Brentano String Quartet with Ettore Causa & David Fung, January 27 & 29, 2020

yale in new york David Shifrin, artistic director

Brentano String Quartet Mark Steinberg, violin • Serena Canin, violin Misha Amory, viola • Nina Lee, cello with Ettore Causa, viola • David Fung, piano

Monday, January 27, 2020 | 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall Wednesday, January 29, 2020 | 7:30 pm Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Program Paul Hindemith 1895–1963

Viola Sonata in F major, Op. 11, No. 4 I. Fantasie – II. Thema mit Variationen – III. Finale (mit Variationen) Ettore Causa, viola David Fung, piano

Martin Bresnick b. 1946

The Planet on the Table (2019) I. Mrs. Anderson’s Swedish Baby II. She Measured the Hour III. Scene 10 Becomes 11 IV. Someone Has Walked Across the Snow V. His Self and the Sun

intermission

Hindemith

Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 11, No. 1 I. Erster Teil II. Zweiter Teil III. Nicht zu schnell, sehr markiert Mark Steinberg, violin David Fung, piano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791

Viola Quintet No. 2 in C minor, K. 406 I. Allegro II. Andante III. Menuetto in Canone IV. Allegro Ettore Causa, viola

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.

Artist Profiles Brentano String Quartet

Ettore Causa, viola

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim.

Within a few years of its formation, the quartet garnered the inaugural Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In recent seasons the quartet has appeared in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Awarded both the P. Schidlof Prize and the J. Barbirolli Prize at the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola competition in England in 2000, Italian-born violist Ettore Causa is a former member of the Aria Quartet and a current member of the Poseidon Quartet. He has collaborated with such internationally renowned musicians as Pascal Rogé, Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Natalie Clein, Ana Chumachenco, and Ani Kavafian. Causa studied at the International Menuhin Music Academy and the Manhattan School of Music. He joined the Yale School of Music faculty in 2009.

The Brentano String Quartet has performed many musical works that pre-date the string quartet as a medium, including the madrigals of Gesualdo, fantasias of Purcell, and secular vocal works of Josquin. The quartet has also worked closely with some of the most important composers of our time, including Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Steven Mackey, Bruce Adolphe, and György Kurtág, and has commissioned works from Wuorinen, Adolphe, Mackey, David Horne, and Gabriela Frank. The quartet has been privileged to collaborate with such artists as Jessye Norman, Joyce DiDonato, Richard Goode, Jonathan Biss, and Mitsuko Uchida.

In fall 2014, the quartet became the quartetin-residence at the Yale School of Music, succeeding the Tokyo String Quartet in that position. » brentanoquartet.com

David Fung, piano Praised for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances in the The Washington Post, Mr. Fung regularly appears with major orchestras around the world. In recent seasons, Fung has performed recitals in New York City, Washington, D.C., Paris, Taiwan, Zurich, and China. Fung has received invitations to prestigious festivals in Anchorage, Aspen, Atlantic, Blossom, Bridgehampton, Caramoor, Edinburgh, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Ottawa ChamberFest, Ravinia, Sun Valley, Tippet Rise, and Yeosu. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, the Hannover Hochschule, and the Colburn School, Mr. Fung is on the faculty of music at the University of Georgia. His award-winning recordings can be heard on the Steinway and Sons, Naxos, Pentatone, Orchid, Genuin, and Yarlung labels. » davidfung.com

Program Notes In September 1917, Hindemith was conscripted into the German army, a service he was initially able to fulfill as a musician, first as a bass drum player in the regimental band and eventually by forming a string quartet. Op. 11, an unusual collection of six sonatas for varied string instruments, was composed beginning in 1918 while Hindemith was serving on the Western Front. Most interestingly, the composition of the fourth and fifth sonatas in 1919 marked Hindemith’s permanent switch to the viola from the violin: prior to the war, Hindemith had played violin with the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, first as assistant principal and eventually as concertmaster, but soon found himself drawn to the distinctively dark, sonorous sound of the viola. After the war, Hindemith returned to the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra but as a viola player, and even performed the premiere of his fourth viola sonata in 1919.

