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Please turn off cell phones and electronic signals on watches and pagers.

Taking photographs or making recordings is prohibited during performances.

Steinway Piano is the offi cial piano of AFCM

Arizona Friends of Chamber Music2014–2015 Season

Contents of Book Three

2 Sunday, February 1, 2015, at 3:00 pm Stefan Jackiw, violin, and Anna Polonsky, piano

6 Wednesday, February 25, 2015, at 7:30 pm Auryn Quartet

10 Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at 7:30 pm Artemis Quartet

15 Sunday, April 12, 2015, at 3:00 pm Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello, and Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano

20 AFCM Donors

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Sunday, February 1, 20153:00 pm

Piano & Friends20th Season

Stefan Jackiw, violinAnna Polonsky, piano

Opus 3 Artists470 Park Avenue South 9th Floor NorthNew York, NY 10016

Stefan JackiwBorn in 1985 to physicist parents of Korean and German descent, Stefan Jackiw began playing the violin at the age of four. His teachers have included Zinaida Gilels, Michèle Auclair, and Donald Weilerstein, and he holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University as well as an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory.

In 2002, Mr. Jackiw was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Also in 2002, he made his European debut in London to great critical acclaim, playing Mendels-sohn’s Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Benjamin Zander. His sensational performance was featured on the front page of London’s Times, and The Strad reported, “A 14-year-old violinist took the London music world by storm.” He has since per-formed with orchestras and in recit-al throughout the world. A recent solo performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Australia’s Sydney Opera House was seen live on YouTube by more than 30 million people worldwide.

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Anna PolonskyAnna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlo-chen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master's Degree from the Juilliard School. Ms. Polonsky is widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, having performed throughout the US and Europe. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College.

PROGRAM

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Tzigane

Witold Lutosławski (1913–1984)

Partita for Violin and Piano

I. Allegro giustoII. Ad libitumIII. LargoIV. Ad libitumV. Presto

INTERMISSION

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952)

Nocturne for Solo Violin (to the memory of Witold Lutosławski)

César Franck (1822–1890)

Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major

Allegretto ben moderatoAllegroRecitativo — Fantasia: Ben moderatoAllegretto poco mosso

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Program Notes

RAVEL CALLED HIS Tzigane (the French word for gypsy) “a piece of virtuosity in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody.” The young Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi had captivated Ravel with her performances of Bartók, and he resolved to create his own showpiece for her. Described by Ravel’s contemporaries as “a forest of snares for the violinist,” Tzigane bristles with technical challenges. The work was a huge success at its 1924 premiere, despite revisions so recent that d’Arányi had only a few days to prepare.

The opening violin recitative introduces thematic ideas. In the main section, these colorful quasi-eth-nic tunes are developed freely to suggest improvi-sation. Brilliant passagework appears throughout.

WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI WAS BORN in a dark time in Poland’s history. Once landed gentry, his family survived the two World Wars with diffi culty after his father was executed by fi ring squad. Witold managed to secure a musical education in Warsaw; he hoped to continue studies in Paris, but was drafted into the Polish army. After a narrow escape from prison camp, he played in cafes and com-posed resistance songs. During the Stalinist era, he composed “functional” music to earn a living. When Stalin died in 1953, Lutosławski, now age 41, came into his own artistically. His 1954 Concerto for Orchestra secured his reputation as a signifi -cant composer with a penchant for formal and harmonic experimentation.

By nature an innovative thinker, Lutosławski wrote three forward looking works entitled “Chain” in the 1980s. The title refers to the manner in which his music is constructed by strands that function as connective links to one another. He wrote the second “Chain” for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and also orchestrated his earlier Partita for her to create “Interlude,” a link between his two works for violin and piano. The three compositions — Parti-ta, Interlude and Chain 2 — are often performed together as one coherent work.

Lutosławski writes about his Partita: “I composed Partita for Violin and Piano in the autumn of 1984 at the request of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for Pinchas Zukerman and Marc Neikrug. The work consists of fi ve movements. Of these the main movements are the fi rst (Allegro giusto), the third (Largo), and the fi fth (Presto). The second and fourth are but short interludes to be played ad libitum. A short ad libitum section also appears before the end of the last movement.

“The three major movements follow, rhythmically at least, the tradition of pre-classical (18th century) keyboard music. This, however, is no more than an allusion. Harmonically and melodically, Partita clearly belongs to the same group of recent compositions as Symphony No. 3 and Chain 1.

