Department of Music and Theatre
University at Albany
presents:
Capital Trio
Duncan Cumming , piano
Hilary Walther Cumming , violin
Sölen Dikener , cello
Funding support provided by University Auxiliary Services
Sunday, September 22, 2024, at 4pm
Main Theatre
UAlbany Performing Arts Center
CAPITAL TRIO Program
Three Pieces, Op. 40 Amy Beach
La Captive (1867-1944)
Berceuse Mazurka
Piano Trio in G major, Op. 1 No. 2
Ludwig van Beethoven
Adagio-Allegro vivace (1770-1827)
Largo con espressione
Scherzo: Allegro
Finale: Presto
Piano Trio (1921) Rebecca Clarke
Moderato ma appassonato (1886-1979)
Andante molto semplice
Allegro vigoroso
Ludvig van Beethoven, Composer
Rebecca Clarke, Composer
Amy Beach, Composer
Notes on the Repertoire
Amy Cheney Beach was born in 1867 in Henniker, NH, to a family of amateur music lovers. By any measure she was an extremely precocious child. By the age of one she could sing 40 tunes accurately, all in the same key; by age two she could sing an accompanying harmonic line to a melody; by age three she could read; by age four she was composing her own original compositions. Amy Beach had only one year of formal compositional training, with Junius W. Hill. However, she possessed an insatiable intellect and she studied various treatises and textbooks on composition throughout her life, using the masterworks as her models. These three pieces Op 40 were written in 1898, when Beach was about 30 years old, and they are light, romantic, and pleasing “bon mots” perfectly suited for the intimate setting of the social salon. However, do not be fooled: Amy Beach also wrote grand, expansive symphonies and serious, technically challenging repertoire across all genres. A powerful performer, she debuted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885 at the age of 18, with Chopin’s piano Concerto in F minor; the BSO also premiered her celebrated “Gaelic” Symphony Op. 32 (1896). Although Amy Beach was considered the Grand Dame of the Second New England School, she was also dedicated to promoting other new composers: in 1925 she co-founded and served as the first president of the Society of American Women Composers. Songs were at the heart of her compositional style, and nowhere is that more evident than in these lovely pieces for violin and piano.
When Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his Trio Op. 1 No. 2, he was not the brooding, angry, wild-haired Beethoven that has largely captured our imaginations today. A man of only 22, Beethoven had a youthful, hopeful sense of destiny about his own life: he believed he was something special. Indeed, Mozart agreed when he heard Beethoven play in Vienna in 1787, Mozart was not terribly impressed with his piano playing. However, after hearing Beethoven’s skill at improvisation at the keyboard, Mozart remarked to friend: “Keep your eye on him. He’s going to give the
world something to talk about.” When it came time for the young Beethoven to choose which pieces to commit to as his very first, his Opus 1, his first published signature out in the published world, he chose the genre of the piano trio. The format provides ample opportunity for a formidable, virtuoso piano part, with impressive lightning-fast passages (which Beethoven himself would have played stirringly in concert); alongside, the piano trio capitalizes on the singing, sustaining qualities of the strings.
The Trio in G Major Op 1 No 2 is a sunny, youthful, rustic piece, full of silliness, chuckles and jokes. The first movement—after a short, serious introduction—jaunts along on a bumpy cart, throwing a bit of everything at the audience. Rustic themes follow dour fugues which follow brilliant 16th-note passages. The second movement shows Beethoven at his most reverent, with a noble cantabile melody introduced by the piano; the rest of the movement hints at the maturity and depth that would come to define his late period. A Scherzo (an Italian word meaning “Joke”) takes the place of the typical Minuet movement: this quick movement in danceable 3/4 time delights with dappled light and effervescent staccato gestures. In the final movement Beethoven playfully tosses themes between the instruments: as often as humanly possible Beethoven sets us up to expect one thing, only to throw in a wrench at the last minute. We can almost hear him laughing, with us, right up to the final phrase of this magnificently joyful ride.
Rebecca Clarke was born in Victorian London and died in postBeatles New York City. Showing musical talent as a young girl, her father enrolled her in the Royal Academy of Music in London; ludicrously, her studies were interrupted and she was withdrawn because her music theory professor proposed marriage. Later, she tried again, and she became the first woman to be accepted into the composition class of Charles Stanford at the Royal College of Music in London. There, she roamed the halls with the likes of Ralph Vaughn Williams, Frank Bridge and Myra Hess. However, this happy time ended at age 19 when she had a terrible disagreement with her father, and he kicked her out of the house. She responded by creating a very unusual life for a woman of her time: she made a living performing, gigging, in small groups and orchestras across London and subsequently around New York City. Her busy lifestyle did not allow for much reflection time
needed for composition, so her output is small, but what little she did manage to get down on paper is extremely compelling.
Rebecca Clarke was not celebrated for her music in her lifetime: in fact, even today only 20 percent of her music can be found in print. The Piano Trio was one of two pieces she submitted to an anonymous competition in the Berkshires (USA) in 1921. It claimed second prize, and the judges speculated that it was written by Bloch or Ravel. When it was revealed to be Rebecca Clarke, a woman, many were stunned and challenged her authorship. Insidiously low expectations, restrictive societal roles for women and Clarke’s lack of “a room of one’s own,” as Virginia Woolf put it, eventually wore her down. Both overt and unconscious sexism affected her deeply, and tragically she gave up composing by 1951.
