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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240724T193000
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SUMMARY:Chen\, Schumann\, & Brahms
DESCRIPTION:Chen\, Schumann\, & Brahms \n QIGANG CHEN\nVoyage d’un Rêve \n Anne Chao\, flute • Rachel Yi\, violin • Chi-Yun Liu\, viola • Hayoung Moon\, cello • June Han\, harp\nLuke Rinderknecht\, percussion \n  \nCLARA WIECK SCHUMANN\nDrei Romanzen\, Op. 22 \n I. Andante molto\nII. Allegretto\nIII. Leidenschaftlich Schnell \n Sergiu Schwartz\, violin • Jeewon Park\, piano \n  \nJOHANNES BRAHMS\nPiano Quartet No. 2 in A Major\, Op. 26 \n I. Allegro non troppo\nII. Poco adagio\nIII. Scherzo. Poco allegro\nIV. Finale Allegro \n YooJin Jang\, violin • Kirsten Docter\, viola • Amir Eldan\, cello • HieYon Choi\, piano \n\nQIGANG CHEN‬\n‭Voyage d’un Rêve (1987) \nQigang Chen wrote‬‭ Voyage d’un Rêve‬‭ on commission from‬ Radio France in 1986. He wrote the following program note to‬ accompany its premiere:‬ \nVoyage d’un Rêve‬‭ was written in 1987. At that time\,‬‭ I felt the‬ general idea of “musical modernity\,” in both research and in‬‭ practice\, was rather rigid — in fact\, modern music often‬‭ consisted of sonorities which were rather more‬‭ conventional even than those of so-called “conservative”‭ music.‬ \n  \nComposing‬‭ Voyage d’un Rêve‬‭ was for me a sort of escape.‬‭ \n  \nI wanted to simply whisper a love song\, describe a silvery‬‭ night\, distance myself somewhat from Parisian‬‭ intellectualism\, and avoid overusing the major seventh and‬‭ minor ninth… the readymade intervals so often used in‬ “contemporary music\,” despite their apparent complexity. Of‬‭ course\, at that time\, I did not possess a great deal of‬‭ self-confidence. So I wrote this work with much‬‭ apprehension.‬‭ \n  \nIt was an experiment\, but a precious experiment\, and a‬‭ starting point from which I have been able to gradually‬‭ chart my path.‬‭ Qigang Chen added the following postscript in correspondence‬‭ with the program annotator:‬‭ It is important to know that this was my first commission‬‭ after I moved to France and it meant a lot to me as a‬‭ young composer. Even when I read what I wrote 37 years‬‭ ago I can feel vividly what I was thinking back then and‬‭ what the atmosphere was like around me.‬ \n  \nCLARA WIECK SCHUMANN‬\n‭Drei Romanzen\, Op. 22 (1853)‬ \nThe “Romance” was a genre of predilection for both Robert‬ and Clara Schumann. Derived from the sentimental vocal‭ ballads of southern Europe\, the instrumental romance grew in‬‭ popularity in early nineteenth-century Germany as a character‬‭ piece\, free in form but maintaining the lyricism of its sung‬‭ origins. The Schumanns also used Romances as vehicles for‬‭ compositional dialogue: Robert and Clara exchanged‬‭ Romances in 1839–40; and when Clara titled the slow‬‭ movement of her Piano Concerto “Romanze\,” Robert borrowed‬‭ a passage from this movement for the opening of his‭ Dichterliebe cycle.‬‭ \n  \nThe Three Romances\, Op. 22\, were also composed “in‬‭ dialogue” with another close friend of the Schumanns —‬‭ violinist Joseph Joachim\, who had begun composing‬‭ Romances of his own in 1850. Joachim\, who had only just‬‭ turned twenty\, impressed the Schumanns with a performance‬ of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in 1853. Clara\, having just‬‭ completed another set of Three Romances for solo piano (Op.‬‭ 21)\, responded by dedicating the Op. 22 set to Joachim\,‬‭ thereby initiating a creative partnership that would last several‬‭ decades. Together\, they brought the work on tours across‬‭ Germany and England\, and the Romances became a particular‬‭ favorite of Joachim’s employer\, the King of Hanover.