VCHpresents Chamber: Remembering Schubert IV - After Beethoven

REMEMBERING SCHUBERT IV - AFTER BEETHOVEN 26 Oct 2022, 7.30pm Victoria Concert Hall

UPCOMING CONCERTS ORGAN

CHAMBER

HALLOWEEN NIGHT Sat 29 Oct, 8pm Sun 30 Oct, 4pm

THE TROUT AND THE TRIO

Loraine Muthiah organ

Musicians of the SSO

BAROQUE FESTIVAL

Sun 11 Dec, 4pm

ORGAN

THE AROMA OF MUSIC Thu 10 Nov, 7:30pm Fri 11 Nov, 7:30pm

A CHRISTMAS CARILLON

Peter Hanson violin/leader Joyce Lee Tung soprano David Charles Tay tenor Martin Ng bass Musicians of the SSO

Yap Wai Hoong organ Evelyn Lim organ Ministry of Bellz Damien Lim (Principal Conductor) Valerie Lee (Associate Conductor)

CHAMBER

THE LITTON DUO Tue 29 Nov, 7:30pm Andrew Litton piano Katharina Kang Litton viola

Wed 28 Dec, 7:30pm

26 OCTOBER 2022: REMEMBERIN RING SCHUBERT IV - AFTER BEETHOVEN PROGRAMME Musicians of the SSO

SCHUBERT String Trio in B-flat major, D. 581

25 mins

Zhang Si Jing violin Janice Tsai viola Chan Wei Shing cello 20 mins

Intermission BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 “Razumovsky I. Molto adagio II. Allegretto III. Finale. Presto

36 mins

Jin Li violin Xu Jueyi violin Gu Bing Jie viola Guo Hao cello

CONCERT DURATION: approximately 1 hour 30 mins (with 20 mins intermission)

PROGRAMME NOTES FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828) String Trio in B-flat major, D. 581 I. Allegro moderato II. Andante III. Menuetto: Allegretto IV. Rondo: Allegretto Schubert’s reputation has always been rather split between his incredible output as a song composer and the uneven quality of much of everything else he wrote, ranging from a failed attempt at an opera to the sublime heights of the great late Cello Quintet. While most of history has judged his music rightly, the String Trio is an example of a work that has been sometimes quite unfairly treated: overshadowed by his string quartets and the piano trios, it is sometimes spoken of dismissively as a teaching piece, despite its obvious charm.

The Schubert of the dark and stormy Sturm und Drang is completely absent from this miniature. In 1816, having quit his much-hated teaching position and finally leaving his family home to move in with his close friend Schober, Schubert was in a completely refreshed frame of mind.

There are tendencies towards the “Classical” style, and indeed the lyricism is very Mozartean, with very little that sounds like serious drama.

While the first movement is very traditional in the sense that it favours the violin as a “solo” instrument with

the other two accompanying, there are moments of real counterpoint, and the viola and cello gain increasing importance over the course of these few minutes: the slow movement has some wonderfully sinuous lines, and the final Rondo has the viola prominently duetting with the violin and then the cello while introducing some definitely Romantic-learning harmonies. Overall, however, this is a very happy work, wearing its sincere joy lightly on its sleeves: the coda is an afterthought, and the piece ends with a wink.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770 – 1827) String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 “Razumovsky” I. Allegro II. Molto adagio III. Allegretto The second of the “Razumovsky” quartets, so named because of a generous patron, starts with some dramatic rhetoric. Beethoven was always fond of big chordal openings, and proceeds to veer off from E minor almost immediately, into C and G minors, before introducing his more lyrical second theme (in G major). These contrasts form the core propulsive force of the entire movement, with syncopations adding even more to the tension. It is hard to imagine, given our overall familiarity with Beethoven’s music in the modern era, what listening to this for the first time must have been like: constant interruptions, harmonic sidesteps, sudden piano-to-fortissimo changes…

all effects designed to shock and awe unsuspecting audiences.

The obsessiveness of the first movement does not quite disappear in the slow movement, which relies on semitones to slide around key areas, as well as an insistent dotted rhythm throughout. Even though the music limps along until the rhythm is softened into triplets, there is always an undercurrent of unpredictable angst: the cadences are drawn out too long, climaxes are stretched to breaking point, and random loud chords are scattered throughout.

Where one would have expected a minuet in a more conventional quartet, Beethoven substitutes a strangely loping triple-time dance with more than a little rustic flavour. The turn to the major in the contrasting section quotes a Russian melody starting in the viola and is perhaps the only unequivocal “positive” music in the whole work.

The hunting gallop that starts the final Presto is surprising for one thing: Beethoven has started in the “wrong” key! Instead of the E minor of the first movement or an allowable E major, the finale starts in C and Beethoven takes pleasure in delaying the appearance of the home key for quite a long while. A long passage of tiny fragments being passed around all four members of the string quartet leads back into the gallop, again in the wrong key. Beethoven’s best harmonic tricks are on display: the last three movements are all in

E minor, and here the listener is given some respite. The gallop is not as obsessive as is typical of Beethoven’s finales either, being interspersed by some very welcome lyric moments and purely harmonic exploration, though the added step up in speed means the quartet ends in a headlong rush to the finish line.

Notes by Thomas Ang

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Founded in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. Our Music Director is Hans Graf. While the SSO performs frequently at the Esplanade Concert Hall, for a more intimate experience, we return to the place of our beginnings, the Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) -– the the home home of of the the SSO. SSO. The The VCH is host to our popular Children’s Children’s, Family and biannual free Lunchtime Concerts as well as our VCHpresents chamber series.

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