oneppo chamber music series David Shifrin, artistic director
Horszowski Trio
Tuesday, November 8, 2022 | 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Program Bedřich Smetana 1824–1884
Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15 I. Moderato assai II. Allegro, ma non agitato III. Finale. Presto
Phantasiestücke Project - World premiere Derek Bermel b. 1967 David Fulmer b. 1981 Paul Chihara b. 1938
Remembrance (2022) Eldorado (2022) Fantasy “Little Red Dragonfly” (2022) These three commissions were made possible by a generous grant from the S & R Foundation.
intermission
Robert Schumann 1810–1856
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 I. Mit Energie und Leidenschaft II. Lebhaft, doch nicht zu rasch III. Langsam, mit inniger Empfindung IV. Mit Feuer – Nach und nach schneller
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 Profile Horszowski Trio Jesse Mills, violin Ole Akahoshi, cello Rieko Aizawa, piano Giving performances that are “lithe, persuasive” (The New York Times), “eloquent and enthralling” (The Boston Globe), and described as “the most compelling American group to come on the scene” (The New Yorker), the Horszowski Trio has quickly become a vital force in the international chamber music world. Since their debut performance in New York City in 2011, they have toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, the Far East, and India, traversing the extensive oeuvre of traditional piano trio repertoire and introducing audiences to new music that they have commissioned and premiered. In March 2019, the Horszowski Trio made its London debut in a sold-out concert presented by Wigmore Hall. In the same season, they also appeared at the 92nd Street Y in New York City; the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; Schubert Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Spivey Hall in Atlanta; Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine; UCLA in Los Angeles; Dresden’s Moritzburg Festival (Germany); and venues in Boston, San Francisco, Canada, and Japan, among others. In addition, they released a recording of the complete piano trios by Robert Schumann on AVIE Records, receiving tremendous acclaim: “great care and affection” (BBC Radio); “intoxicating” (Gramophone); “exciting and deeply felt” (Strings); “fresh, supple and fantastic” (The Strad).
The Trio takes its inspiration from the musicianship, integrity, and humanity of the pre-eminent pianist Mieczysław Horszowski (1892–1993); the ensemble’s pianist, Rieko Aizawa, was Horszowski’s last pupil at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Described as “power players” by the Los Angeles Times, the Horszowski Trio’s repertoire includes works by many of the composers with whom Mr. Horszowski had personal interaction, including Gabriel Fauré, Enrique Granados, Bohuslav Martinů, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns and Heitor Villa-Lobos. The Horszowski Trio’s debut recording—an album of works by Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Vincent d’Indy on the Bridge label—was released in 2014 and dedicated to the memory of Mieczysław Horszowski. Gramophone praised the “exemplary performance” of the “highly accomplished group,” concluding, “I long to hear more of the Horszowski Trio.” The ensemble has performed the complete cycles of piano trios by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. They also actively cultivate hidden treasures from the repertoire, works by Arno Babajanyan, Leonard Bernstein, Vincent d’Indy, Arthur Foote, Germaine Tailleferre, and Morton Feldman. The Horszowski Trio is a passionate advocate for the music of our time. They have worked with the legendary composers John Harbison, Charles Wuorinen, and Joan Tower, for whom the Trio recorded For Daniel in celebration of her 75th birthday. Recent premieres include works by Daron Hagen, Eric Moe, and (through a grant from Chamber Music America) Andreia
Artist Profile cont.
Program Notes
Pinto-Correia. Forthcoming premieres include works by Scott Lindroth, Louis Karchin, and Charles Wuorinen, in addition to their “Phantasiestücke Project” celebrating their 10th anniversary with three new works by Derek Bermel, Paul Chihara, and David Fulmer. The Trio’s violinist Jesse Mills, a two-time Grammy nominee who is also a composer and arranger, wrote Painted Shadow for the ensemble; the work was commissioned by and premiered at Bargemusic in Brooklyn in January 2015.
Piano Trio in G minor smetana Laura Usiskin
The Horszowski Trio enjoys opportunities to expand its chamber music horizons through collaborations, and has worked with such musicians as Aaron Boyd (from the Escher Quartet), Kikuei Ikeda (Tokyo Quartet), Masumi Per Rostad (Pacifica Quartet), Phillip Ying (Ying Quartet), and Roberto Diaz. The Horszowski Trio is based in New York City. It is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and of the Leschetizky Association in New York City.
