BMC Chamber Music Series:
The Lydian String Quartet Presents Encore! Encore!
Music by Composers in their Second Half-Century
Daniel Stepner, Judith Eissenberg, Mary Ruth Ray, Joshua Gordon
Saturday, April 9, 7:30 pm, Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro
The program features Franz Josef Haydn’s Quartet in E-flat Major (“The Joke”), Op. 33, No.2 (1781); Gabriel Fauré’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 121 (1924); and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quartet in F Major, Op 135 (1826).
Tickets: $30, $20 $10
Available by calling the BMC at 802-257-4523
Or on-line at BrattleboroTix
READ MORE:
The Lydian String Quartet Presents Encore! Encore!
Music by Composers in their Second Half-Century
On Saturday, April 9, at 7:30 pm, the Lydian String Quarter will present “Encore! Encore!” at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vermont as part of the Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Music Series.
“Encore! Encore!” was created to showcase works written by composers who enjoyed success early in their careers but who were compelled to stay connected to their inner muse, to reinvent themselves as they grew older — who came back, yet again, to another round of applause.
The program features Franz Josef Haydn’s Quartet in E-flat Major (“The Joke”), Op. 33, No.2 (1781); Gabriel Fauré’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 121 (1924); and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quartet in F Major, Op 135 (1826).
Although Haydn lived long past the composition of the opus 33 quartets, they were released with a note by Haydn that he had approached them in a new, fresh compositional style, where individual parts were allowed to develop more melodic ideas, where alternate themes developed smoothly from original themes. The Quartet Op. 33, No. 2 is nicknamed “The Joke” because of explicit and implicit comedy on several levels. The first movement, Allegro moderato, has a rustic good humor — one pictures a country bumpkin. The Scherzo features a mid-section that satirizes playing in bad taste. Haydn gives no verbal instructions to that effect; rather, the fingerings he puts in the first violin’s part (something composers rarely do) require a sliding around the fingerboard that projects a sort of unctuous incompetence. The gracious Largo represents a break from comedy, but sets up the real joke in the last movement: a sort of musical punch-line which no good program notes writer should give away!, but which will be obvious to the listener.
Fauré’s quartet in E minor was the last work he wrote, when he had become completely deaf, not unlike Beethoven. Daniel Stepner, the LSQ’s first violinist, says, “this work is essentially a serene, optimistic piece, though the last movement ends in a burst of triumph, a quality not normally associated with Fauré. His command of harmonic modulation allows him to turn on a dime, transporting the listener rather suddenly to surprising, unexpected musical landscapes.”
Beethoven’s opus 135 was also his last substantial work, and features Beethoven’s late characteristics of lyrical, intimate communication, madcap humor, profound sentiment, and victory over adversity. The first movement features short motives, stops and starts, a bit of light-hearted fugue, and a wonder-fully elastic series of harmonic modulations. The second is a fleet, rhythmically elusive scherzo with a zany middle section. The slow movement is a short, affecting set of variations on a hymn-like theme. The final movement begins seriously, with a tragically-tinged question, “Must it be?” (the words literally annotated in Beethoven’s sketches), and then proceeds to a life-affirming, up-beat answer, “It must be!” This is heard both explicitly in the speech-like motives that open both sections and in the harmonic language in which they are expressed: chromatically twisted and in minor mode for the question, but diatonically purged and rhythmically quickened for the defiantly cheery answer. The body of the last movement is upbeat and irresistibly optimistic. It’s hard to imagine a more joyous response, to any portentous, rhetorical question, or to a life filled with tribulation.
As the Lydians perform these fascinating pieces, they will reveal the alchemy that was long at work in transforming the experiences of youth into something quite new.
Since its formation, in 1980, the Lydian String Quartet’s exquisite artistry has inspired critical acclaim worldwide. Their interpretive mastery of traditional works and special flair for contemporary repertoire has also won prizes at international festivals and earned the prestigious Naumburg Award for Chamber Music.
The LSQ’s compelling performances of the quartet literature — performances that are superbly integrated, marvelously assured, and unfailingly elegant — are the result of the ensemble’s thorough exploration and deep understanding of each composer's expressive language and craft.
The members of the Lydian String Quartet (Daniel Stepner, violin; Judy Eissenberg, violin; Mary Ruth Ray, viola; Joshua Gordon, cello) are on the faculty of Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Twice-Grammy-nominated musician Daniel Stepner joined the LSQ, as first violinist, in 1987. He is a member of both the Boston Museum Trio and the Handel and Haydn Society where he served as concertmaster for over two decades. During the summers, he is the artistic director of the Aston Magna Festival in the Berkshires. He has toured extensively and has performed and recorded a wide variety of contemporary and period music. He studied with Steven Staryk in Chicago, Nadia Boulanger in France, and Broadus Erle at Yale.
Second violinist and a founding member of the Lydian String Quartet, Judith Eissenberg has commissioned new works; toured widely, performing on modern and period instruments; appeared with the Boston Chamber Music Society, The Boston Conservatory Chamber Players, Emmanuel Music, Boston Pops, and Boston Baroque; and is a member and soloist with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra. She teaches at The Boston Conservatory and at Brandeis University. At Brandeis, she founded MusicUnitesUS, to further the understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures through music. In the summer, she teaches and performs at various music festivals, including Music From Salem in upstate NY, which she co-founded and directs.
An original member of the Lydian String Quartet, violist Mary Ruth Ray has received critical acclaim throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia. An active soloist and chamber musician, she has performed as guest artist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Bard Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Players Boston Musica Viva, Juneau Jazz and Classics, and as member and soloist with Emmanuel Music in Boston, Ms. Ray has performed the complete cycle of more than 200 sacred cantatas by Bach as well as chamber music of Debussy, Brahms, Schubert, and Schoenberg.
Joshua Gordon has won international acclaim from audiences, critics, colleagues, and composers for his dramatic music making and rich tone. Along with his work as cellist with the Lydian String Quartet, recent guest appearances include the Boston Chamber Music Society, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Emmanuel Music, North Country Chamber Players, and with the Ying Quartet. His New World recording with Randall Hodgkinson, “Leo Ornstein: Complete Works For Cello and Piano," was named one of the top 10 classical recordings of 2007 by the All Music Guide.
Join the Lydia String Quartet for “Encore! Encore!” on Saturday, April 9, 7:30 pm at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street, in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Tickets: $30, $20 $10
Available by calling the BMC at 802-257-4523
Or on-line at BrattleboroTix
|
