Jerusalem Quartet, March 28, 2017

Robert Blocker, Dean

oneppo chamber music series

The Jerusalem Quartet

David Shifrin, Artistic Director March 28, 2017 • Tuesday at 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall

Oneppo Chamber Music Series

The Jerusalem Quartet alexander pavlovsky, violin • sergei bresler, violin ori kam, viola • kyril zlotnikov, cello

Franz Joseph Haydn 1732–1809

String Quartet in D major, Op. 64, No. 5, “Lark” I. Allegro moderato II. Adagio III. Minuet. Allegretto IV. Finale. Vivace

Sergei Prokofiev 1891–1953

String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50 I. Allegro II. Andante molto. Vivace III. Andante intermission

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827

String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Razumovsky” I. Allegro II. Allegretto vivace sempre scherzando III. Adagio molto e mesto IV. Allegro

As a courtesy to the performers and audience, silence electronic devices.

Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.

Artist Profile

“Passion, precision, warmth, a gold blend: these are the trademarks of this excellent Israeli string quartet.”

Such was The New York Times’ impression of the Jerusalem Quartet. With the group’s founding in the 1993–1994 season and subsequent 1996 debut, the Israeli musicians of the Jerusalem Quartet embarked on a journey of growth and maturation that has resulted in a wide repertoire and a stunning depth of expression: a journey still motivated by the energy and curiosity with which the ensemble began. The Jerusalem Quartet carries on the string quartet tradition in a unique manner. The ensemble has found its inner center in a warm, full, human sound and the balance between high and low voices, giving it the freedom both to refine its interpretations of the classical repertoire and to explore the works of new genres and epochs — all the while striving for perfection of sound.

Collaborations with exceptional musicians such as Martin Fröst, Steven Isserlis, Sharon Kam, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alexander Melnikov, and Sir András Schiff demonstrate clearly the ways in which the musicians benefit from their work, as each guest becomes an integral part of the indivisible ensemble.

The Jerusalem Quartet is a regular and beloved guest on the world’s great concert stages. The ensemble has been especially well received in North America, where it has performed in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. In Europe, as well, the quartet enjoys an enthusiastic reception, having appeared in prominent concert halls such as the Zürich Tonhalle, the Munich Herkulessaal, Wigmore Hall

in London, and the Parisian Salle Pleyel, as well as special guest performances at the Auditorium du Louvre Paris, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and festivals like Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Verbier Festival, Rheingau Musikfestival, and many others. The 2016–2017 season also includes an extensive tour of Australia.

The Jerusalem Quartet records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. The quartet’s recordings of Haydn’s string quartets and Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartet have been honored with numerous awards such as the Diapason d’Or, the BBC Music Magazine Award for chamber music, and the ECHO Klassik. In January 2014, the quartet’s recording of string quartets by Leoš Janáček and Bedřich Smetana was released to critical acclaim. 2015 saw the release of Beethoven‘s Op. 18 quartets to similar praise. The 2016–2017 season includes three program focuses: the piano quintets by Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Johannes Brahms with Sir András Schiff, the “Dvořák Feast” (a two part concert cycle ranging from trios to string sextets), and the complete Bartók cycle.

Notes on the Program

franz joseph haydn String Quartet in D Major, Op. 64, No. 5, “Lark” By early 1790, Joseph Haydn had reached nearly 30 years as an employee of the fabulously wealthy Esterházy family. For most of that time, Kapellmeister Haydn had reported to Prince Nikolaus I, whose sustained interest in music provided the composer stable employment and significant resources, which simultaneously steered the Haydn’s creative powers in sometimes unorthodox directions. Experiences traveling abroad and feelings of social isolation associated with the Esterháza palace may have inspired Haydn to wish for a greater degree of autonomy in the development of his career, and later in 1790 the composer stumbled upon just that. When Prince Nikolaus died that year and his son Anton assumed leadership of the palace, many of the musicians working at Esterháza were dismissed or saw their positions reduced, Haydn included (although the 58-year-old Haydn retained a pension). The German impresario Johann Salomon capitalized on Haydn’s newfound freedom and enticed him to visit London for a series of projects.

It was during this period of transition that Haydn composed the six quartets of the Op. 64 collection. Of these, the Quartet No. 5 in D major has attained the greatest fame among audiences in the centuries following its premiere. Listeners may notice in this quartet the beginnings of a shift in style toward the tastes of Haydn’s new London audiences, emblemized by energetic and grandiose effects. One of these, the lilting melody in the first violin in the opening movement, inspired the quartet’s nickname, “Lark.” By contrast,

the second movement features the first violin in a slower, more lyrical aria style.

