University of Florida Performing Arts
presents
New York Chamber Soloists
Septet and Octet
Sunday, March 29, 2015, 2 p.m.
University Auditorium
New York Chamber Soloists
Septet and Octet
Program
Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
Ludwig van Beethoven
Adagio: Allegro con brio
Adagio cantabile
Tempo di menuetto, Trio
Tema con variazioni: Andante
Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace
Andante con moto alla Marcia
Presto
Intermission
Octet in F Major, D. 803 Adagio – Allegro – Più allegro
Adagio
Scherzo: Allegro vivace
Andante – Un poco più mosso – Più lento
Menuetto: Allegretto
Andante molto – Allegro – Andante molto – Allegro molto
Franz Schubert
Program Notes
Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven began preparing sketches for the septet (violin, viola, clarinet, French horn,
bassoon, cello, double bass) in 1799 and completed the work early the next year. After a
private performance at the home of Prince Schwarzenberg, the septet was introduced to
the public at Vienna’s Burgtheater on April 2, 1800. This concert, known as an Akademie,
became the first in a series of programs Beethoven gave throughout his life both for his
own financial benefit and to introduce new compositions.
Written during a period of great personal anguish over his hearing loss, the septet
is nevertheless resolutely cheerful and optimistic. At first Beethoven felt extremely
satisfied with the piece. “This Septet has pleased me greatly,” he wrote his publisher;
and after the very successful premiere, on the same program as Haydn’s Creation, he
remarked to composer Johann Dolezalek, “This is my Creation!” Yet, as the years went
on and the septet became his most popular work by far and was put out in numerous
arrangements and transcriptions (including the composer’s own Op. 38 for piano trio),
Beethoven denounced it for lacking seriousness, especially when compared with his
later compositions. Following its sensational London reception in 1815, Beethoven
remonstrated to Charles Neate, “That damn work; I wish it could be burned!” And to an
enthusiastic admirer Beethoven insisted, “The septet was written by Mozart!”
The 18th century Rococo style gallant of Mozart and Haydn does indeed pervade the
pages of the septet. It follows the light, entertaining divertimento form, so favored by
the two masters, with its many short, tuneful movements. The first movement, the most
symphonic in scope, has a slow introduction that starts with a motto of three iterated
notes; it is followed by a fast section in regular sonata form. The first theme, initially
stated by the strings, is repeated by the winds. The bridge to the second subject utilizes
the three-note motif from the introduction. A slow moving melody made up of slightly
separated long notes, again heard first in the strings and then in the winds, opens the
second group. A concise development of these themes leads to a free recapitulation and
a full length coda.
The Adagio cantabile is endowed with a plenitude of attractive lyrical melodies. After
introducing the various theme, Beethoven freely varies and develops them, and brings
them back for the concluding section.
Beethoven borrowed the theme for the third movement from his own Piano Sonata, Op.
42, No. 2, which he composed in 1796. It is an effervescent little gem with an especially
humorous trio in which each of the gentle comments by the strings calls forth an agitated
horn or clarinet response. The first part returns at the end.
Some claim that the theme of the fourth movement is a folk song from Germany’s lower
Rhine valley, but a specific source has never been cited. The attractive melody passes
through a series of five original and imaginative variations, each one full of brilliant tonal
colors and rich sonorous phrases, ending with a coda.
The French horn introduces the rough, rude theme of the lusty Scherzo. The sharply
contrasted middle section, or trio, gives a soaring cantilena melody to the cello, before
the literal repeat of the Scherzo.
The minor-key introduction to the sixth movement injects the first note of solemnity into
the septet. But the cloudiness is soon dispelled by the skittish, major key theme of the
Presto. A bright, ebullient melody played by violin and cello serves as the second subject.
The development section cadenza in the violin signals the return of all the melodies in
the recapitulation and a climactic conclusion.
Octet in F Major, D. 803
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Austrian composer Franz Schubert was burdened by history: the history of Vienna, to be
exact. Consider that Beethoven had lived in Vienna since about the time Schubert was
born and enjoyed most of his success there; or that Mozart had preceded Beethoven as
the musical “monarch” of the city, not to mention that Franz Joseph Haydn had been
there much of his career, a role model for the whole lot of them. And then there was
Schubert’s father, who did little to support Franz the musician; he would much rather
have seen his son go into something sensible, such as becoming a schoolmaster like his
father, which his son actually tried for a short time.
Schubert was isolated and unhappy for much of his life. (Some scholars have made a case
that this was because he was a closeted gay man in a society that had no room for such
things.) In spite of the long shadows of the Viennese composer that came before him, and
despite his ample personal struggles, Schubert prevailed and found solace in music.
In his short life, he wrote over 600 songs, the bulk of which have joined the standard
repertory. That alone would have been enough to establish him in the pantheon of
memorable composers. Add to that his other various dramatic works (opera and
singspiel), his symphonies, as well as numerous sacred, piano, and chamber works, and
the Schubert legacy is incontrovertible.
