Allegro vivace, ma non troppo

PROGRAM NOTES

While I think “Han” captures well how Asian-Americans feel about the explosion in Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, it’s also energizing to see community organizations galvanizing response to the onslaught: encouraging and streamlining the process of reporting incidents, collecting and publishing statistics about the prevalence of attacks, educating Asian-Americans (especially the elderly) on how to protect and defend themselves, and running public awareness campaigns (such as in New York City) with headlines such as “I Am Not Your Scapegoat” and “We Belong”. I chose images that firstgive you a taste of the amazing natural beauty of Korea, then transitioning into photos of racist graffiti,images of victims or sites of attacks, and finally community esponse. I would like to personally thank Stephen Hough for making his arrangement available to me. I discovered a video of him performing it as an encore in a concert in Korea, and found that it wasn’t published and available on his website. I contacted his agent asking if the arrangement was available anywhere, and Stephen Hough replied personally and attached a PDF of the score within a day. Thank you Sir Hough.

Mykola Lysenko (1842 - 1912) / Elegie Op. 41, No. 3

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I knew I had to finda piece to speak to this topic. Social media was immediately floodedwith performances in support of Ukraine, including “Prayer for Ukraine” by Mykola Lysenko. Lysenko (1842 - 1912) is considered the “father of Ukrainian classical music” not only because he composed in a distinctively Ukrainian style, but also because he dedicated much of his time to ethnomusicological work, researching and transcribing Ukrainian native music and folk instruments.

This piece is from Lysenko’s “Album from the Summer of 1902” Op. 41. “Elegy” means “a lament for the dead”, but in this context I think it’s a lemant also for the people of Ukraine - not only the over 5 million who have fledUkraine, or the 7 million displaced within Ukraine, but the millions more whose lives have been shattered by the invasion.

The images start with some of the beautiful landmarks of Ukraine before the invasion, and then photos of the ravages of the war. But I wanted to include images of hope and resilience, including how the global community has responded with support, and images of strength and resilience from inside Ukraine (including Patron, the heroic bomb-sniffingdog). We close with images of children - representing both sadness as well as hope. I know that many of you have already made a generous donation to Nova Ukraine, and I sincerely thank you for that. I encourage you to visit their website novaukraine. org to see videos and blog posts about their excellent work and inspiring projects that your contributions help fund.

PROGRAM NOTES

Frederic Chopin (1810 - 18429) / Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante Op. 22

This piece, while part of the “standard repertoire”, is frankly a little odd. Chopin wrote the “Grande Polonaise Brillante” firstin 1830-1831 for piano and orchestra, and wrote the Andante spianato later in 1834. He spliced them together with a fanfare (by the way, notoriously difficultto play). He was in his young 20’s and the music is full of youthful energy, optimism, and “look what I can do” showmanship. And yet somehow this cut-and-paste assembly just works. “Andante” means “walking” in Italian, and “Spianato” means “smooth” or “even”. So while you can imagine taking a walk on a flatlandscape, the long and flowingmelody is full of sparkly embellishments, and the left hand accompaniment is a constantly risingand-falling undulation, providing the gentle motor moving the music along. There is a contrasting middle section that’s a mazurka, which is a Polish folk dance in a ¾ meter but with accents somewhat unpredictably placed on beats 2 and 3. The transition to the Grande Polonaise section is a fanfare for the orchestra; this may be the hardest 13 measures I have to deal with in this entire program (except for a few moments of sheer terror in the Brahms Piano Quartet). Assuming I emerge unscathed, we then are treated to the triumphantly heroic melodies of the Grande Polonaise. Polonaise refers to another Polish dance with a distinctive ¾ rhythm DUM da da Dum dum Dum dum. This is concert showman writing extraordinaire, and Chopin throws almost every trick in the book at this music. He wrote this in the earliest phase of his career, having recently arrived in Paris, and was striving to make his mark on the Parisian music scene.