‬‭ \n  \nThe Three Romances are poignant in that they are among Clara‬ Schumann’s final works. When Robert died in 1856\, Clara found‬‭ herself in a precarious position\, with seven children to take‬‭ care of and in need of a stable revenue stream. She ceased‬‭ composing\, and for the four remaining decades of her life‬‭ devoted herself to more reliably lucrative acts of performing\,‬‬‭ as well as promoting Robert’s legacy through arrangements‬‭ and editions of his work and through pedagogy. Joachim‬‭ remained a steadfast collaborator throughout these years\, as‬‭ her most frequent partner in performance\, and as a fellow‬‭ editor of Robert’s music.‬ \n  \nJOHANNES BRAHMS‬\n‭Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major\, Op. 26 (1857-1861)‬ \nThere is a tradition\, almost as old as the work itself\, of‬ comparing Brahms’ Second Piano Quartet to the late chamber‬ music of Franz Schubert\, on account of the broad dimensions‬ of the work’s extended form and the patient unfurling of its‬ developmental explorations. The comparison is historically apt:‬ though Schubert had died five years before Brahms’ birth\, his‭ instrumental music in particular was undergoing a period of‬‭ rediscovery in the mid-1850s\, nourished in part by Brahms’ close friends\, the Schumanns (Brahms spent a month visiting‭ the Schumanns in 1853\, the same year Clara composed her‬ Drei Romanzen‬‭\,‬‭ Op. 22‬‭\, heard on the first half of‬‭ tonight’s‬‭ program). It was Robert and Clara’s admiration for Schubert‬‭ that first drove Brahms to study the composer’s works‬‭ intensely during a period of doubt\, reflection\, and‬‭ experimentation that yielded\, by the end of the decade\, to‬‭ what musicologist James Webster has called Brahms’ “first‬‭ maturity.”‬‭ \n  \nThe Schubertian imprint already may be located in the formal‬‭ expansiveness of Brahms’ first piano quartet (in G Minor\, to be‬‭ performed on Sunday evening) — completed immediately‬‭ before the second — except that the Schubert-like lyricism‬‭ foregrounded in the second quartet is (like the second quartet‬‭ as a whole) often overshadowed by the vigor and force of its‬‭ older sibling. The two quartets also share Brahms’ first nods to‬‭ Romungro‬‭ (so-called Hungarian “Gypsy”) music in their‬‭final‬‭ movements: but while the first quartet’s unbridled Finale is‬‭ explicitly marked “Alla Zingarese” (literally\, “in the Gypsy‬‭ style”)\, the Allegro that concludes the Second Quartet‬‭ balances spirited syncopations with moments of tender‬‭ suspension and almost courtly grace.‬‭ \n  \nWhen Brahms completed the two quartets in 1861\, he was not‬‭ yet thirty years old\, and had yet to relocate to Schubert’s city\,‬‭ Vienna: it was in his native Hamburg that the first of the‬‭ quartets was premiered\, with Clara on the piano. But with her‬‭ encouragement (and a letter of introduction bearing her‬‭ signature)\, Brahms departed for Vienna in autumn of the‬‭ following year\, whereupon his second quartet received its first‬‭ performance — now with the composer at the keyboard —‬‭ and where Brahms would unleash an outpouring of chamber‬‭ music over the following few years\, including his piano quintet\,‬‭ the second string sextet\, and the horn trio.‬ \nProgram Notes by Peter Asimov‬\n‭\n‭
URL:https://www.bowdoinfestival.org/event/chen-schumann-brahms/
LOCATION:Studzinski Recital Hall\, 12 Campus Road S\, Brunswick\, ME\, 04011
CATEGORIES:Concert,Ticketed Events,Wednesdays,Livestream
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