August 20, 12 Blue Room, Th ESTAMPES QUARTET Lunchtime Concert by
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 6 in B Flat Major, Op. 18
I. Allegro con brio Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73 I. Allegretto III. Allegro non troppo Antonin Dvorak String Quartet No. 12 in F Major "American", Op. 96 II Lento IV Finale (Vivace ma non troppo)
Franz Schubert String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor "Death and the Maiden", D. 810 I. Allegro III. Scherzo (Allegro molto) Claude Debussy String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10, L. 85 I. Anime et tres decide II. Scherzo (Assez vif et bien rhyme)
Artistes
WEE JIA TONG AMANDA Violin Amanda began learning the piano at the age of seven, and only picked up the violin at 13. In 2018, she won the Gold Award in the Solo Violin Category at the Singapore International Festival of Music. She has organised two chamber concerts, AMANDA & FRIENDS I & II, held at the Esplanade Recital Studio in 2019 and 2022. Amanda was a member of the Raffles Chamber Ensemble, Music Elective Programme Orchestra in 2018 and NUS Symphony Orchestra.
JOEL HOE KAI-EN Violin Joel is a passionate violinist who picked up the instrument at the age of 3 and is currently under the tutelage of Luo Wei. He recently clinched the 3rd Prize in the National Piano and Violin Competition 2021 (Violin Senior Category), and had won the Platinum and Belcanto Special Prize at the 2018 Singapore Performers’ Festival, as well as a Gold with Honours Award at the 2019 Singapore Raffles International Music Festival. He remains an active orchestral and chamber musician, having played in orchestras like Orchestra of the Music Makers, Kids’ Philharmonic, Raffles Chamber Ensemble and Raffles Institution String Ensemble over the years.
ISAAC TAH SHERN-U Cello Isaac began playing the cello at the age of 6, takin part in various ensembles including the Raffle Institution String Ensemble, Raffles Chamb Ensemble and the Singapore National You Orchestra. He has participated in several music competitions as part of a piano trio. He is currently a struggling NSF.
SAMUEL TAN MING YING Viola Samuel was the former Principal Violist of th Raffles Institution String Ensemble. He ha performed in both Singapore and overseas. Mor notably, he played at the Hong Kong Music for Ou Young Foundation's Winter Festival in 2016. He wa also a member of the Raffles Chamber Ensembl Outside of music, Samuel enjoys running, findin good places to eat, and watching sports.
Pieces
The first movement begins with a dramatic opening with explosive outbursts in major-minor instability. In this movement, it appears that Schubert occasionally tried creating the sound of an orchestra. Even with a second theme in a less ominous tone, the movement continues with a dark atmosphere and closes quietly and sorrowfully.
The scherzo features a high and low call and response, together with dotted rhythmic figures dominating. Featuring syncopations and sforzando jabs, this dance like movement progresses with much energy before a more lyrical and warm Trio interrupts and before the dark waltz returns. Fun fact: 19-year-old Schubert enrolled in a law course in Vienna. He subsequently dropped out of law school to focus on composing his fifth symphony.
Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Although Schubert did not live a long life, he had composed many works of a wide variety from Lieds to opera, chamber and solo piano music, and also symphonic works. Schubert’s fourteenth string quartet, also nicknamed “Death and the Maiden” has often be termed as one of the most important chamber music pieces ever written. It was written shortly after the composer found out he was dying from an illness. Schubert wrote to a friend, 'Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who, in sheer despair over this, even makes things worse instead of better.
String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 ("Death and the Maiden") I. Allegro III. Scherzo: Allegro motto WrittenbyFranzSchubert
Imagine a man, I say, whose most brilliant hopes have perished…’. The despair and pain that Schubert was suffering is reflected in the dark intensity of this quartet.
WrittenbyClaudeDebussy
Many people associate Debussy to impressionism, which is a French painting style of the late 19th century describing works by French painters like Monet, Pissaro and Renoir that focus more on the overall impression of a painting rather than on clarity of details. This term was used to describe Debussy’s music ever since he wrote Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun in 1894. The piece placed great emphasis on colour; many described the work to be dreamlike and sensual. Nevertheless, Debussy has strongly objected to using the word “Impressionist” to describe his music.
Claude Debussy was a French composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is one of the most prominent figures in impressionist music. Debussy's talent and gift for the piano was clear from a young age and he began studying the piano at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris since the age of 10. However, he turned to composition subsequently.