For me, this music radiates bravery and heroism, and evokes images of the dedicated frontline healthcare workers doing their best to treat so many hospitalized patients during the many surges of COVID. Remember the early days when New Yorkers and Londonites were ringing bells, honking horns, and applauding nurses and doctors from their balconies? I humbly offer this as a tribute to the dedication and sacrificeof our healthcare heroes.

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) / Fantasie in F minor, D. 940

Schubert’s Fantasie is so much fun to play that any time there’s a gathering of pianists with food and alcohol, inevitably someone pulls out this music and two people sit down to read it. Of course, if this is too late in the evening, they never make it past the second section (alcohol impairs the ability to count). This piece is at the pinnacle of the four-hand repertoire, and I’ve always wanted to finda duet partner willing to put in the work required to tackle this difficultpiece. Serendipitously, when I finally met Christine, I learned that she had been preparing this piece for a concert in Vienna which was canceled due to COVID. We had so much fun preparing for and performing it in a Fortnightly Music Concert that I had to include it in today’s concert.

PROGRAM NOTES

Schubert composed the Fantasie from January to March of 1828; he died in November that year - so it truly represents “mature” Schubert. The piece is divided into 4 movements, although there is no break or pause between them. The opening movement features a beautiful melody which Schubert presents in both F minor and in F Major (it’s fascinating how different it sounds in major!) followed by a darker second theme - pay attention, it’ll come back again at the climax. The second movement features a dramatic theme featuring double dotted notes and trills (this is where most piano party readings crash and burn); as with the firsttheme, Schubert completely transforms the melody by moving it to major from minor and turning it into a long singing line. There is one phrase where the Primo part has this melody embellished with trills - I think it’s one of the most beautiful single measures you’ll ever hear. The third movement is a lively dance - It’s fast, fun, and finge-tangling. For you music nerds, I think there’s a wonderful Schubertian progression at the end of the movement where Schubert takes us from F# minor to F minor by way of the C# 5th in F# minor - he writes repeated C# octaves, enharmonically transforms them to a Db7 chord, which he treats as a Neapolitan 6th of F minor. It’s cool! The fourth movement starts with a brief recap of the opening theme, followed by a glorious, intricate, and powerfully orchestral fugue built on the second theme of the firstmovement. Schubert really shows off his compositional mastery here, starting with a traditional Bach-like treatment, growing the texture by adding new material in triplets, and building to a huge orchestral texture and climax that leaves us hanging with a C Major chord and then a measure of silence. He wraps things up with what sounds like a copy and paste repeat of the opening theme (again?) but surprises us with a finalcadence that takes us from fortissimo to piano twice in 8 measures. I hope you enjoy listening to this masterpiece as much as we enjoy playing it.

Max Bruch (1838 - 1920) / 2 Selections from 8 Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, Op. 83

I had the great fortune of meeting both Chelsea and Daniel through my time on the board of the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra. I’ve searched for pieces for clarinet, violin and piano but there just isn’t much music out there written for Clarinet, Violin and Piano. So Chelsea and I were planning on performing the Clarinet/Cello/PIano version of some of these “8 Pieces”, until Danny said “I can play the viola part, if I can get my hands on a viola”. So that settled it.

Bruch is mostly known for his Violin Concerto and his Kol Nidrei for Cello and Orchestra. Sadly the latter piece got his music banned by the Nazis (even though Bruch himself wasn’t Jewish). Chelsea has been nudging me to read some of his 8 Pieces for a long time, and I’m so happy we are finally playing 2 of them

PROGRAM NOTES

Bruch was 70 years old when he composed his Eight Pieces; interestingly 7 of the 8 pieces are in minor keys (except for the 7th). Bruch didn’t compose these as a “set” to be performed as a whole, or in any particular order. We chose Numbers 6 and 7 because they form a nice contrasting pair, and frankly because 7 is so delightful and fun to play. Number 6 is titled “Nachtgesang” (“Night Song”), and is basically a romantic Nocturne - a nice gentle way to bring us back from Intermission. Number 7 is a bouncy, spirited Mendelssohn-like piece, perfect for a midsummer afternoon concert.

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) / Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

I love tasting menus. The chef takes you on a journey through different flavors, textures, and visuals, including occasional palate cleansing breaks. But I always look forward to the crescendo to the main attraction - the meat (sorry, I’m still unreformed) course - with maximum flavo, usually paired with a huge Cab or Syrah. The Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 is just that - visceral, chewy, well-marbled, and unabashedly big. I have to explain why this piece has been on my “bucket list” since high school. I was in a piano quartet that got together weekly (when everyone else was going to parties and watching Saturday Night Live) and in my Junior year we thought we were ready to tackle this monster. We got the firstmovement in pretty good shape when I broke up with the cellist (we’d been dating for awhile) in order to date a different girl. Understandably, I was ejected from the quartet and replaced by the hotshot pianist in our class (who had performed with Boston Symphony in 3rd grade and went on to be a professional concert pianist). So hits piece is unfinishedbusiness for me. Brahms composed this piece in 1861. Why is that important? Because in 1862 he moved to Vienna - the capital of the music world - and used this piece as his “I’m here” introduction to the scene. He managed to arrange a reading of it with 3 members of the Hellmesberger Quartet, which had a lot of street cred in Vienna. At the end of the piece the violinist, Hellmesberger himself, jumped up and proclaimed “This is the heir of Beethoven!”

Tons have been written about this piece, and most program notes would cover 3 pages in this booklet. Instead, here are some short “what to listen for” and “favorite moments” highlights. The firstmovement starts with a haunting theme that Brahms masterfully Photoshops into multiple different textures and moods, ranging from hushed and tense to explosively dynamic; the ultimate “variant” being a full four-part fugue in the climax of the middle section. The movement ends with a feeling of tragic foreboding. In the second movement Brahms instructs, curiously, that the violin play con sordino - with mute - but not the viola or cello. He instructs the piano to play una corda (“soft pedal”) with the annotation “The repeated use of the “soft pedal” is left to the choice of the pianist”. The result of this is an eerie sound quality, which works perfectly with the hushed melody but the insistent engine of the repeated notes in the cello. It’s a very cool effect.

PROGRAM NOTES / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The third movement feels like an entrance at a courtly ball, but the energy increases when Brahms inserts triplets in the strings, and then dotted rhythms in the piano. This all leads to an “Animato” section which starts out innocently enough, but transforms into a march-like triumphant declaration that always has me thinking about Star Wars when we play it. The last movement took Vienna by storm. All things Hungarian, including gypsy music, were all the rage in Viennese society, and this Rondo alla Zingarese (“in the style of gypsy music”) is an all-out, no-holds-barred, indulgence in what today would be a long-lasting TikTok meme. This is unapologetically romantic music - no elegant intellectual composition techniques here. So imagine that you’re in a neighborhood Hungarian restaurant with a bowl of goulash or a plate of Chicken Paprikash, a bottle of Hungarian fruit brandy, watching four musicians with big mustaches playing gypsy music while you dine. Trust us - they are having as much fun as it looks.

With Gratitude

There are many people I’d like to thank for their support, help, and input on making this event possible. Rosalind Koff, my piano teacher from 4th grade through high school, who infected me with a lifelong love of music, and her son Jeremy (who was one of my best friends growing up) for his support (and for traveling up from LA to come to the concert). Jim Fung, concert presenter extraordinaire, who has helped prevent my head from exploding and is handling most of the production logistics for this event. Temirzhan Yerzhanov, my teacher, for encouraging me to explore new composers and music, tolerating (and correcting) my sloppy pedaling, and inspiring me to continuous improvement. All my musical partners - Christine Kim, Daniel Cher, Chelsea Chambers, Cary Chin, and Michael Flexer. It’s truly an honor and pure joy to play with you all. All my friends (old and new) and family who’ve enthusiastically supported me and listened to me complain about how hard I’ve been practicing, come to our “beta test” preview performances, and given feedback on the presentation. I particularly thank my neighbor Signe Mayfield(a retired art curator) for her many excellent suggestions on images for some of the pieces. Oleksandr (Alex) Naboka, project manager from my team in Ukraine, for his curation of some of the photos for the Lysenko piece, and for his “View from Ukraine” perspectives. I thank all of you (including those who couldn’t make it) for coming out to support me and my musical partners, and for your generous donations to Nova Ukraine. FInally, thank you to my amazing wife Claire Chang, who has had to apologize so many times for my practicing in the background while she’s on zoom meetings in the evening, who suffers through my pre-concert anxiety, and who is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you Claire.

Pianist Christine Kim was hailed by the legendary pianist, Ivan Morevec, as “one of the few musicians, young or old, who knows how to produce a beautiful tone.” Christine has performed across the United States as recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, with performances in Carnegie Weill Recital Hall and Bing Concert Hall. Her principal teachers include John McCarthy and Thomas Schultz. Additionally, she has performed in masterclasses for Gary Graffman while attending Music@Menlo, and has had additional studies with Marie-Françoise Bucquet in Paris, John Perry, John O’Conor, Frederick Weldy and June Choi Oh. After studies in the Preparatory Division at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ms. Kim pursued an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Stanford University and an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She currently works as an investor at GS Futures. Chelsea Chambers, clarinetist, holds a Master of Music degree from the Royal College of Music, London, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from UCLA. After music school, Chelsea landed a day job with Peninsula Symphony based in Los Altos and was recently appointed Executive Director seven years later. She thoroughly enjoys working to bring excellent performances to Bay Area communities and families. Chelsea has performed with the Livermore Valley Opera Orchestra, Golden Gate Park Band, Monterey Symphony, Merced Symphony, and lots of chamber ensembles across the region. At home, she enjoys cooking and cleaning for her two very young children.

Daniel started his violin career six weeks later than anticipated due to rough tackle during a football game at age 9. Daniel was a founding member of Saint Michael Trio, a local piano trio known for educational and informative performances. Daniel has played in several orchestras, including Orchestra New England, New Haven Symphony, New Century Chamber Orchestra. Since 2016, he has been a member and board member of Peninsula Symphony Orchestra. At age 50, Daniel had an epiphany and, to his wife’s amusement, started playing accordion (mostly in the garage). After a 35-year career at Stanford and in the Silicon Valley computer hardware and software industries, Cary Chin now spends his time teaching violin/viola, coaching young chamber music groups, and other (exclusively) “fun stuff”. He is a long-time board member of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, with the goal of improving the world through a vision of excellence, teamwork, communication, and community - all key skills in the study of chamber music! Cary’s proudest musical accomplishment is that he managed to raise his own string quartet - now all pursuing high-tech careers, but still buoyed by their involvement in PACO and music. Cellist Michael Flexer studied with Irene Sharp and performed with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra; while a student at Harvard he studied with Bernard Greenhouse at the New England Conservatory. He’s been a member of the Saint Michael Trio since 2007. A software engineer, he has worked with Siebel Systems, C3, Duck Duck Moose, and Khan Academy Kids. Pianist Eugene Lee started piano lessons at the age of 4 and took lessons until graduating high school. His professional career includes co-founding an email company, VP Marketing at Cisco and Adobe, CEO of Socialtext, and now Founder and CEO of Motiv8 Technologies. He restarted piano lessons 10 years ago, studying with Temirzhan Yerzhanov, and has performed in several solo recitals, chamber music performances, and California Concerto Festivals. He served as Board Vice Chair of Peninsula Symphony Orchestra for several years.