the Schubert Cello Quintet on Deutsche Grammophon. At age nineteen, Cohen recorded the Elgar Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the EMI label, and since then, he has recorded much of the cello repertoire for Sony, Decca, DGG, EMI, and BIS. Cohen, who studied with the legendary artists William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pré, and Mstislav Rostropovich, is an inspirational teacher who has given masterclasses all over the world. He is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and is director of the Charleston Manor Festival in the south of England. He joined the Fine Arts Quartet in January 2012. For futher information about Robert Cohen, including links to his monthly radio show, lectures and latest news, please go to his webiste: www.robertcohen.info 10 UWM Peck School of the Arts Alexander Bickard, string bass Acclaimed double bassist Alexander Bickard is equally at home in orchestral, chamber, and solo playing. At 20 years old Alexander won a position in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra after serving as principal bass in many orchestras such as the Juilliard Orchestra and Pacific Music Festival Orchestra. Alexander collaborates with the Ariel String Quartet, having performed with pianist Alon Goldstein in New York City’s Town Hall in the People’s Symphony Concerts series, and in Washington, D.C., at the National Gallery. At 19 years old Alexander won the Juilliard double bass concerto competition, resulting in his solo debut in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Alexander has participated in the Castleton, Colorado College, and Pacific music festivals. Alexander is a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School. He studies with Eugene Levinson and also holds a Pre-college diploma from Juilliard. Alon Goldstein, piano Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence, dynamic personality, artistic vision and innovative programming. He has played with the Philadelphia orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Toronto and Vancouver symphonies as well as the Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic , Los Angeles and Radio France Orchestra. He played under the baton of such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Jurowski, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Peter Oundjian, Yoel Levi, Yoav BIOGR APHIES c o n t. Talmi, Leon Fleisher and others. His 2016-2017 season include debuts with the Hungarian National Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica, and the Virginia, Ann Arbor and Rogue Valley symphony orchestras. He will also return to the “George Enescu” Philharmonic in Bucharest, the Delaware symphony during their Beethoven concerto festival, Savannah Philharmonic and Fairfax symphony. His festival appearances this season include Music@Menlo, Heifetz Institute, Bach festival in Oregon and the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy in Curtis Philadelphia. He will appear in chamber music concerts with his Tempest Trio, the Ariel Quartet as well as the Fine Arts Quartet in concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Israel and Europe. A passionate advocate for music education, his recent teaching engagements have included the Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival, The Gilmore International Keyboard festival as well as other residencies throughout the US. During the 2016-17 season Mr. Goldstein will record two new CDs on Naxos - one with his Tempest Trio of Dvorak early Trios to complete the cycle of Dvorak Trios which he started two years ago, and the other CD will feature Mozart Concerti nos. 23 & 24 arranged for piano and string quintet by I. Lachner. This CD will continue Goldstein’s exploration of Mozart concerti arranged as chamber works. The first CD featuring Concerti nos. 20 & 21 was released last year to great critical acclaim. Other highlights include performances with the Tokyo Quartet, the Jerusalem Quartet, two world premieres of concerti that were written for Mr. Goldstein - Lost Souls by Avner Dorman with the Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern, and Ornaments by Mark Kopytman with the Jerusalem Camerata, and performances at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra under Jaime Laredo. Solo recitals include concerts in Beijing (Forbidden City), Moscow (Kremlin), New York (Town Hall), Chicago, Guatemala City, Kent (UK), Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. Alon has performed at the Gilmore, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Marlboro, Seattle, Verbier, Prussia Cove and Jerusalem music festivals. Over the past several years he has also taught and played at the Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival, New York’s International Keyboard Festivalm Piano Texas, Gijon Piano Festival and “Tel Hai” international piano master classes held in Israel. For full bio visit alongoldstein.com NO MORE TRIPS TO THE CLEANERS! ZERO COST AND TIME EMPLOYEE COMPANY BENEFIT! 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Assistant Dean Amanda Obermeyer......................................................Assistant Dean of Business Administration Mark Peterson....................................................................................................Arts Technology Director MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT Rebecca Ottman...................................................................Director, Marketing & Communications Daniel Petry.............................................................................................................Development Director Justin Kunesh.....................................................................................................Art Director / WebMaster Lori Sieckert........................................................................................................Recruitment Coordinator Sam Gehrke............................................................................................................Marketing Coordinator Maggie Seer.......................................................................................................... Development Assistant Nicole Gorman..................................................................................................................................Designer Louie Fisher.............................................................................................................................. Videographer FACILITIES & BOX OFFICE Randall Trumbull-Holper.............................................................................................. Facilities Director Lisa Dickson................................................................................................................ Operations Manager Christopher Hofland.................................................................................................. Box Office Manager 12 UWM Peck School of the Arts
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