The Octet in F major, D. 803, was one of his “late” works, written in 1824. He was not
in a good way while writing the Octet, having been recently diagnosed with syphilis,
a disease that at the time had no cure. On the bright side, it was among the few works
that garnered Schubert income while he lived, a commission from Count Ferdinand von
Troyer, a nobleman and philanthropist who was also a good amateur clarinetist. Troyer
had envisioned a companion work to Beethoven’s Septet, which you just heard on this
program, and that’s exactly what he got: both were for a similar group of instruments,
though Schubert added an extra violin to Beethoven’s clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola,
cello, and double bass; both had the same number of movements, six instead of a more
typical four; both works had a similar pacing between movements; and finally, the violin
and clarinet seemed to have the spotlight in both works a bit more than the other players.
Unfortunately, though the Octet was performed in a private performance in Count von
Troyer’s house in 1824, and received a public performance at Vienna’s Red Hedgehog
Café in 1827, the complete work remained unpublished until 1899.
The enigmatic opening Adagio, replete with long held notes and snaky melodic lines, sets
up the Allegro that is joyously bouncy, quite the opposite of Schubert’s mood at the time.
The movement has a renewed sense of urgency in the last section (the recapitulation), and
ends with a cryptic horn solo serving as a last word, melodically speaking.
The second movement, marked Adagio, begins with a plaintive clarinet solo,
accompanied by gently pulsing strings. Violin joins the clarinet in an extended
dialogue. As the movement unfolds, the original thematic material is passed around and
transformed, and all the while Schubert ramps up the intensity.
The Scherzo (Allegro vivace = Fast and lively) that follows is a jovial romp, and a needed
palette cleanser after the first two movements. One can almost imagine Count von Troyer
galloping off to the hunt to this music.
The fourth movement (Andante = At a walking pace) is a theme – introduced by the violin
and also taken up by clarinet – and set of seven variations. Note that in the fifth variation,
after the fourth that was lead by cello, Schubert moves to the minor key, but by the
seventh variation the music has returned to the upbeat sound of the original theme.
The fifth movement is a Menuetto (Minuet) based on the Baroque dance of the same name.
Like the Scherzo, above, this movement serves as a meal before the fireworks of the Finale.
The Finale begins with a slow introduction, much like the opening movement, but a
darker, more brooding Schubert is in evidence here. A playful Allegro breaks the mood,
bursting forth with energy and positivity. Some moments are downright ecstatic (listen
for the many madcap trills that permeate the movement), though an interlude toward
the end of the movement briefly revisits the dark opening. Not having any of that, and
perhaps a bit on the manic side, Schubert ends on a furiously euphoric tone.
— Notes from Guide to Chamber Music, by Melvin Berger ©1985, used with permission
New York Chamber Soloists Orchestra
Over the past few seasons, the New York Chamber Soloists Orchestra, a variably sized
conductorless chamber orchestra, has been performing concerts featuring multiple
concertos from prominent soloists at major venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
UCLA Live and the Kravis Center. Programs have featured the violinist Rachel Barton
Pine (performing all five Mozart concertos or Vivaldi’s Four Seasons), pianists Menahem
Pressler and Anton Kuerti (performing concertos by Mozart of Beethoven), clarinetist
Richard Stoltzman (performing works by Mozart and Rossini), and guitarist Sharon
Isbin (performing concertos by Rodrigo and Vivaldi). With more than 300 works in their
repertoire, the Chamber Soloists have made a valuable contribution to the musical life of this
country and have helped to expand the audience for chamber music. Their programming
innovations have included Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concerti in a single concert, “Paris
in the ’20s,” an American Classics program, the complete Mozart horn concerti and song
cycles, cantatas and operas from Monteverdi to Aitken. They have added substantially to the
catalog of 20th century chamber works, with more than 25 compositions written for them by
such significant composers as Gunther Schuller, Mario Davidovsky, Ezra Laderman and Mel
Powell. The group has also commissioned works for children, including Ferdinand the Bull
from noted American composer Hugh Aitken and compositions based on Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland by Gerald Fried and Tania French.
The ensemble has compiled an impressive record of repeat engagements in North
America and abroad, including 11 European tours, six Latin American tours, and
numerous tours of Asia and the South Pacific. In the United States, the Chamber
Soloists have appeared frequently in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and Lincoln Center, in Washington at the Library of Congress, the National Academy
of Sciences, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art, at major universities
across the country from Boston to Berkeley and at the Mostly Mozart, Sun Valley,
and Caramoor Festivals. Recent performances include those at the Casals Festival,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Mondavi Center at UC Davis, Royce Hall at UCLA, the
Phillips Center at the University of Florida and the University of Arizona.
