the william t. kemper international chamber music series
Morgenstern Trio
saturday, february 25 • 8 pm • 1900 building
Catherine Klipfel
Stefan Hempel
Emanuel Wehse
piano
violin
cello
From the Heart of Europe
SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Notturno in E-flat Major, D. 897, Op. 148
MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66
Allegro energico e fuoco
Andante espressivo
Scherzo: Molto allegro quasi presto
Finale: Allegro assai appassionato
— Intermission —
RAVEL (1874-1937) Piano Trio in A Minor
Modéré
Pantoum: Assez vif
Passacaille: Très large
Final: Animé
This concert is sponsored by the Sosland Foundation.
Notturno in E-flat Major
for piano trio, D. 897, Op. 148
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
So much attention is lavished on Schubert’s
two piano trio masterpieces, the B-flat Major Trio D.
898 (published as Op. 99) and the E-flat Major work, D.
929 (Op. 100) that few chamber music lovers are even
aware that he composed another movement for the
piano trio at about the same time. The lovely Notturno in
E-flat, D. 897 was probably originally intended to be the
slow movement of the B-flat Major trio, but Schubert
evidently discarded it in favor of the familiar Andante un
poco mosso of that beloved piece.
While the Notturno does not aspire to the sublime
heights of the slow movemen, the B-flat Major Trio, it
has its own shimmering beauty. The music historian
Alfred Einstein notes a thematic kinship to the Andante
molto in Schubert’s Duo-Fantasy for violin and piano, D.
934, of December 1827. The more striking resemblance,
however, is to the slow movement of his magnificent
String Quintet in C Major, D. 956. As biographer Brian
Newbould has noted, the sustained melodies of the
two string instruments, complemented by the piano’s
emphasis in its outer ranges, foreshadows the texture of
Franz Peter Schubert from Ernst Keil’s Die Gartenlaube, 1866
the Quintet.
The ternary form of the Nutturno is most
notable for its bracing middle section. Schubert
mitigates the muscularity of a march-like dotted
rhythm with busy triplets that seem borrowed from
the piano Impromptus. The static harmony of his
gentle theme takes on new intensity when we hear
it again, now embellished by piano filigree, and
modulated to the astonishing key of E Major. The
effect of moving from the original key of E-flat major
with its three flats to E Major with four sharps evokes
a wholly new world. The chromatic journey back
to the home key of E-flat is vintage Schubert, and,
equally astonishing, is the recurrence of the middle
section, this time in C Major–with no sharps or flats!
Nocturne/Notturno
For most music lovers, the term Nocturne
conjures up the works of the same name by Frédéric
Chopin, whose 21 Nocturnes elevated a 19th-century
salon miniature to the realm of great art. (Some
critics believe that Chopin’s late Barcarolle, Op. 60 is
the greatest nocturne ever written.) Although Chopin
excelled in writing expressive, elegant nocturnes, he
was not the first to do so. The piano nocturne was
pioneered by the Irish composer John Field (17821837), a student of Muzio Clementi, who later settled
in St. Petersburg. Between 1814 and 1835, Field wrote
18 examples that established the Nocturne as an
important category of Romantic character pieces.
Most of them feature a lyrical melody above a brokenchord accompaniment.
As it happens, Nocturnes had an established
history long before Field and Chopin borrowed it for
piano music. In the 18th century, nocturne – or, more
often, the Italian notturno – was an alternative term
for a multi-movement instrumental work intended as
entertainment music. Mozart used the term notturno
interchangeably with divertimento, serenata, and
cassation. The alternate terms nocturne and notturno
arose because such works were generally intended for
performance in the evening.
The title Notturno is unique among Schubert’s
work titles and was probably assigned by the
publisher, Anton Diabelli & Company of Vienna, when
the movement was published posthumously in 1845
as Opus 148. Listeners must decide for themselves
whether it connects with the 18th-century tradition of
evening entertainment music, or the Romantic genre
of a lyrical character piece.
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Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op.66
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Mendelssohn has been subject to the vagaries of
music fashion and political turmoil since the mid-19th
century. Both popular and financially successful in his
lifetime, he was hailed by Robert Schumann as the most
important composer of chamber music since Beethoven
and Schubert. Posterity has validated that judgment,
and if some skeptics over the years have maligned
certain of Mendelssohn’s piano, orchestral and vocal
works, few would challenge his sovereignty in the realm
of chamber music between Beethoven and Brahms.
Mendelssohn composed two piano trios the D
Minor, Op. 49, and the work we hear this evening. In
light of the broad cultivation of the piano trio in the
mid-nineteenth-century, it is surprising that he did not
write more for this popular combination. Nevertheless,
his legacy is stunning. Both Mendelssohn trios have
firm holds in the repertoire, though the C Minor is less
frequently performed of the two.
Mendelssohn completed the second trio in
April 1845, only two and a half years before he died.
It was published one year later with a dedication to
the violinist and composer Louis Spohr. Opus 66 is a
fully mature work, balancing Mendelssohn’s classical
stance with the passion of the Romantic era. His first
movement is a marvel: “Mendelssohn never wrote a
stronger sonata form movement,” John Horton has
written. Biographer Philip Radcliffe agrees, calling its
flexible opening phrase “more suitable for sonata form”
than the main theme of the D Minor trio.
The principal difference between Mendelssohn’s
two piano trios lies in their conception: the D Minor
Trio is more vocal-like in conception (reminiscent of
his Songs without Words, the composer’s much-loved
solo piano works), and the C Minor Trio, which is more
instrumental. Both slow movements are in a tripartite
(A-B-A) form. In both trios, Mendelssohn’s writing is
idiomatic for the instrumentalists; he was, after all, a
virtuoso pianist and a creditable string player. In the C
Minor work, his writing is particularly impressive in the
whirlwind Scherzo. Here, the elfin spirit of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream is energized by perpetual motion and
occasional, unexpected Schumannesque outbursts to
yield one of his finest third movements.
The finale is a complex rondo with three principal
themes, the third of which receives particular emphasis.
It is a chorale closely linked to (but not identical with)
Martin Luther’s well-known Christmas hymn, “Gelobet
seist du, Jesu Christ” (Praise be to you, Jesus Christ.)
Mendelssohn’s initial introduction of the chorale,
through imposing piano chords, is interrupted by
short phrases from the rondo’s first theme. Ultimately
the chorale dominates the movement’s conclusion.
Mendelssohn endows all three players with an almost
orchestral conception to their parts. Their combined
efforts suffuse the conclusion with grandeur and
majesty, suitably capping this noble and dramatic trio.
Piano Trio in A Minor Maurice Ravel (1874-1937)
Ravel was fascinated by the challenge of
composing for piano and strings, instruments he
believed to be inherently incompatible. For him,
the challenge was to compose unified music for this
combination of essentially unlike instruments. The trio
he wrote is consistent throughout its four movements
in grace, the family of melodic ideas, and brilliance of
technique. Ravel’s secondary objective was to somehow
incorporate the music of his native Basque country.
Both goals were satisfied by this exquisite Trio. It is
widely considered to be Ravel’s finest essay in chamber
music, surpassing even his popular early String
Quartet. The ideas for a Piano Trio had first occurred to
Ravel as early as 1908; however, the work that concludes
this program was not finished until 1914. Ravel had
returned to it in 1913, but his labors were interrupted
several times during the next year because of travel
to performances of other compositions. When war
erupted in August, 1914, Ravel was determined to enlist
and defend his country. He hastened to complete the
Trio, only to be informed that his small stature, his
history of frail health, and his advanced age rendered
him ineligible for military service. (At almost 40, he
was considered too old.) It is ironic that so lovely and
refined a musical work should grow out of such anxious
and politically fraught circumstances.
Ravel had abandoned an early piano concerto
that was to have been based on Basque themes. Some
evidence exists that themes from this proposed concerto
found their way into the Trio. The composer described
the opening theme of his first movement, a modified
sonata form, as “Basque in color.” The graceful
rhythmic pattern established in the opening measures
permeates the movement, which is a modified sonata
form.