Viola Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4 hindemith Bel Ben Mamoun The Hindemith viola sonata opens with a pensive melodic musing, full and stirring over the subdued chromatic harmonizations of the piano. Here the viola is allowed to play freely, cadenza-like and free-flowing through its opening theme, a theme that passes and evolves between the first two movements. Descending chordal lines in the piano drive forward the intensity of the duet, scalar flourishes over rhythmic proclamations until the final A-sharp of the fantasie, sustained enharmonically as a B-flat to transition seamlessly into the second movement.

A slow, at times uneasy waltz melody meanders through the opening of the second movement, a lyrical theme in E-flat minor that seems to float over the chromatic, at times off-kilter piano interjections and rhythmic support. Throughout the movement, the piano seems to become more and more confident, striding brazenly through increasingly quick variations, all the while spurring forward the viola with rolling arpeggiations and shimmering figures into the bright, proclamatory introduction of the finale. The viola and piano trade triumphant statements for lyrical musings, echoing the free-flowing musings of the first movement through unusual modes and variations into a final unison.

The Planet on the Table bresnick Martin Bresnick Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Planet on the Table” begins: Ariel was glad he had written his poems, They were of a remembered time Or of something seen that he liked.

In this string quartet, also entitled The Planet on the Table, my planet is made of the music and sounds of a remembered time or of something heard that I liked.

The quartet has five movements, each headed by a quotation from one of Stevens’ poems* as a point of departure or pathway into those remembered sounds and music.

Like Stevens, my self and the sun are one, and my music, like his poetry, although makings of my self, is also makings of the sun. Stevens wrote it was not important

that his poetry survive, which is also true of my work. What matters is that my music, like his poetry, should bear some lineament or character, some affluence, if only half perceived in the poverty of its sounds, of the planet of which it was part.

alongside the piano in a haunted waltz, before finally disappearing back into the fog.

*Sources for the movement titles: I. “The Pleasures of Merely Circulating” II. “The Idea of Order at Key West” III. “Chaos in Motion and Not in Motion” IV. “Vacancy in the Park” V. “The Planet on the Table”

Unusually scored for string quartet with an extra viola, Mozart’s viola quintet in C minor is a simple but lively arrangement of his earlier serenade for two oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons. Despite its dark, C minor landscape, the serenade remains surprisingly vibrant and energetic, even bright at times in its melodic upper string pairings and cello responses.

Violin Sonata, Op. 11, No. 1 hindemith Bel Ben Mamoun Lively and rhythmic, the piano introduces the violin into the mercurial first movement with bravado and triumph, soon followed by a lyrical second theme that sings, at times restlessly, above the rhythmic suggestions of the piano. As in the fourth sonata, the violin often roams through unusual chromaticisations and modalities, but always returns to the gentle harmonic support of the piano, falling into sweet duets or propelled forward into energetic, fanfare-like exclamations.

The second movement fades into existence as if through a haze, the gentle, paired note motif of the piano falling into triplets like a gentle rain beneath the ghostly melody of the violin. Here, the violin seems shrouded in a veil, restrained and trance-like above the piano’s additive rhythms. In contrast to the triumph and fanfare of the first movement, the violin of the second movement is almost eerie, dancing precariously

Viola Quintet in C minor, K. 406 mozart Bel Ben Mamoun

The quintet opens with a dark, stately introduction in full octaves, relaxing into gentle resolutions and themes before propelling into a lively allegro. By contrast, the second movement is a sweet, andante aria sung between string sections; the paired violins and violas trading romantic duets over the rhythmic arpeggiations of the cello. A vibrant, imitative minuet lilts between the first violin and cello, calling and responding wistfully across registers in a gentle dance.

