Sunday March 5, 2023 – 3 pm
STRING QUARTET
Yevgenia Strenger, violin
Sander Strenger, violin
Ronald Carbone, viola
Robert LaRue, cello
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PROGRAM
STRING QUARTET Yevgenia Strenger, violin Sander Strenger, viola Ronald Carbone, viola Robert LaRue, cello LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET NO. 16 IN F, OP. 135 1. Allegretto (F major) 2. Vivace (F major) 3. Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo (D♭major) 4. "Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß". Grave, ma non troppo tratto ("Muss es sein?") – Allegro ("Es muss sein!") –Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro (F minor – F major) INTERVAL CLAUDE DEBUSSY STRING QUARTET IN G MINOR, OP. 10 1. Animé et très décidé 2. Assez vif et bien rythmé 3. Andantino, doucement expressif 4. Très modéré – En animant peu à peu – Très mouvementé et avec passion |
Program notes
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 16 in F, Op. 135 Beethoven’s last quartet was written in October 1826 at his brother’s country estate about 50 miles northeast of Vienna, where Beethoven and his nephew Karl had taken refuge after Karl’s attempted suicide. It was, needless to say, a difficult time, but the Quartet is such a congenial and fun-loving work that it is fashionable to regard it as a sort of regression to Beethoven’s 18th-century roots, which is a common misconception about almost any later Beethoven work that isn’t full of thunderbolts. The scherzo is rife with rhythmic jokes likely to convince players that they are counting wrong, or that the composer is off his rocker. The four parts tug at each other in four different rhythms or get together to run up and down and stop for no good reason. In mid-movement, the first violin gets lost in a series of syncopated leaps while the three lower parts repeat the same five-note sequence 48 times. Then the ridiculous gives way to the sublime: a placid, seamless slow movement consisting of three variations of a softly rolling theme. Before the finale, a brief slow introduction followed by an energetic allegro, Beethoven wrote “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (the decision reached with difficulty, or the difficult resolution). Beneath it, he wrote the three-note motif of the slow introduction with the words “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?), followed by the two three-note motifs that make up the Allegro’s principal theme, underlaid with the words “Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” (It must be! It must be!). This motto, preceding the final movement of Beethoven’s final quartet, has occasioned much speculation. Its roots seem to lie in a story about Ignaz Dembscher, who put on chamber music events in his Vienna house and normally attended the subscription concerts of the Schuppanzigh Quartet, which premiered Beethoven’s later quartets. Beethoven normally let Dembscher use his manuscripts in Dembscher’s house concerts, but when Dembscher asked for the score of the Opus 130 quartet after having not subscribed to the concert in which it was first played, Beethoven said no. Karl Holz, the second violinist in Schuppanzigh’s quartet, told Dembscher that if he wanted to use the manuscript he would have to pay the subscription price of the concert he’d missed. Dembscher asked, apparently with a smile, “Must it be?” As the story goes, when Holz told Beethoven about the conversation, Beethoven immediately wrote a canon for four voices to the words, “It must be! Yes, take out your wallet!” to a theme recognizably the same as the “Es muss sein!” theme of the Opus 135 finale. Beethoven gave a different explanation in a letter telling his publisher Moritz Schlesinger that he was enclosing the last of the quartets Schlesinger was expecting: “Here, my dear friend, is my last quartet. It will be the last; and indeed it has given me much trouble. For I could not bring myself to compose the last movement. But as your letters were reminding me of it, in the end I decided to compose it. And that is the reason why I have written the motto “The decision taken with difficulty – Must it be? – It must be, it must be!” For Beethoven, composition was a series of agonizing decisions about which version of a theme to use or which direction to take it, and it must sometimes have been an act of extreme will to make his choices and finish a movement. “Es muss sein!” may mean “At last, I know how it must sound.” Whatever the motto means, the note of triumph is unmistakable. John Mangum is Artistic Administrator for the New York Philharmonic, having previously served in that position with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. CLAUDE DEBUSSY String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 Fast track
The 1890s rank among the most productive years of Debussy’s life. From this decade date the Suite Bergamasque for piano (home of the ever-popular Clair de Lune), the seductive orchestral Nocturnes, most of his work on the opera Pelléas et Mélisande, and the only string quartet he ever wrote. Debussy was 31 when the Quartet in G Minor appeared in 1893, a truly personal and original statement. His distinctive musical language would appear fully formed the following year with his quietly revolutionary Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. It was perhaps the premiere of César Franck’s String Quartet in 1890 that encouraged Debussy to venture into the realm of chamber music. With an uncanny ear for attractive melodies and harmonies, he created an audaciously ultra-modern quartet with startlingly beautiful effects in lieu of sheer shock tactics. His fresh slant on musical architecture utilized the “cyclical” method advocated by Franz Liszt, and carried on by Franck and his disciples, a method characterized by the recurrence of certain themes or motifs throughout a work. Debussy combined this cyclical idea with a light-handed variation technique that carried his motto theme through subtle ongoing transformations — an approach that replaced the traditional contrast and development techniques, which had formed the crux of the Austro-Germanic thinking that had dominated European music since Haydn’s time. The vigorous motto theme from which Debussy fashions the entire Quartet appears at the outset, cast in Phrygian mode. The lyrical second theme turns out to be a close relative to the principal theme itself. Then, a mosaic of miniature variations, based primarily on the second subject, replaces a true development section, while the recapitulation delivers further variations cloaked in a rich texture of shifting harmonies. Repetitious phrases lend a flavor of precocious minimalism to the beginning of the sonically stunning scherzo movement. A dusky viola solo intones the motto theme, recast now in rhythm, mode, and tempo. The backdrop for this rhythmic whirlwind runs the gamut from pin-prickly pizzicatos to shimmering trills. In a brief central episode, the first violin offers a more lyrical view of the theme. The motto theme appears most drastically altered in the contemplative Andantino, which features muted soliloquies by viola and cello, an exotically distant key signature of D-flat major, and a decadently sensuous climax with hints of Pelléas et Mélisande, on which Debussy was concurrently working. Then, a pensive preamble reflects on various metamorphoses of the germinal theme before plunging into the mainstream of the finale. During the movement, Debussy makes concessions to tradition as the motto theme appears in inversion, imitation, and the slightest hint of fugato. The work concludes with a potent sample of the powerful, colorful string writing that sparked contemporary complaints that this vital quartet was “too orchestral.” The piece made its debut on December 29, 1893 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris with the prestigious Ysaÿe Quartet, to whom the work is dedicated. — Kathy Henkel ABOUT THE ARTISTS Yevgenia Strenger, violin Yevgenia Strenger has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, and played in every major concert hall worldwide on New York Philharmonic orchestra tours. Before coming to USA she toured the former USSR as a member of Kalinin String Quartet. Upon arrival in New York Ms. Strenger became a member of the New York City Opera becoming the Concertmaster in 2001. Her contribution to the Live From Lincoln Center performance of “Madama Butterfly” was honored by Emmy awards. She is also a member of New York City Ballet and has been a frequent player with the New York Philharmonic for many years. Ms. Strenger made her debut with the Lviv Symphony Orchestra in her native Ukraine at the age of 13, performing as a soloist in concertos by Conius and Sibelius. Since her arrival in this country, she has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, from classical to popular to avant-garde, in concerts on TV, radio and in motion pictures. Sander Strenger, viola Recognized as one of the rare breed of left-handed players in Ovation Magazine, Sander Strenger, moves comfortably between the violin and viola. Employing a lyric and graceful approach to the violin and a beautifully balanced sound to the viola, Mr. Strenger was praised for his "lively…elegant performance" (Boston Globe). His playing calls attention to those small details of phrasing, articulation and tone which separate a performance from a mere reading. Mr. Strenger has appeared as soloist with the Bronx Symphony, the West Side Symphony, Broadway Bach Ensemble, and the Missouri Symphony Society. Mr. Strenger was also a member of the Lydian and Estehazy Quartets, the Berkshire Chamber Players, Euterpe Ensemble, and the Music Project. In addition, he has been heard in recitals and chamber music concerts at the Lenox Arts Center, Winthrop University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Emelin Theater, Merkin Hall, Weil Recital Hall, the Bronx Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the National Arts Club. Formerly an assistant professor of music at the University of Missouri, Columbia, he served as Assistant Concertmaster of American Ballet Theater and the Opera Orchestra of New York. Ronald Carbone, viola Ronald Carbone is principal violist of American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and was for many years an associate member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is the founder and music director of the Canaan Chamber Music Festival as well as violist in the Omni Piano Quartet and New York Piano Quartet. For ten years he was a member of the Composers String Quartet and continues to be a frequent guest violist with Spectrum Concerts Berlin. He was a faculty member of Vassar College, Smith College and the Chamber Music Conference at Bennington College. He has recordings on Naxos, CRI, Albany, Reference-Records, and Urlicht Labels. Mr. Carbone was a member of the Portsmouth Chamber Ensemble, the Lexington Trio and the Griffes String Quartet, recipients of the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, Inc. award and two Artists International awards. He was also a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Barcelona City Orchestra. He is now violist in The Rose Colored Glasses Chamber Ensemble. "Everything about the concert was executed on a very high level. (with the utterly simpatico violist, Ronald Carbone)." — Fanfare Magazine "The Ensemble (Spectrum Concerts) played with absolute precision and throughout with expressive tone and interpretation." — The Berliner Zeitung Robert LaRue, cello Robert La Rue was First Prize Winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition (selected by a jury whose chairman was Mstislav Rostropovitch). He is the cellist of the Alcott Piano Trio and also recently joined the Sullivan String Quartet. Robert has appeared as soloist with the Banff Festival Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, and orchestras in Seattle, Phoenix and Denver. A member of the New York City Opera Orchestra, he has also performed in the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the orchestra of the New York City Ballet. Current projects include a performance survey of the complete quartets of Antonin Dvorak with the Sullivan String Quartet (under the auspices of the Dvorak American Heritage Association) and a CD of works for solo cello by members of the American Composers Alliance. An enthusiastic proponent of American music, Mr. La Rue has collaborated in performances of their chamber music with several eminent American composers, including Lukas Foss and Ned Rorem. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, and also attended Indiana University; his teachers included Bernard Greenhouse, Laurence Lesser, Aldo Parisot, Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. |