“Pinchas Zukerman and Marc Neikrug gave the fi rst performance of Partita on 18 January 1985 at the Ordway Music Theatre, Saint Paul, Minnesota.”

FINNISH COMPOSER KAIJA SAARIAHO studied violin and piano at the Sibelius Academy and composition in Freiburg and Paris. Known for her luxuriant fusions of traditional instruments with electronics, her primary infl uence has been post-serialism. However, she resists restrictive categories: “I don’t want to write music through negations. Everything is permissible as long as it’s done in good taste.”

Saariaho wrote her brief Nocturne in 1994 and dedicated it to the memory of Witold Lutosławski. The Nocturne develops unexplored themes from drafts of her violin concerto, Graal Theatre, composed that same year and premiered in London by Gidon Kremer at the BBC Promenade Concerts. A companion piece, Nocturne was premiered in Helsinki in 1994 by John Storgards.

CÉSAR FRANCK, BORN IN BELGIUM, was one of the most signifi cant French romantic composers. His Sonata in A Major, composed late in his career (1886), continues to be one of the most popular duos in the chamber literature. Originally scored for violin and piano, it has also become an import-ant part of the fl ute and cello repertoire. Franck dedicated the work to the renowned Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, founder of the Franco-Bel-gian school of playing, which emphasized a fl exible

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wrist and free bow arm. Franck presented him with the autograph as a gift on his wedding day, and the work was premiered in Brussels later that year. The violinist soon launched the sonata as a staple of the concert circuit. Ysaÿe extravagantly wrote: “We have carried the Sonata around the world like a torch, and gave to Franck, that misunderstood, unrecognized saint, one of the few earthly joys he knew before regaining Paradise.”

The sonata has been described as an outstanding example of cyclic form, a unifying structural organization in which the same thematic material permeates all movements. To achieve this coher-ence, Franck follows a process of thematic trans-formation. His melodies, which grow from small fragments, are altered in their harmony, rhythm, or dynamics from one movement to the next but still remain recognizable. Franck rather sweetly called them “cousins.”

Ysaÿe infl uenced the sonata’s tempo markings toward a faster pace, most effectively in the vibrant opening movement, which Franck thought should be very slow. Written in sonata form (exposition, development, and recapitulation) but with a minimal development section, this Allegretto ben moderato movement explores two themes in a calmly fl owing triple meter. The turbulent D minor Allegro movement that follows, also in sonata form, develops its two agitated themes with virtuosic passagework.

The Ben moderato, which Franck described as a “recitative fantasy,” begins as a free rhapsody that refers to earlier material. Numerous lyrical ideas are explored in the latter section.

The fi nale is a free sonata-rondo form (a theme returns several times with new material inter-spersed between statements) with canonic treat-ment of the main idea (the same melody begins at different times in the two instruments). Its section of development brings in material from the earlier movements. An exuberant return of the canonic melody leads the work to a triumphant conclusion.

Notes by Nancy Monsman

“We have carried the Sonata around the world like a torch, and gave to Franck, that mis-understood, unrecognized saint, one of the few earthly joys he knew before regaining Paradise.” — EUGÈNE YSAŸE

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Evening Series67th Season

Wednesday, February 25, 20157:30 pm

Auryn QuartetMatthias Lingenfelder, violinJens Oppermann, violinStewart Eaton, violaAndreas Arndt, cello

Shupp Artists Management, Inc.202 Michigan AvenuePort Jefferson, NY 11777

Auryn QuartetAn outstanding career spanning more than three decades has made the Auryn Quartet one of the most sought-after and respected ensem-bles performing around the globe. The Quartet has not changed its personnel over this long period, and continues with its fresh and pioneering approach to all genres of music. The Auryn's main mentors were the Amadeus Quartet and the Guarneri Quartet, with whom they studied between 1982 and 1987 in Cologne, Germany, and at the University of Maryland.

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The Quartet won its fi rst prizes at the London International Competition and the ARD Munich competition, both in 1982, only one year after the group's inception. The ensemble also won the main prize at the European Broadcasting Competition in Bratislava in 1989. Invitations to most international music festivals followed in quick succession: Lockenhaus, Salzburger Festspiele, Edinburgh International Festival, Musiktage Mondsee, Schwetzinger Festspiele, and Stavangar, to name a few. Recent tours have taken the Quartet from Lincoln Center in New York to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as the Wigmore Hall in London, where they performed a complete cycle of the Beethoven quartets.

The Auryn Quartet has a compelling discography, working exclusively with the Tacet Company since 2000. In addition to the complete quartets of Beethoven and Brahms, the Quartet concluded its ambitious CD set of all 68 Haydn quartets in 2010. The complete recital series of the Haydn quartets, each compris-ing 18 concerts, was performed by the Quartet in Detmold, Cologne (West German Radio), and Padova, Italy, to commemorate the Haydn bicentennial year 2009.

The four musicians of the Auryn Quartet play on wonderful Italian instruments: a Stradivari violin (1722, ex-Joachim), a Petrus Guarneri violin, a Brothers Amati viola (1616), and a Niccolo Amati cello. Since 2003 the Auryn Quartet has been sharing its wealth of experience with musicians of younger genera-tions, in the form of a teaching position at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany, where they are professors of chamber music.

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PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, no. 5

AllegroMenuettoAndante cantabileAllegro

INTERMISSION

Quartet in B-fl at Major, Op. 130

Adagio ma non troppo — AllegroPrestoAndante con moto, ma non troppoAlla danza tedesca: Allegro assaiCavatina: Adagio molto espressivoGrosse Fuge, Op. 133

“I maintained to Beethoven that this fugue, which departed from the ordinary and surpassed even the last quartets in originality, should be published as a separate work and that it merited a designation as a separate opus.” — KARL HOLZ

Program Notes

BEETHOVEN COMPLETED HIS SIX Opus 18 string quartets in 1801 and dedicated them to his patron Prince Karl Lobkowitz, an Austrian nobleman who hosted their premieres at his new Viennese palace. This early set of string quartets is considered the high point of Beethoven’s “fi rst style period,” a time when he found both inspiration and guiding principles in the works of Haydn and Mozart but pushed classical boundaries with his own charac-teristic energy and daring. The last three quartets of the set, including the A Major Quartet (no. 5), suggest his restless quest for new forms of expression.

The inspiration for Opus 18, no. 5, was Mozart’s innovative Quartet in A Major, K. 464 (1785), a technically brilliant yet profound work written to honor Haydn. Seeing the score for the fi rst time in 1800, Beethoven was heard to exclaim: “That’s what I call a work! Mozart is telling the world, ‘Look what I could do if you were ready for it!’ ” To study Mozart’s compositional techniques, Beethoven wrote out a copy of the third and fourth move-ments of K. 464. Soon afterwards, Beethoven began sketches for his Opus 18, no. 5.

The Allegro opens with a graceful group of themes that evoke Mozart’s songful idiom. A contrasting subject follows in the minor mode. After develop-ment of these ideas, the opening material is recapitulated, and the movement concludes with a brief coda based on a fragmentary A major scale.

Beethoven most often placed his slow movement after the opening Allegro, but in Opus 18, no. 5, he observed Mozart’s preference for the Menuetto as the second movement. A delicate waltz, the movement is varied by a three-voice canon and a brusquely accented trio section.

The Andante cantabile explores a simple theme, which Beethoven described as “pastoral,” through fi ve increasingly complex variations. Beethoven dramatically moves beyond the traditional 18th-century concept of variation achieved through altered embellishment or rhythm; rather, in Opus 18, no. 5, each variation reveals a new aspect of the theme’s character — lyrical, mystical,

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or robust. In the substantial coda the theme reappears in its original form against rapid scale fi gures. Near the end the tempo slows to create a subdued conclusion.

The sonata-form fi nale is propelled by an incisive four-note motto heard at the outset. A theme from Mozart’s own A major quartet is quoted in long note values near the end of the development section.

BEETHOVEN WAS ESPECIALLY FOND of his Opus 130, which he referred to as the “Dear Quartet” (“Liebquartett”) in his conversation books. Perhaps because of his deafness he chose not to attend the work’s premiere in March, 1826 but rather to wait in a nearby tavern for word of the audience’s response. His nephew Karl soon brought positive news that two of the six movements met with such favor that they had to be repeated. Karl also gave less favorable news — the fugal fi nale confused listeners (“as incomprehensible as Chinese,” said one present). Beethoven exploded with anger. Soon after the premiere his publisher and several friends persuaded Beethoven to compose a new fi nale for Opus 130 and to allow the original movement, the “Great Fugue,” to stand as a separate composi-tion (now Opus 133). Tonight’s performance includes the Grosse Fuge as the fi nale Beethoven originally intended.

Although Opus 130 was described by Beethoven’s biographer Schindler as “the monster among all quartets,” its framework of movements follows the basic classical scheme — a fast movement, a scherzo, a slow movement, and fi nale. However, Beethoven expands this scheme by adding an extra scherzo and slow movement before the fi nale. Although the serene opening Adagio appears to be an introduction to the work, it surprisingly reappears between statements of the spirited Allegro. The resulting shifts of mood led Aldous Huxley to describe the movement as “majesty alternating with a joke.”

The brief Presto, based on repetitions of short melodic units, develops with a simplicity that contrasts to the opening movement. The Andante (third movement) mingles gaiety with melancholy. The viola states its principal theme in its lower

register while the other instruments play counter-melodies. Movement four, “Dance in the German Style,” functions as a second scherzo. It resembles a gentle Ländler, a rustic triple-time German dance.

The Cavatina (little aria) is a continuous outpour-ing of melody loosely organized into a three-part form. Beethoven’s friend Karl Holz wrote that the Cavatina was composed “amid sorrow and tears; never did his music breathe so heartfelt an inspira-tion, and even the memory of this movement brought tears to his eyes.”

The remarkable fi nale also stands by itself as Beethoven’s Opus 133, published posthumously in 1827.This intense and driving Great Fugue begins with an overture (Allegro) that introduces the concise, somewhat jagged, motto theme. After a variation of this theme in a brief passage marked “less motion, moderate tempo,” the powerful fugue begins to develop (Allegro). The motto passes in turn from the fi rst violin to the second violin, then to the viola and cello. A variation of the motto becomes a countersubject to the main theme. The fugue builds over a tremendous crescendo and comes to a dramatic pause. A quieter variant of the motto is developed in a pianissimo section again marked “less motion, moderate tempo” (G-fl at major). The fugue returns at a fortissimo section marked “very fast and with spirit” (B-fl at major). After a robust development that emphasizes the fervent and jagged character of the theme, the marking “less motion, moderate tempo” returns (F minor). The tempo gradually accelerates, and the marking “very fast and with spirit” returns. On the fi nal pages the themes are transformed into a dance of victory.

Throughout the fugue one hears unique thematic links to the quartet’s earlier movements — compel-ling evidence that the Grosse Fuge belongs to Opus 130 as its appropriate fi nale.

Notes by Nancy Monsman

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Wednesday, April 8, 20157:30 pm

Evening Series67th Season

Artemis QuartetVineta Sareika, violinGregor Sigl, violinFriedemann Weigle, violaEckart Runge, cello

Arts Management Group37 West 26th Street Suite 403New York, NY 10010-1006

Artemis QuartetThe Berlin-based Artemis Quartet was founded in 1989 at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, and is recognized today as one of the foremost quartets in the world. Their mentors include Walter Levin, Alfred Brendel, the Alban Berg Quartet, the Juilliard Quartet and the Emerson Quartet. The ensemble had its international breakthrough with fi rst prizes at the ARD Wettbewerb in 1996 and at "Premio Borciani" half a year later. Subse-quently, the musicians received an invitation to the Wissenschaftskol-leg zu Berlin, where they were able to expand their musical studies and enjoy interdisciplinary exchange with renowned scholars.

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Since its successful debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in 1999, the quartet has performed in all the great music centers and international festivals in Europe, the U.S., Japan, South America and Australia. In July 2007, the ensemble welcomed new members Gregor Sigl and Friedemann Weigle; in August 2012, the Latvian violinist Vineta Sareika took up the post of 1st violin.

The Artemis Quartet has had an exclusive recording contract with Virgin Classics/EMI since 2005. Their recordings have been recognized with the prestigious "Gramophone Award" as well as the "Diapason d'Or" and the “ECHO-Klassik” (twice). As a celebration of its special affi nity for Beethoven's music, as well as its 20th anniversary as an ensemble, the Artemis Quartet embarked on a Beethoven cycle in 2009, which was performed over two seasons in Berlin, Brussels, Florence, Cologne, London, Paris and Rome. The project culminated in a recording of the complete quartets, which was awarded the prestigious French "Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros." In recog-nition of its 2012 recording of the three great Schubert quartets, the Quartet was invited to design a

concert series featuring these works and many guest artists in the Salle Pleyel in Paris for the 2013-14 season.

A focus on contemporary music is an important part of the ensemble's work, in part because they wish to keep developing an eye for new elements in already well-established music. Composers such as Mauricio Sotelo (2004), Jörg Widmann (2006) and Thomas Larcher (2008) have written pieces for the Artemis Quartet. They performed the pre-miere of a concerto for quartet and orchestra by Daniel Schnyder in 2014.

In addition to their concert careers, the four musicians are professors at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and at the Chapelle de la Reine Elisabeth in Brussels.

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PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, no. 1

Allegro con brioAdagio affettuoso ed appassionatoScherzo: Allegro moltoAllegro

Peteris Vasks (b. 1946)

Quartet No. 5

being presentso distant…yet so near

INTERMISSION

Bedrich Smetana (1824–1884)

Quartet No. 1 in E Minor (“From My Life”)

Allegro vivo appassionatoAllegro moderato alla PolkaLargo sostenutoVivace

“[The fi rst movement] depicts my youthful leanings toward art, the romantic atmosphere, the inexpressible yearnings… and also a warning of my future misfortune (deafness).” — BEDRICH SMETANA

Program Notes

BEFORE BEETHOVEN LEFT BONN for Vienna in 1792, his friend Count Waldstein told him that there “he would receive the spirit of Mozart from Haydn’s hands.” Beethoven had hoped to study with Mozart once in Vienna, but since he had recently died, Beethoven undertook instruction from Haydn instead. However, the young compos-er was too impatient to absorb the master’s lessons, and the studies soon ended because of their temperamental differences. But when Beethoven began to write his Opus 18 quartets in 1798 he closely examined the mature quartets of Mozart and especially Haydn for guiding principles. Beethoven completed these six Opus 18 string quartets for Prince Karl Lobkowitz in 1800, and they were premiered at the nobleman’s Friday palace musicales. Despite Haydn’s position as Beethoven’s early mentor, it was reported that when the aging composer heard these inventive and deeply expressive quartets at Lobkowitz’s concerts, he decided to abandon string quartets and devote himself to religious choral music. Since Viennese composers typically avoided competing genres, this observation most probably has truth.

Although Beethoven’s sketchbooks show that the Opus 18, no. 1, was the second of the set to be written, he placed it fi rst because he favored its brilliant inventiveness. He was annoyed that Nos. 2 and 4 received greater favor, and moved to profanity by a review in Vienna’s leading music journal: “It is diffi cult to perform and not at all popular.”

The Allegro con brio opens with a concise idea played in unison by all the strings. A second theme is introduced by the fi rst violin; as in the quartets of Haydn, these two generative ideas expand to create a large sonata design. The concluding coda introduces a scalar motive that combines with the earlier motives.

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Beethoven’s affi nity with the growing romantic movement is heard in the profound and intense Adagio (D minor), which develops three expressive themes. According to Beethoven’s friend Karl Amenda, this movement was inspired by the tomb scene from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Beethoven penned the words “Les derniers soupirs” over the original end of the movement in his sketchbook.

The Scherzo movement (F major) unfolds with Mozartean grace. A robust group of octave ex-changes introduce the fl owing trio section; a repeat of the opening material follows. The Allegro fi nale, written in sonata-rondo form, recalls the spirited fi nales of Haydn’s quartets. It opens with a witty, rapid fi gure played in turn by each instrument. Contrasting episodes enter between the virtuoso thematic statements.

THE WORK OF LATVIAN COMPOSER Peteris Vasks has been widely performed, recorded, and broad-cast throughout Russia and Europe. Much of his work has been commissioned by Europe’s leading publishers and music festivals. A professional violinist, Vasks studied composition at the State Conservatory of Lithuania after he was barred from the Latvian Academy because of his Baptist affi liation. Although the aleatoric (from the Latin “throw of the dice”) experiments of Witold Lutosławski were an important early infl uence, Vasks’s music has matured into a harmonically clear, melodically lyrical style energized by pungent dissonances and contrasting tempos. Essentially an eclectic, Vasks fuses traditional and contemporary western European elements and frequently incorporates motifs from Latvian folk music. A composer with both a strong religious background and deep love of nature, Vasks strives to convey his humanistic philosophy through his compositions.

Vasks composed the last of his fi ve string quartets in 2006 for the Kronos Quartet. He writes: “String Quartet No. 5 consists of two contrasting movements. The fi rst movement, ‘being present,’ immediately leads to an atmosphere of high emotional tension. The prevailing atmospheric elements of the music are dramatic and passionate, alternating with each other like a kaleidoscope. In contrast to that, a second theme is intoned three times — an invitation, a memory of an existence of another world, a light-house which illuminates the twilight in which we live so often. But this invitation remains unheard. The fi rst movement concludes with dissonances in the upper register — a cry of utter desperation.

“The second movement, ‘so distant . . . yet so near,’ is the calm, unhurried vocal section of the quartet, a forgiving, loving look at a world tortured by grief and contradictions. Gradually, the singing be-comes more personal, more emotional, and more dramatic. The rhythmic fi gure of a funeral march in the recapitulation of the second movement is a gesture of loss. Eventually, the quartet loses itself in an atmosphere of light-fi lled grief.”

ALTHOUGH HE WAS A disciple of the cosmopolitan Franz Liszt, Bedrich Smetana became the fi rst Czech to compose with a true nationalist voice. A programmatic composer, Smetana created numerous works that evoke particular events and images of his native Bohemia. After his sudden onset of deafness at age 50, Smetana boldly wrote two quartets entitled “From My Life.” Intended to be heard as an autobiographical tonal portrait, the fi rst quartet (1876) casts the violist as its protagonist — an honor Dvorak enjoyed as one of the performers at the premiere.

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Smetana provided his quartet’s program in a letter to his close friend Josef Srb-Debrnov. The fi rst movement, he writes, “depicts my youthful leanings toward art, the romantic atmosphere, the inexpressible yearnings . . . and also a warning of my future misfortune (deafness).” The opening theme, an impassioned descending phrase in the viola, represents the misfortune that will soon overtake him. This poignant motive, which recurs throughout the quartet, is followed by a gentler second theme that suggests his delight in artistic pursuits. After development of the fi rst theme and a recapitulation of the second, the movement concludes with somber pizzicato notes in the cello.

Smetana describes the second movement as “a quasi-polka that recalls the joyful days of youth when I composed dance tunes and was known everywhere as a passionate lover of dancing.” The movement begins with a spirited dance motif. The viola introduces a vigorous contrasting idea that Smetana states should be played “like a trumpet.” In the trio section the violins intone chord progressions over a rhythmic pattern articulated by the viola and cello. An abbreviated version of the opening section and a brief coda conclude the movement.

Smetana continues: “The third movement (the one which, in the opinion of the gentlemen who play this quartet, is unperformable) reminds me of the happiness of my fi rst love, the girl who later became my wife.” Essentially an extended love song, the movement develops two ardent and lyrical themes with rich romantic harmonies and challenging rhythmic fi guration. A pensive coda suggests yearning for happier times that have passed.

“The fourth movement describes the discovery that I could develop nationalistic elements in music and my joy in following this path until it was checked by the catastrophe of the onset of my deafness and the prospect of my sad future; and remembering all the promise of my early career, a feeling of painful regret.” The movement opens with a joyous dance that suggests native Bohemian folk music. Vigorous passages alternate with graceful sections, and the dance ends abruptly. After a moment of silence, the fi rst violin plays a piercingly high E over an ominous tremolo in the other strings. “This is the fateful ringing in my ears that announced the beginning of my deafness. I permitted myself this little joke, such as it is, because it was so disastrous for me.” After a synopsis of themes from the earlier movements, the work ends in a mood of quiet resignation.

Notes by Nancy Monsman

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Sunday, April 12, 20153:00 pm

Piano & Friends20th Season

Narek Hakhnazaryan, celloNoreen Cassidy-Polera, piano

Opus 3 Artists470 Park Avenue South 9th Floor NorthNew York, NY 10016

Narek HakhnazaryanNarek Hakhnazaryan was born in 1988 in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother is a pianist. His early studies were at the Sayat-Nova School of Music in Yerevan with Zareh Sarkisyan. At the age of 12, he began studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexey Seleznyov, and went on to work with Lawrence Lesser at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Mentored by Mstislav Rostropovich, Mr. Hakhnazaryan was the only cellist invited to travel on behalf of the Mstislav Rostropovich Founda-tion. As First Prize winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists Interna-tional Auditions, he debuted in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He was also awarded the Gold Medal at the 2011 XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition, the most prestigious prize given to a cellist. His career has since taken him to North and South America and throughout Europe.

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Noreen Cassidy-PoleraNoreen Cassidy-Polera holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Martin Canin. Winner of the Accompanying Prize at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competi-tion in Moscow, she regularly collaborates with laureates of the Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky, and Naumburg international competitions. Ms. Cassidy-Polera ranks among the most highly-re-garded and diverse chamber artists performing today, and maintains a career that has taken her to every major American music center and abroad to Europe, Russia, and Asian centers of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul.

PROGRAM

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

Adagio and Allegro for Cello and Piano, Op. 70

Adagio con molto espressioneAllegro con brio

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano

IntroduzioneSerenataTarantellaGavotte con due variazioniScherzinoMinuettoFinale

Adam Khudoyan (b. 1921)

Sonata No. 1 for Solo Cello

INTERMISSION

César Franck (1822–1890)

Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Major

Allegretto ben moderatoAllegroRecitativo — Fantasia: Ben moderatoAllegretto poco mosso

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Program Notes

SCHUMANN ORIGINALLY SCORED his Opus 70 Adagio and Allegro (1849) for the newly popular valved horn, a technical improvement over the natural horn because it enabled secure playing of half steps. Opus 70 was welcomed as the fi rst important chamber work for this essentially new instrument. The previous year, Schumann had suffered a lingering bout of depression, but in 1849 he enjoyed a period of emotional stability. He now concentrated his energies on chamber works that could be performed by a variety of instruments. Because of its popularity, he soon rescored Opus 70 for cello, the instrument he began to study after he had permanently injured a right hand fi nger through zealous piano virtuosity training.

Originally entitled Romanze and Allegro, Opus 70 opens with an eloquent Adagio section. Its pensive theme recurs as an introspective reminiscence near the conclusion of the brilliant Allegro.

STRAVINSKY ENJOYED A LONG collaboration with the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev, whose company Ballets Russes premiered such successes as “The Rite of Spring” in Paris. Searching for a simpler post-World War I project, Diaghilev showed Stravinsky scores attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, the short-lived Italian who crafted ingratiatingly lyrical comic operas in the early 18th century. Although initially cool to the idea, Stravinsky was persuaded to write a ballet based on “Pulcinella,” the story of the long-nosed stock fi gure of Neapolitan puppetry. This twenty-movement ballet score (1920), equipped with sets and costumes designed by Picasso, gained additional popularity as an eleven-movement orchestral suite. In both scores Stravinsky retained the 18th-century melodies, sung by three vocalists, but transformed the original framework with rhythmic ostinatos, pungent harmonies, and brilliantly colorful orchestration. He wrote: “ ‘Pulcinella’ was my discovery of the past, the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible. It was a backward look, of course — the fi rst of many love affairs in that direction — but it was a look in the mirror too.”

With the assistance of his violinist friend Samuel Dushkin, Stravinsky wrote a seven-movement transcription of his Pulcinella Suite for violin and piano, and later he scored it for cello and piano with the collaboration of Gregor Piatigorsky. Entitled “Suite Italienne,” this virtuoso neoclassical work has become one of Stravinsky’s most popular instrumental creations.

ARMENIAN COMPOSER ADAM KHUDOYAN was educated at the Yerevan State Conservatory and subsequently directed the Composer’s House of Armenia. A fervent nationalist, he later served as Secretary of the Composer’s Union of Armenia. Appreciative of the cello’s darkly expressive timbres, Khudoyan wrote signifi cant works for this instrument — three cello sonatas, a cello and violin duo sonata, and a fantasia entitled “Cello Nostalgia.” Khudoyan has been compared to Russian Five member Modest Mussorgsky, who favored strong harmonies and free chordal progressions in his music.

Khudoyan dedicated his Sonata No. 1 for Cello Solo (1961) to the 1,500,000 Armenians who were killed by Turkish forces at the end of the Ottoman Empire. The work opens with a fervent passage that suggests the tolling of funeral bells. Through passages alternately declamatory and sorrowfully melodic, the sonata develops as a profound elegy. Pizzicato passages, high harmonics, and traditional Armenian melodies create a colorful but melancholy atmosphere.

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ALTHOUGH BELGIAN COMPOSER (and signifi cant French romanticist) César Franck wrote prolifi cally throughout his career, he is best known for the works created during the last decade of his life. These include his Sonata in A Major, composed in 1886 for violin but edited for cello by Franck’s Paris Conservatory colleague Jules Delsart soon after it was published. The Sonata is one of the most popular duos for both string instruments, as well as fl ute, in the chamber literature. Franck dedicat-ed the work to violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe and presented the score to him on his wedding day. Upon receiving it, Ysaÿe promptly borrowed a violin and sightread the work on the spot. He performed the sonata often, and he announced at one of his concerts: “This work was given to me by the composer as a wedding present, and whenever I play it, I do so ‘avec amour,’ with love.”

One of the organizing features of Franck’s work is thematic transformation, a technique that alters a theme’s rhythm, meter, and dynamics to change its emotional affect. In the Sonata the opening theme of the vibrant Allegretto ben moderato (for which Ysaÿe requested Franck to adjust tempo markings from slow to fast) reappears as a transformation in all other movements. This thematic repetition also creates a “cyclic” form that Franck amplifi es by bringing second and third movement themes into the fi nale. Although Franck was not the most academic of composers, he builds this last move-ment on a canon, a long established contrapuntal device in which the same melody begins at differ-ent times in the two voices. In this free sonata-ron-do form movement, the piano’s charming melody is echoed by the cello and developed in alternation with earlier themes.

Notes by Nancy Monsman

“This work was given to me by the composer as a wedding present, and whenever I play it, I do so ‘avec amour,’ with love.” — EUGÈNE YSAŸE

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22nd Annual Tucson WinterChamber Music FestivalPETER REJTO, ARTISTIC DIRECTORSunday, March 15, 2015, 3:00 pmTuesday, March 17, 2015, 7:30 pmWednesday, March 18, 2015, 7:30 pmFriday, March 20, 2015, 7:30 pmSunday, March 22, 2015, 3:00 pm

MASTER CLASSESSaturday, March 21, 2015, at 3:00 and 4:00 pm

GALA DINNER AND CONCERTAT THE ARIZONA INNSaturday, March 21, 2015, at 6:00 pmRESERVATIONS REQUIRED

All events at the Leo Rich Theater unlessotherwise indicated.Tickets availableat the box offi ce and online.

Festival Musicians

Philip Alejo, double bassBernadene Blaha, pianoKaterina Englichová, harpJiri Gemrot, composerMarie Catherine Girod, pianoClive Greensmith, celloBernadette Harvey, pianoBil Jackson, clarinetLowell Liebermann, composerJoseph Lin, violinPaul Neubauer, violaNokuthula Ngwenyama, violaAxel Strauss, violinPrazak Quartet

Coming in March 2015

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A special thanks to the Louisa Slomkowska Living Trust for a gift of $40,000

$10,000 & above

Jean-Paul Bierny & Chris Tanz David & Joyce Cornell Jim Cushing Mr. Wesley C. Green Mrs. Ghislaine Polak Boyer Rickel

$5,000 – $9,999

Arizona Commission on the ArtsStan Caldwell & Linda Leedberg Robert & Ursula GarrettJoan Teer Jacobson Mr. Thomas Polk Drs. John & Helen Schaefer Walter Swap Ms. Carla Zingarelli Rosenlicht

$2,500 – $4,999

Nancy Bissell EOS Foundation Dr. & Mrs. Elliott & Sandy Heiman Dan Leach Tom Lewin Grace McIlvainMr. Hal Myers Mr. Thomas Polk Serene ReinJayant Shah & Minna Mehta Jerry & Kathy ShortRandy Spalding Wendy & Elliott Weiss

$1,000 – $2,499

Ms. Nevenka Bierny Celia A. Balfour Ted & Celia Brandt Ms. Dagmar Cushing Mr. & Mrs. Bryan & Elizabeth Daum Caleb & Elizabeth Deupree Mr. & Mrs. John & Terry Forsythe Ms. Beth Foster Thomas Hanselmann Drs. John Hildebrand & Gail BurdArthur & Judy KidderClaire B. Norton Fund Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Peters Herschel & Jill Rosenzweig Mr. & Mrs. John Rupley Si & Eleanor Schorr Paul A. St. John & Leslie Tolbert Mrs. Betsy Zukoski

$500 – $999

AnonymousMr. & Mrs. Frank & Betsy Babb Ms. Selma Bornstein Luis & Maritza DabdoubRichard & