Program: Harlem Quartet

HARLEM QUARTET

at UC San Diego Friday, February 19, at 8 pm

Department of Music’s Conrad Prebys Concert Hall

Thank You TO:

PERFORMANCE SPONSORS: Jon and Bobbie Gilbert UC SAN DIEGO PARTNERS: Black Resource Center; The Preuss School, UCSD

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ArtPower presents

HARLEM QUARTET

Friday, February 19, 2016, at 8 pm Department of Music’s Conrad Prebys Concert Hall Ilmar Gavilan, violin Melissa White, violin Jaime Amador, viola Felix Umansky, cello

Program String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4 (1798–1800)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Allegro ma non tanto

Scherzo: Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto

Menuetto: Allegretto

Allegro

Night in Tunisia (1941–42)

El Cumbanchero

Dizzy Gillespie (1917–93) (arr. Dave Glenn) Rafael Hernández Marín (1892–1965) (arr. Guido Gavilan)

INTERMISSION

String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 44, No. 2 (1837)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47)

Allegro assai appassionato Scherzo: Allegro di molto

Andante

Presto agitato

Chamber Music

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM Notes for Dizzy Gillespie’s Night in Tsunisia and Rafael Hernández Marín’s El Cumbanchero will be announced from the stage.

String Quartet in C Minor, Opus 18, No. 4 Ludwig van Beethoven Born December 16, 1770, Bonn Died March 26, 1827, Vienna

Brahms may have been haunted by the Beethoven symphonies, but Beethoven had a few ghosts of his own to confront. He was all too aware of what Haydn and Mozart had achieved with the string quartet, and—while still a young man—he copied out movements of their quartets as a way of studying them. It was not until 1798, when he was in his late twenties, that Beethoven finally came to grips with the problems of the form and began writing the group of six quartets that he would eventually publish as his Opus 18. He worked on this set of quartets through the fall of 1798 and completed them the next year; after much revision, he published the six quartets in 1801, certainly conscious that Haydn and Mozart had often published their quartets in groups of six.

But Beethoven’s first set of quartets is not simply an imitation of the work of those earlier masters, and in these first quartets we see the young composer sometimes experimenting with the form and edging toward a voice distinctly his own. Of the six quartets of Opus 18, only the fourth is in a minor key. By itself, this is not remarkable, but what is noteworthy here is Beethoven’s choice of C minor, the key he already reserved for his stormiest music.

From this same period came his Pathetique Sonata, also in C minor, and that piano sonata and the first movement of the string quartet are driven by the same spirit (it may be worth noting that Mozart wrote no quartets in C minor, and of Haydn’s 83 quartets, only one is in that key). His first movement, marked Allegro non tanto, is full of dark and surging energy, and its second theme—far from providing relief—takes some of the shape and character of the opening subject. The development, punctuated by chords that feel almost orchestral in texture, is dominated by that turbulent opening theme.

If the other three movements do not match the character of the opening, they show some distinctive features of their own. In Haydn and Mozart’s quartets, the second movement was usually slow, but Beethoven drops the slow movement from this quartet altogether and substitutes a scherzo, a bubbling and good-spirited movement full of fugal and canonic writing. The third movement is nominally in minuet-and-trio form, but its pace and animated character more readily suggest another scherzo. Beethoven catches the listener off-guard by placing accents off the beat throughout the minuet; the trio section is based on exchanges between the lower voices as, high overhead, the first violin accompanies with chains of triplets. The last movement, marked simply Allegro, is the expected rondo, built here on a quick-paced opening theme. Along the way come more lyric interludes, and the second violin’s busy accompaniment to one of these near the end is among the quartet’s most felicitous moments. Beethoven rounds the movement off with a Prestissimo coda based on the rondo tune.

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Program

String Quartet in E Minor, Opus 44, No. 2 Felix Mendelssohn Born February 3, 1809, Hamburg Died November 4, 1847, Leipzig

On March 28, 1837, the 28-year-old Felix Mendelssohn—pianist, composer, and acclaimed conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra—married 19-year-old Cecile Jeanrenaud in Frankfurt, and the two set off on their wedding journey to Freiburg; during the summer they extended the honeymoon with a stay in Bingen am Rhein. This marriage was by every account one of the happiest enjoyed by any composer, and from this intense and committed union quickly came three sons and two daughters. Unhappily, it was also one of the briefest.

Mendelssohn died suddenly at age 38, and Cecile was driven beyond the point of despair; she never really recovered from her husband’s death, dying six years later at age 36.

Felix and Cecile kept a joint diary during their honeymoon, and so we know that it was during this happy period that he composed his String Quartet in E Minor, completing the score on June 18, 1837. It was first performed that fall in Leipzig and published the following year as the second of the three quartets that make up Mendelssohn’s Opus 44. This is a superb string quartet, the work of a composer at the height of his powers. Mendelssohn played both violin and viola, and the writing has an idiomatic fluency throughout, but much more impressive are the urgency and intensity of the music. The quartet shows all his virtues—a taut sense of form, a nice lyric imagination, a terrific scherzo—and fuses them within a powerful and dramatic framework: it is no accident that this quartet remains in E minor right through its firm conclusion.

Mendelssohn’s performance markings were often elaborate, and he specifies that the opening Allegro should also be assai appassionato. The beginning is dark and surging, its mood made more intense by the restless syncopation of the accompaniment. This is beautiful quartet writing, with the musical interest and melodic line moving seamlessly between the four voices; a more flowing second subject arrives pianissimo. The development is dramatic and animated, full of virtuoso writing for all four instruments, and the brief coda fuses the movement’s two main themes.

Mendelssohn was renowned for his scherzos, and the Allegro di molto is one of his best, skittering along on brisk rhythms and staccato articulation. Formally, this movement is unusual: Mendelssohn offers only a hint of a trio section but then brings back a quick reminiscence of this section just before the movement’s nicely-judged close. He prefaces the Andante with a firm reminder to all four players—“Throughout, this movement must not be allowed to drag”—and the reason for his concern is clear. The movement’s attractive melodic line might easily become sentimentalized if its expressive points are underlined: keep it moving, Mendelssohn warns. The first violin sings the main idea over active accompaniment in the middle voices; in the center section, the melodic duties fall to the cello while the other three voices weave the accompaniment above it. The finale is marked not just Presto but also agitato. Mendelssohn introduces a variety of material here, and some of this movement’s restless mood comes from the fact that the tempo seems to increase throughout: the development is marked Animato, and then he specifies con fuoco (with fire) as the coda propels this quartet to its resounding close on E-minor chords of an almost orchestral intensity.

—Eric Bromberger

Chamber Music

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About the ArtistS Praised for its “panache” by the New York Times, Harlem Quartet “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent” (Cincinnati Enquirer).

The quartet’s mission is to advance diversity in classical music, engaging young and new audiences through the discovery and presentation of varied repertoire that includes works by minority composers.

Since its public debut in 2006 at Carnegie Hall, the New York–based ensemble has performed throughout the U.S. as well as in France, the U.K., Belgium, Panama, Canada, and South Africa— where under the auspices of the U.S. State Department in May 2012, they spent two weeks performing concerts and engaging in outreach activities. In 2013 they completed the professional string quartet training program at New England Conservatory and participated in its string quartet exchange program in Paris, working with violinist Günter Pichler in a master class setting.

In addition to performing in chamber music series around the country, they have collaborated with such distinguished performers as violinist Itzhak Perlman; cellist Carter Brey; clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera; pianist Misha Dichter, with whom the quartet made their Kennedy Center debut in February 2013; and jazz legends Chick Corea and Gary Burton, with whom they joined for their six-month “Hot House” tour in the summer of 2012. Later that year the quartet made their performance debut with another jazz virtuoso, the British saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Tim Garland.

Each member of the quartet is a seasoned solo artist, having appeared with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, National, New World, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras. As an ensemble they perform not only in chamber music settings but alongside orchestras. Their most recent of such collaboration was with Music Director Mei-Ann Chen and the Chicago Sinfonietta, in the world premiere performance of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, arranged for string quartet and orchestra by Randall Craig Fleischer. The quartet reprised their performance of that score with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Concert Association. Chicago Sinfonietta and the quartet recorded the West Side Story arrangement—along with works for string quartet and orchestra by Michael Abels, and Benjamin Lees—for the Cedille label.

Harlem Quartet has been featured on WNBC, CNN, the Today Show, WQXR, and the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. In 2009 they performed for President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. They made their European debut in October 2009 performing at the residence of the U.S. ambassador to the U.K., and as guest artists and faculty members of the Musica Mundi International Festival in Belgium. In early 2011 they were featured guest artists at the Panama Jazz Festival in Panama City and in June 2012, they made their debut with the Montreal Jazz Festival.

In 2007, they recorded Take the “A” Train (produced by White Pine Music), a release featuring the string quartet version of that jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn. A second CD, featuring works of Walter Piston, was released in 2010 by Naxos. Their third recording, released in 2011, is a collaboration with pianist Awadagin Pratt and showcased works by American composer Judith Lang Zaimont. More recently the quartet collaborated with jazz pianist Chick Corea in two recording projects, including a Grammy–winning album Hot House, that included “Mozart Goes Dancing,” which won a separate Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition.

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Program

ARTPOWER DonorS 2015–16 VISIONARY ($50,000+)

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund of the Jewish

Community Foundation

CATALYST ($20,000–49,999)

Jon and Bobbie Gilbert George Clement Perkins Endowment The Weil Family Foundation

CREATOR ($10,000–19,999)

Chamber Music America Epstein Family Foundation Sam B. Ersan Michael and Susanna Flaster Elaine Galinson and Herbert Solomon of

the Galinson Family Foundation Eric Lasley and Judith Bachner New England Foundation for the Arts

PERFORMER ($5,000–9,999)

Amnon and Lee Ben-Yehuda Joan Jordan Bernstein Hamburger Chamber Music Series

Endowment Fund

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Ann Spira Cambell Ronald and Wynnona Goldman Mehran and Susan Goulian Renita Greenberg Alexa Kirkwood Hirsch Charles and Marilyn Perrin Edith High Sanchez and Paul Sanchez Lee and Judith Talner

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Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Bjorn Bjerede and Josephine A. Kiernan Maureen and C. Peter Brown Nelson and Janice Byrne Carol and Jeffrey Chang Alain Cohen and Denise Warren Ruth Covell Martha and Edward Dennis Wayne and Elizabeth Dernetz Dr. Diane Everett-Barbolla Drs. Edwin and Wita Gardiner Norman J. Goldberg and Fusako Yokotobi Pat Jacoby Liz Lancaster and Eli Shefter Marvin and Reinette Levine Barbara and Robert Nemiroff Clayton and Susan Peimer Hans Paar and Kim Signoret-Paar

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SPARK ($100–249)

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Donor list as of 02.03.2016

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Program

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Assistant Intern Minhtri Chu, Marketing Intern Riley Dewitt-Rickards, Production Assistant Austin Eamnarangkool, Marketing Intern Keita Funakawa, Film Curatorial Assistant Camille Latzke, Marketing Intern Aileen Liang, Marketing Assistant Joyce Liang, Marketing Intern Derrick Lieu, Marketing Intern Cliff Mann, Film Curatorial Assistant Connie Oh, Marketing Intern Kendra Quinlan, Marketing Intern Emily Small, Marketing Intern Maryanee Vargas, Marketing Intern Bryant Vu, Marketing Assistant Karen Wang, Production Assistant

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Big Bangg Co-Chairs Phyllis Epstein, Bobbie Gilbert, and Joan Bernstein A fundraiser in support of Student Engagement at ArtPower Sunday, April 10, at noon Faculty Club at UC San Diego

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chamber music / POLAND

MECCORE STRING QUARTET Friday, March 4, 2016, at 8 pm

Praised for its breathtaking performances, flawless technique, and visionary interpretations, the quartet won second prize—and three additional special prizes—at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition at Wigmore Hall in April 2012. Program: Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 50, No. 2; Karol Szymanowski: String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 37; Jean Sibelius: String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 56, “Voces intimae” innovation / U.S.A.

COMING UP NEXT

CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY TRUE LOVE WAITS: THE MUSIC OF RADIOHEAD Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 8 pm

While most pop fare has strong melodic foundations for the soloist to build from, Christopher O’Riley has challenged himself with the catalog of Radiohead, one of modern rock’s most acclaimed—and texturally complex—bands. chamber music / U.S.A.

CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY AND THE NEW YORK CHAMBER SOLOISTS Thursday, April 21, 2016, at 8 pm

Pianist Christopher O’Riley is joined by the New York Chamber Soloists; acclaimed as an outstanding ensemble of distinguished virtuosi, they have maintained a unique niche in the chamber music world for over five decades. Program: Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio in B-flat Major, Op 11, for clarinet, cello, and piano; Igor Stravinsky: L’Histoire du soldat for clarinet, violin, and piano; Béla Bartók: Piano Sonata and Contrasts for violin, clarinet, and piano; Maurice Ravel: Sonata for violin and cello global music / mauritania

noura mint seymali Thursday, March 3, at 8 pm

One of Mauritania’s young celebrities, Noura Mint Seymali is a griot (storyteller/cultural historian/ culture bearer)from a celebrated musical family who began her career at age 13. Noura Mint Seymali mixes Afropop with psychedelia and desert blues with reggae as she drives the legacy forward as one of Mauritania’s most adventurous young artists.

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