The allegro finale provides a vibrant conclusion to the quintet, introducing a clear, flowing theme before propelling into a series of startling variations: at first heavily dotted and articulated then suddenly mellifluous and romantic, with the first violin singing long triplet lines over the sustained harmonic body of the accompanying quartet. By the final variation the quintet has changed heart entirely, leaping brightly into C major in a lively conclusion.

Yale School of Music Established in 1894, the Yale School of Music continues a position of international leadership in the training of performers, composers, and teachers. A professional graduate school and the only school of music in the Ivy League, the Yale School of Music maintains a highly selective admissions process, admitting approximately 200 students who come from the finest American and international conservatories and universities to study with a distinguished faculty. The School has one of the highest international profiles at Yale, engaging globally in cooperative partnerships with leading conservatories, schools, orchestras, and opera companies.

Alumni of the Yale School of Music hold major positions throughout the music world. In addition to performing with and conducting preeminent American and international orchestras, many graduates have founded or joined prominent chamber music ensembles. Voice alumni earn renown in professional opera companies, with over a dozen Yale graduates on the artist roster of the Metropolitan Opera. Yale composition alumni enjoy noted success with continual premieres of new music.

Along with artistic accomplishment, Yale School of Music graduates provide strong leadership in guiding the course of numerous academic and cultural institutions.

The Yale School of Music awards the doctor of musical arts, master of musical arts, and master of music degrees, as well as the artist diploma and the certificate in performance. Âť music.yale.edu

yale school of music staff Robert Blocker, Dean Melvin Chen, Deputy Dean Michael Yaffe, Associate Dean Krista Johnson, Manager of Concert Programs Kate Gonzales, Concert Office Coordinator Winona van Alstyne, Assistant Concert Office Coordinator Matthew LeFevre, Recording Engineer Katie Kelley, Director of Communications Jenny Reed, Design Manager David Brensilver, Communications Officer Travis Wurges, Video Producer Tara Deming, Operations Manager Chris Melillo, Operations Associate Manager Patty Torello, Business Manager Charles Stupekevich, Financial Analyst JaQuay Black, Financial Assistant

Upcoming Events Yale in New York

Upcoming Events Yale School of Music

Yale Alumni from Ensemble Connect

jan 28

apr 1

Preview Concert 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall free

apr 2

Yale in New York 7:30 p.m. | Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall | Tickets $25 » carnegiehall.org

A concert featuring Yale School of Music faculty and students, and School of Music alumni from Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW), Carnegie Hall’s elite fellowship program. YSM Faculty members Ransom Wilson, David Shifrin, and Frank Morelli perform the world premiere of Ezra Laderman’s Trio for flute, clarinet, and bassoon (Op. posthumous).

David Kaplan, Christopher Goodpasture, Wei-Yi Yang, piano Ransom Wilson, flute Romie deGuise-Langlois, Bixby Kennedy, David Shifrin, clarinet Frank Morelli, bassoon Suliman Tekalli, violin Hannah Collins, Yves Dharamraj, Bo Bae Lee, cello Garrett Arney, Mari Yoshinaga, percussion

Brentano String Quartet Oneppo Chamber Music Series A performance of Bruce Adolphe’s Coiled and the work on which it’s based, Beethoven’s “Serioso” Quartet, along with music by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich.

7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall

Tickets start at $28, students $13 Hung-Kuan Chen, piano Horowitz Piano Series Faculty pianist Hung-Kuan Chen pays tribute to Beethoven with a performance of the composer’s last six sonatas.

7:00 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall

Tickets start at $15, students $7

feb 12

feb 14 Florencia en el Amazonas feb 15 Yale Opera feb 16 Christopher Franklin conducts the Yale Philharmonia and Candace Evans directs the cast in a new production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas.

fri & sat 8 p.m. | sun 2 p.m.

Shubert Theatre Tickets start at $19 • shubert.com

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