The Poppy Field near Argenteuil, 1873 by Claude Monet
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 I. Animé et très décidé II. Assez vif et bien rythmé
Antibes Seen from La Salis, 1888 by Claude Monet Debussy only wrote one string quartet, although he had planned to write a second one. This string quartet was an influential one, although its premiere in Paris in 1893 saw mixed reactions. Because of how different this quartet is from traditional string quartets, French composer Pierre Boulez once said that Debussy had freed chamber music from “rigid structure, frozen rhetoric and rigid aesthetics”. The quartet is set in a cyclical method which was used by Franz Liszt and features many attractive melodies and harmonies. The opening of the first movement is set in Phrygian mode with a vigorous motto theme. A second theme, more lyrical, comes along and is closely related to the first theme. As the movement moves along, many changes in tempo, rhythm and harmony can be observed. The second movement flashes a taste of minimalism, beginning with a viola solo, which is a variation of the motto theme from the first movement. This variation turns out to be the backdrop for rhythmic pizzicatos and trills in the violins and cello. Progressing through the movement, the first violin transforms the theme into a more lyrical one. This stunning scherzo has got many listeners attributing Debussy’s experience with the Gypsy dances of Andalusia to Javanese gamelan music at the Paris Universal Exhibit in 1889 to the composition of this movement.
String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6 I. Allegro con brio WrittenbyLudwigvanBeethoven
Beginning in the key of Bb major, the first movement is structured in the sonata form. The first theme features a conversation between the first violin and the cello, before the second violin takes over. As the movement progresses, the modest texture and themes develop through turn figures and elegantly dotted rhythms.
This string quartet, the final of the set of six quartets in Op. 18 (also typically labelled Beethoven’s “early” quartets as they were written early on in his career), was written between the years 1798 and 1800 and dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz, who is known to be a patron of Beethoven.
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist of the late Classical and early Romantic periods. His compositions have been widely performed even to this day. He is known for widening the scope of musical forms of the sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet. Unfortunately, Beethoven suffered from deafness in the later part of his life. Nevertheless, he composed some of his most significant works in the time his hearing had deteriorated.
Shostakovich’s third quartet was written in 1946, and was the composer’s only work that year. World War II had just ended and he had also just completed his Ninth Symphony which was very much controversial. Shostakovich was known to have regarded this quartet as one of his finest compositions and many have also described this quartet to be a “wildly original composition” as the composer manages to combine a hint of playfulness with all seriousness. Structured into an unusual five movements, the writing is rather demanding as it calls for the players to play in the higher registers. Building on the sonata form, the first movement begins with a playful and skittering main theme in the first violin. Progressing to the second theme, which is much more sombre, the composer wrote the development section of the movement in a double fugue, which makes the music more troubled and uneasy. While there persists some uneasiness and vague harmonies in this movement, the composer had asked for this movement to be played with tenderness, and not forcefully. The third movement begins with explosive chords that resemble the sound of gunshots. In the key of G-sharp minor, the music alternates between 2/4 and 3/4 time. This violent movement effervesces with battleground and military energy. Fun fact: Shostakovich was known to be a little neurotic. Some have claimed that he was obsessed with cleanliness and regularly synchronised clocks in his home. He also sends cards to himself to test the postal service. String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73 I. Allegretto III. Allegro non troppo WrittenbyDmitriShostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich was a Soviet composer of the 20th century. Shostakovich has been regarded till this day one of the most influential and important composers of the 20th century and composed 15 symphonies, numerous chamber music works and concerti. However, most of these works were composed under the strict and pressurising standards imposed by the Soviet government.
Antonin Dvorak was a Czech composer of the Romantic period. Dvorak left Europe in 1892 to teach at a newly founded music conservatory in New York City. While the composer found it difficult to make the decision to leave Europe, the lucrative salary and a guarantee of a yearly four month paid vacation attracted him to take up this position.
The Finale begins lively and boisterous with a rhythmic pattern that appears to imitate native Indian drumming. The middle of the movement is interrupted with a slower theme that was probably taken from one of the hymns Dvorak enjoyed playing on organ for church in Spilville.
Written in the summer of 1893 in Spilville, Iowa, the String Quartet No. 12 is often termed the “American Quartet” as it was written during the composer’s time in America when he served as the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. It is the most popular chamber work written by Dvorak and is still performed extensively to this day. While there are no quotes of any American melodies in this work, many have said that it captures the spirit of American music. Influences of native Americans and Afro American melodies can arguably be heard in this work through features such as pentatonicism and rhythmic ostinatos. While the claim that this quartet shows American influences is often challenged, most can easily agree that the ‘American’ quartet reflects Dvorak’s desire to write “something melodious and simple”. There is also a great degree of structural and motivic freedom in this work, as compared to the traditional European chamber music writing. The quartet is set in the key of F major, which is often said to be a “pastoral” key. This allowed him to write using pedals or drones and pentatonic themes. Many consider the second movement the “crowning movement of the quartet” as it features a passionate and lyrical duet between the first violin and cello. The melody is last heard in the cello before the end of the movement.
String Quartet No. 12 in F Major "American", Op. 96 II. Lento IV. Finale: Vivace ma non troppo WrittenbyAntonínDvořák
The Estampes Quartet would like to thank: The Arts House for the warm hospitality, venue and technical support; Ethel Wee, for helping with the poster and programme booklet designs and managing the front of house; Megan Wee for taking photographs; Mummy Wee for managing the stage doors; The families of the performers for the support; Grain for catering light refreshments; and Everyone who joined us for this afternoon's concert!
Acknowledgements