The third movement’s minuet briefly diverges to the minor mode, while the boisterous finale effervesces to a thrilling conclusion. The jubilant refrain in this last movement seems to recall the equally vivacious British hornpipe dance, perhaps an unknowing nod to Haydn’s time spent in London in the years to follow the composition of this work. sergei prokofiev String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50 Although prolific in many genres, Sergei Prokofiev did not compose a great deal of chamber music, unlike his slightly younger contemporary Dmitri Shostakovich. In fact, Prokofiev wrote only two string quartets.

The first of these two quartets was composed in 1930, when Prokofiev was already well into his professional career and while the composer was living in Paris and traveling through the United States. The piece was commissioned by the Library of Congress as Prokofiev was in talks with the Metropolitan Opera to develop a production of his opera The Fiery Angel (those negotiations ultimately failed, but the quartet commission did not). Prokofiev would eventually return to the Soviet Union permanently in 1936, where he would write some of his most famous works.

Because the String Quartet No. 1 was composed while Prokofiev was an expatriate, it was not subject to the strict requirements of socialist realism and Soviet taste. Prokofiev would later explain in his autobiography that the work was modeled in some way after Beethoven’s quartets, which inspired a “somewhat ‘classical’

Notes on the Program

idiom.” This “classical” style is manifested in the sonata form structure of the first movement contrasting an agile opening theme with a more lyrical secondary one.

Of course, despite some important connections to the traditional string quartet models of the past, Prokofiev nonetheless played with conventions in unique ways. The second movement seems at first to occupy the traditional slow tempo and character common to the genre, but soon the energy picks up and it is revealed to be a lively scherzo. It is only in the finale that the deeply expressive Andante is fully realized. The finale incorporates rich contrapuntal textures and colorful harmonies which contributed to its popularity even among Soviet authorities, who chose to interpret it as a song of longing by Prokofiev for his distant homeland. ludwig van beethoven String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Razumovsky” The three string quartets of Beethoven’s Op. 59, commissioned by the Russian Count Andreas Razumovsky while he served as ambassador in Vienna, constitute for many scholars the beginning of the composer’s “middle quartets.” By the time of the commission in 1806, though, Beethoven had already written many of the monumental works of his middle period and enjoyed a substantial degree of fame. So, while the string quartet still retained some of its connotations as a lighter genre suitable for entertainment, Beethoven found himself at a stage in his career where he wished to expand the form’s expressivity and virtuosity.

The first quartet in the Op. 59 collection does just that, but it also stretches the genre

in more overt ways, as well; Op. 59, No. 1, typically lasts more than 40 minutes in performance, significantly longer than any of Beethoven’s earlier efforts in the area.

The first movement is in sonata form and begins with a melody passed between the first violin and the cello. This primary theme is subjected to substantial alteration and fragmentation over the course of the movement, allowing Beethoven to explore a wide range of harmonic areas and characters.

In a move that predates Prokofiev by a century and a quarter, Beethoven replaces the traditional slow second movement of this quartet with a lively and rhythmic Allegretto vivace which focuses incessantly on the pitch B-flat. Next, the third movement takes on the typical character of the second, with a doleful minor mode march that seems to be starkly opposed to the capricious string quartet of the past. That fanciful character only emerges in the finale, which recognizes Count Razumovsky’s request for the use of a Russian theme in each of the quartets he commissioned. Still, the overall effect of the work is one of profound complexification and deepening of a genre that Beethoven would continue to explore for many more years to come.

– Nathan Reiff

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Upcoming Events Joan Tower, guest composer march 30

New Music New Haven A program of works, including White Granite and Second String Force, by guest composer Joan Tower — “a composer whose directness and eclecticism make her music instantly accessible,” according to The New York Times — and music by graduatestudent composers Sudler Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Free Admission

Peter Oundjian, principal conductor march 31 Yale Philharmonia

Bresnick: The Way It Goes; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16, with Yang Liu, piano; Brahms: Symphony No. 4 Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $10 • Yale Faculty/Staff $8 Students $5 $3 surcharge for purchases at the door

Lunchtime Chamber Music april 5

Yale School of Music students perform a midday chamber music concert at the Yale Center for British Art Wendy Sharp, director 1080 Chapel St. | Wednesday | 12:30 pm Free Admission

Melvin Chen, piano april 5

Horowitz Piano Series Faculty pianist and School of Music Deputy Dean Melvin Chen performs a program of works by Couperin, Ravel, and Chausson with violinist Juliette Kang and the Argus Quartet Couperin: Quatrième Concert; Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68; Chausson: Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet in D major, Op. 21 Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $13 • Students $7 Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition april 8 Graduate students in performance compete to perform with the Yale Philharmonia in the 2017–2018 season Morse Recital Hall | Saturday | 9 am–4 pm free admission

David Lang, composer april 13

New Music New Haven A program featuring YSM faculty composer David Lang’s the so-called laws of nature, music by Jack Vees, and works by graduate-student composers Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Free Admission

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Robert Blocker, Dean