Bedřich Smetana and Antonin Dvorák are often paired together as the two great Czech nationalist composers of the nineteenth century. Though Dvorák is usually considered the more accomplished, it was Smetana who, seventeen years his senior, spearheaded the movement. From writing operas in the Czech language to opening music schools in Prague, Smetana made an incalculable impact on Czech music. His eight operas show this achievement most overtly, including his masterpiece The Bartered Bride, while his chamber works, including the Piano Trio, Op. 15, take inspiration from more traditional sources, in this case Schumann and Mendelssohn. Despite a successful career, Smetana’s life was plagued with tragedy. He was the eleventh child born in his family but only the first son to survive infancy. He gained fame early as a child prodigy on the piano and violin, and success as a composer quickly followed. However, tragedy struck again when three of his four daughters died between 1850 and 1856. As he grew older, Smetana began to go deaf and eventually moved to the Czech countryside, where he composed the majority of his works, including the symphonic cycle Má Vlast (My Country). By the time of his death, he was completely deaf and mad, a combination of Beethoven and Schumann’s fates. He died in an asylum in 1884. His Piano Trio in G minor is an early work written in memoriam to his second daughter
who had only recently died at the age of five. Accordingly, the first movement opens with a melody replete with pathos. Its descending lines and placement in the low register of the violin create a mood of heaviness and despair. The second melody of the movement, in contrast, is peaceful and calm. Presented by the cello, it is based on his daughter’s favorite nursery rhyme. However, the pervading mood of the movement is weighty and sorrowful, and the movement ends with a dramatic acceleration in the coda section. Middle movements are typically slow, but this second movement has two slow sections sandwiched between three fast sections, giving it a quasi-rondo form. The fast sections contain a charming, light, folk-like melody, while the first slow section has a sentimental quality reminiscent of Mendelssohn and the second recalls the majesty of Schumann. Vivacious energy pervades the third movement right from the start, with a breathless melody by the piano that Smetana took from a piano sonata he had previously composed. Again the movement is in a rondo form, including a middle section that presents the movement’s opening melody in a slow, funeral dirge. The piece ends optimistically in G major, a stark contrast to the grief with which the piece started.
Phantasiestücke Project Three new piano trios dedicated to the Horszowski Trio to celebrate their 10th Anniversary, taking inspiration from the music of Robert Schumann. Made possible through generous support from the S & R Foundation. Remembrance bermel Derek Bermel For this short tribute to Robert Schumann, I aimed to write a work that honored his deceptively simple lyricism. During the early months of the pandemic in Brooklyn, I played through the Album für die Jugend, marveling at the range of expression, equal parts melancholy, turmoil, and joy. Thank you to my good friends in the Horszowski Trio. Eldorado fulmer David Fulmer Eldorado was commissioned by the Horszowski Trio, and written in 2022. The short fantasy traverses through episodes that feature each instrument in solo, duo, and trio combinations. Each instrument provides a different timbre, color, shape, and design to the overall fabric of the work. Articulated in a single movement, the work begins with light textures created by harmonics and quarter-tone sonorities. The work concludes with a single articulation of the entire trio in one gesture after a solo cadenza by the violin. While there are no direct quotes from Schumann’s music, I
Program Notes, cont. tried to capture the sense of extended line and phrase structure that appear in his work. The title is taken from a poem (by the same name) by Hart Crane.The work is dedicated to each of the members of the trio. Fantasy “Little Red Dragonfly” chihara Paul Chihara I composed my Fantasy for the wonderful Horszowski Trio in 2020. It is based on the well-known Japanese children’s song “Aka Tombo” (“Red Dragonfly”), composed by Kosaku Yamada in 1927, which is now the most popular song in Japan today. In the early twentieth century, Yamada studied in Berlin with Max Bruch, and created his beloved melody on Robert Schumann’s Concert Allegro for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 134, which Schumann himself composed and dedicated to Johannes Brahms. Yamada’s “Aka Tombo” is a very sad and lonely song, about a young child who waits every night for his mother to return to him (and never does). My Fantasy has touches of Yamada’s melody, as well as echoes of the romantic spirit of Schumann and Brahms.
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor schumann Patrick Campbell Jankowski If the dramatic opening of the first movement were not enough to captivate you, wait until about five minutes in, when the feverish, impassioned music comes to a sudden halt, and an otherworldly major key theme emerges. The piano twinkles as the strings whisper, and for a few moments it feels as though we’ve been dropped into an entirely different piece. Schumann’s first piano trio is a work fueled by inventive contrapuntal writing but perhaps even more by a sense of drama. He builds tension in waves yet shows restraint when other composers may give in to the temptation of theatricality. Following the first movement, marked “with energy and passion” by the composer, is a lively scherzo with a dialogue of percussive, bouncing rhythms and sinuous lines, providing some respite in lightness and humor. The third movement plunges us into despair, yet the overall mood is one of fragility and bleakness, rather than of extroverted melodrama. The final movement acts as a shift in some ways, and a return in others. In both style and substance, it resembles the thematic material of the opening movement, but in mood it marks a distinct evolution from the stormy beginnings of the trio towards a more celebratory and jovial atmosphere. The major-mode transformation, common among large-scale works of the Romantic era, closes the trio in triumph.
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List as of November 7, 2022
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