† A NOTE ABOUT THE MUSIC ¢
Welcome to the PRSQ’s 2011-2012 season. We’ll be taking you on a musical tour of Europe, with stops in Bohemia, France, and Russia – all anchored by two Viennese titans, Beethoven and Schubert.
First up is a stop in Russia, with our ‘Romantic Russians’ program. Borodin, chemist by day and composer by night, was a member of ‘The Five’, a group of iconoclasts who sought to advance Russian nationalism through music. They attracted both attention and derision – Tchaikovsky, especially, was dismissive of the conceit and dilettantism he perceived in that circle (to be fair, The Five were amateurs in most senses of the word, but among them was some true talent.) Borodin’s lyrical String Quartet No. 2, written in 1881, breaks no new ground in the genre, but its beautiful melodies have made it a favorite of audiences and players alike. Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1, the product of a much more adept composer, displays an adroitness with the genre that is exemplary. Melodic beauty is united with perfection of form, especially in the slow movement, the famous Andante cantabile.
Next up is France. Our ‘French Impressions’ program presents three quartets all linked by relationships and history. Ravel’s Quartet in F major formed part of a failed submission for the Prix de Rome (Ravel was later ruled as ‘ineligible’; no doubt the jury was tiring of his continuing futility in pursuing the award – he did, after all, apply five times.) Ravel’s teacher, Fauré, to whom the quartet was dedicated, was also unimpressed. Debussy, however, loved the work. He wrote Ravel, “In the name of the gods of music and in my own, do not touch a single note you have written in your Quartet.” Debussy’s only string quartet (and first chamber work) had been composed ten years earlier, just before the astonishing Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Fauré himself occupies an interesting niche in the transition of French music from the late-Romantic to Impressionism: his earlier works shocked his more conservative contemporaries, and he remained the most advanced French composer until the appearance of Debussy. Today, it may be hard to hear his music as revolutionary; Fauré’s music is the art of lyricism, not drama, with a sense of restraint that creates an inherent intimacy of expression. His String Quartet Op. 121 was his last work.
We next stop in Vienna for a ‘Schubertiade’. Franz Schubert was just about completely ignored during his lifetime by the musical establishment; it remained to his friends to present his works in evenings devoted exclusively to the composer. As friends of Schubert ourselves, albeit nearly 200 years later, we are presenting two of his masterpieces: the ‘Rosamunde’ Quartet and the sublime Cello Quintet. This latter work is surely in the running for ‘Greatest Chamber Work of All Time’, though it’s given a run for its money by the Rosamunde Quartet. It will truly be an afternoon of friendship, as we are delighted to be joined by Eric Wilson, professor of cello at UBC.
‘The Bohemians’ are next, with works by Dvorák, Suk, and Smetana. Prodigiously talented, Smetana was composing by the age of eight, with high aspirations: “I wanted to become a Mozart in composition and a Liszt in technique,” he once said. Smetana set about writing music that would celebrate Czech nationalism (profoundly influencing Dvorák in the process). His masterpiece in chamber music is the autobiographical string quartet ‘From my Life.’ Dvorák’s own chamber masterpiece, the ‘American’ Quartet, was written during a sojourn in the USA, hence the title. It is permeated, however, with a strong scent of homesickness for his native Bohemia. Suk, who happened to be Dvorák’s son in law, spent most of his working life as the second violinist of the Bohemian String Quartet. His String Quartet Op. 11 was written in 1896, only three years after Dvorák’s ‘American’.
We end our season with Beethoven. For quartet players, it pretty much all begins and ends with Beethoven. We will be playing a masterpiece from his middle years, the first of the Razumovsky quartets, as well as the first quartet of his late works, the great Op. 127. Once declared ‘absurd’ and ‘unplayable’ by his contemporaries, these quartets now prove Beethoven’s singular genius. - Brian Mix
No comments:
Post a Comment