Pantoum, the unique title of the second
movement, is derived from the Malayan verse form
panttun, in which the second and fourth lines of one
quatrain are repeated in the next quatrain as the first
and third lines, a form favored by the poets Baudelaire
and Verlaine. Possibly it reflects a characteristic French
fascination with Far Eastern culture--and in this case,
its rhythms--that may be traced to the International
Parisian Exposition of 1889. An exact musical
parallel to the poetic technique is unlikely;
however, Ravel certainly exchanged musical
material ingeniously between the strings and
the piano. Pantoum, fulfills the function of a
scherzo movement, which, in this case, goes at
a whirlwind pace and is extremely difficult to
perform.
In the Passacaille, Ravel pays tribute
to a Baroque form, much as he would in his
work for solo piano, Le tombeau de Couperin.
The Passacaille is a brief slow movement whose
spaciousness and hymn-like calm lend it a
dignified air. The flashy conclusion soon
dispels the quiet atmosphere. 5/4 and 7/4
time--both meters characteristic of Basque
music--alternate in the Final; trills, rapid
arpeggios, double-stops and other technical
fireworks abound in the string parts. The
piano part reclaims the high profile it
established in the first movement to compete
for center stage once again in the Final. The
music is exciting and complex, driving to an
exultant conclusion in A Major.
A criticism sometimes leveled at
this imaginative work is that its daunting
difficulty for all three performers makes it
almost impossible for the amateur ensemble
to attempt. Though its virtuosic demands
are exceptional, they are not solely for show.
Ravel succeeded in composing a trio with
considerable musical substance. He also
endowed it with a philosophical, noble quality
that emanates from the work throughout. The
Piano Trio has rightfully earned its prominent
place in the piano trio literature.
Program notes by Laurie Shulman © 2016
Morgenstern Trio
“The group displayed a unanimity, polished technique and musical imagination that I thought had vanished from the scene with
the demise of the Beaux Arts Trio.”
(Washington Post)
“Bravissima! Wonderful playing from all 3 protagonists. A truly
electric, compelling presence – vivid color, rubato, rhythmic intensity. Truly a world class group.”
(Musical America)
After only two years of working together, the
Morgenstern Trio emerged on the German music scene by
being awarded top prizes and awards and the prestigious
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio Award in 2010. For the
twenty prize concerts, the Morgenstern Trio received
superlative reviews and immediate re-invitations for following seasons. This prize catapulted them onto the American scene with performances at the Kennedy Center and
Carnegie Hall, followed by concerts in Chicago, Detroit,
Kalamazoo, Carmel, Louisville, Lexington, and Palm Beach.
The Morgenstern Trio is named for the popular nineteenth
century German poet Christian Morgenstern.
The Trio won First Prize at the International Joseph
Haydn Competition in Vienna, followed by two second
prizes at the Fifth Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and the prestigious ARD Competition in
Munich, where it also received the audience prize. In the
previous year it was awarded the competitive scholarship
of the German Music Competition. The Morgenstern Trio
was selected by the European Concert Hall Organization for
its “Rising Star Series”, granting debut concerts on most
of Europe’s major stages. The ensemble and was named
ensemble in residence at their Alma Mater, the Folkwang
Conservatory. The Germany’s national program for young
musicians and the Best of NRW Concert Series has provided the Morgenstern Trio with numerous concerts across
Germany and live radio appearances. The debut LIVE CD
released in 2008 featuring works by Beethoven and Brahms
has captured the praise of presenters and critics alike.
2014 marked the inauguration of the Morgenstern
Festival in Germany, offering eclectic programs with guest
artists. Other festival appearances include the Pablo Casals
Festival in Prades/France, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Heidelberger Fruehling, the WDR Musikfest
and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland.
The Morgenstern Trio is represented by
Marianne Schmocker Artists International.
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2016-17 season
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