The playing of violinist CURTIS MACOMBER was praised recently by The New York
Times for its “thrilling virtuosity” and by The Strad for its “panache.” He enjoys a varied
and distinguished career as soloist, chamber musician and teacher, and he has for several
decades been recognized as one of this country’s foremost interpreters and proponents
of new music. Mr. Macomber’s extensive discography includes the complete Brahms and
Grieg Sonatas as well as hundreds of critically praised recordings of contemporary solo
and chamber works. He is the violinist of Da Capo, a founding member of the Apollo Trio,
and the newest member of both the Manhattan String Quartet and the Walden Chamber
Players. Mr. Macomber is presently a member of the chamber music faculty of The Juilliard
School, where he earned B.M., M.M. and D.M.A. degrees as a student of Joseph Fuchs. He is
also on the violin faculties of the Manhattan and Mannes Schools of Music, and has taught
at the Tanglewood, Taos and Yellow Barn Music Festivals. Mr. Macomber’s wife, Judy
Sherman, is the leading producer of classical recordings in America.
Violinist LINDA QUAN was born in Los Angeles and received her bachelor’s and
master’s degrees from The Juilliard School. She has appeared as soloist with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic and the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and has served
as concertmistress with various American “original instrument” orchestras including
the American Classical Orchestra (NYC), the Handel and Haydn Society (Boston),
Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) and Mostly Mozart (NYC). She is
a member of the Aulos Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble and the Atlantic
Quartet, and appears frequently with groups such as Aston Magna, the Bach Ensemble,
St. Luke’s and Helicon. Ms. Quan has recorded for many labels, and is on the faculty of
Vassar College.
YNEZ LYNCH (viola), an original member of the New York Chamber Soloists, studied
at Yale with Joseph Fuchs, at Stanford with Sandor Salgo, and was coached in chamber
music in New York with Lillian Fuchs. She was principal viola in both the Musica
Aeterna Orchestra and the Festival Orchestra performing at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln
Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She appeared as guest artist with the
Emerson and American String Quartets, and the Paris Piano Trio. She participated in
the Casals Festivals, both in France and in Puerto Rico, and has recorded with Decca and
Nonesuch Records.
ADAM GRABOIS has a varied career as chamber musician, soloist, teacher and recording
artist and is the founder of the record label Reflex Editions, about whose first recording the
Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “Sometimes, the way he plays with the sound of a single note
has enough emotional sustenance in it to launch a half-dozen distinct feelings in quick
succession.” A second disc, DUOS: Martinu, Ravel, Kodaly, was released to critical acclaim
in 2008. Adam Grabois is the cellist of the New York Chamber Soloists with whom he
performs throughout the country. Recent appearances include the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, the Morgan Library, the National Gallery, the Getty Center, the Kravis Center and
colleges and universities nationwide. He has collaborated with Menahem Pressler, Rachel
Barton Pine, Mikhail Baryshnikov and many others. He is on the faculty of several music
schools is the director of Kinhaven’s Young Artist Seminar. His cello was made by Samuel
Zygmuntowicz in Brooklyn, NY, and his bows were made by Ole Kanestrøm.
In addition to the New York Chamber Soloists, clarinetist ALLEN BLUSTINE is a member
of the award-winning new music ensemble Speculum Musicae, of which he is currently
the president and director. An active proponent of new music for the clarinet, he has
premiered more than 100 solo and chamber works including Milton Babbitt’s My Ends
are My Beginnings, Donald Martino’s Triple Concerto, Elliott Carter’s GRA (New York
premiere), Pulitzer Prize-winner Wayne Peterson’s Peregrinations for solo clarinet and,
most recently, Pulitzer Prize-winner Mario Davidovsky’s Synchronisms No. 12 for clarinet
and electronic sounds. In fact, Elliott Carter, as a special birthday present, wrote and gave
him a work for solo clarinet. He is currently on the faculty of Columbia University.
ROBERT WAGNER is principal bassoonist of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra;
a member of the American Wind Quintet; the Boehm Quintette; and has been a
frequent performer with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St.
Luke’s. He began his studies with Simon Kovar and Norman Herzberg in Los Angeles
and graduated from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Stephen Maxym.
Mr. Wagner teaches Princeton University. He has been a featured performer at the
Salzburg Mozarteum and soloist in Richard Wilson’s Concerto for Bassoon and Chamber
Orchestra on the CRI label. With the Boehm Quintette, Mr. Wagner can be heard on the
New World and Premiere labels, with Orpheus on Deutsche Grammophon, and with the
New Jersey Symphony on Delos and New World.
SHARON MOE is a renowned French horn virtuoso, teacher, and composer. She has
performed and recorded music from classical to jazz in concert and on TV, as a soloist
and as principal horn with chamber ensembles and orchestras in major halls and festivals
throughout the United States, France, Spain and Argentina. She was chosen by Leonard
Bernstein to be solo horn for the world premiere and recording of his composition Mass
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and received critical acclaim for her solo
performance in the world premier of Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux Etoiles in
Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, a piece that was dedicated to her. She is the French
horn professor and chamber music coach on the faculty of LIU C.W. Post, Manhattan
School of Music Precollege and New Jersey City University. Ms. Moe is also an acclaimed
composer, and works under the name of Sharon Moe Miranda. She has the distinction of
being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her composition Windows for orchestra.