Fortunately for us, Clarke’s Piano Trio can still be savored by audiences today. The trio masterfully blends the architectural formal discipline of German music with the influence of Eastern tonalities popularized by the Orientalism movement in the music of Debussy and Ravel. The expansive first movement, steeped in the crushing desperation of the years surrounding the first world war, revels in dissonance and uses cyclical and military themes effectively to build and break tension. The magical whole tone scale and the use of mutes in the strings imbues the second movement with a sense of fantasy and puckish playfulness. In the final movement themes from the very beginning of the piece are woven into the fabric to bring a sense of finality and organic cohesion to the entire work. Clarke is in full command: virtuoso passages both fiery and soulful deliver triumph over despair.
The Capital Trio began as the Cecilia Piano Trio in 1997, named not only for the patron saint of music but also the cellist’s daughter, who was two years old at the time. Founding and current members Duncan Cumming, piano, and Şölen Dikener, cello were surprised to discover at their first rehearsal that their teachers, Frank Glazer and Paul Tortelier, had performed together in Paris and Boston almost 70 years earlier and the young performers immediately forged a musical bond of friendship. Violinist Hilary Cumming joined the group in 1999 and they gave concerts and master classes from New England to the Midwest. They were featured as soloists with orchestra in Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” and
dedicated themselves to commissioning and performing new works in addition to performances of standard trio repertoire. A review from the Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan, described the trio as “convincing both as strong individual musical personalities and as a cohesive unit.”
The Capital Trio was established as ensemble-in-residence at UAlbany in 2008 and they took on a new name to reflect their new incarnation in Albany, New York. Since their Albany debut they have toured the southern U.S., New England, and Europe in addition to their concerts in New York. Having held rigorous summer residencies in the past in Maine and in Michigan, since coming to New York they have been pleased to be rekindling this passion and commitment to the art of chamber music at the University at Albany. In addition to their performing and teaching at the University at Albany, through an artist exchange program they have performed, lectured, coached, and given master classes at Williams College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, SUNY Oswego, Long Island University, Clark University, and many other schools.
Violinist Hilary Walther Cumming teaches at the University at Albany and performs as the violinist of the Capital Trio with American pianist Duncan Cumming and Turkish cellist Sölen Dikener. Before moving to New York, she served as concertmaster of the Cape Cod Sinfonietta and the Andover Chamber Orchestra; she has been heard as soloist with these ensembles as well as with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, Concord Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Principal influences for her style and discipline are Joseph Silverstein, Franco Gulli and Shmuel Ashkenasi on modern violin, Stanley Ritchie on Baroque violin, and Seamus Connolly on Irish traditional fiddle. These outstanding artists continue to guide her and inspire her every moment she spends with her violin.
She has performed most extensively with the Capital Trio, ATHELAS (Denmark), Boston-based Sarasa, the Abbott Trio, and the Coleridge Ensemble. Her recordings can be found on Albany Records, Meridien and AFKA Records. As an orchestra musician, she has played in major halls on four continents; as a chamber musician she has recently toured Denmark, France and
Switzerland with the Capital Trio. Her first love and passion remains the study and performance of chamber music.
Since his solo debut in 1985, cellist Şőlen Dikener appeared in the USA and Europe as a soloist and also as a chamber musician with numerous groups, and most recently with the Capital Trio, based at SUNY-Albany. A promoter of contemporary music, he recorded six albums featuring premiere works for solo cello and chamber music of many modern composers. Dikener’s talent was recognized early on and following his graduation from the Gifted Students’ class in Ankara, he studied in France with legendary cellist Paul Tortelier. He currently teaches as a cello professor at Marshall University and is also the founder of Dat.C.A. Summer Cello Academy. In 2022 he published a new solo album "My Beautiful Star" available worldwide through Centaur Records.
Duncan J. Cumming, now in his nineteenth year on the faculty of the University at Albany, has performed concertos, recitals, and chamber music concerts in North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. He has recorded three albums for the Centaur label. The first is a solo recording (CRC 3125) including music of Brahms, Debussy, Satie, and Chopin and the second is a historical instrument recording with Christopher Hogwood (CRC 3231) of the music of Carl Maria von Weber on Weber’s own 1815 Brodmann fortepiano. His most recent CD for Centaur (CRC 3834) came out in June of 2021, called From Bangkok to Bangor, and it is a story and music for children with narrator Lucy Cumming and illustrations by Hilary Cumming. He also has three chamber music recordings with Albany Records including A Book of Hours (TROY 1239), Threads of the Heart (TROY 1428) and Distance (TROY 1864). He is the pianist of the Capital Trio, ensemble-inresidence at the University at Albany, and the trio has performed, lectured, and taught master classes in residencies at Williams College in Massachusetts and Cambridge University in England among other places. He lives in New York with his wife, the violinist Hilary Walther Cumming, and his children Lucy, Mairi, and William Bear.
Music Program (518) 442-4187
www.albany.edu/musicandtheatre
PerformingArts Center (518) 442-3995
www.albany.edu/pac
Theatre Program (518) 442-4200
www.albany.edu/musicandtheatre
HOUSE POLICIES
Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the management and its staff.
The use of photographic or recording devices of any kind during this performance is strictly prohibited.
There is no food or drink allowed in the theatres, nor is smoking allowed in UAlbany buildings.
. To avoid disrupting the performance, kindly disable any noise making electronic devices you may have with you.
Please take time to note the location of the fire exits nearest to you. In the event of an emergency, an announcement will be made from the stage. Please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.
The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.
The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.
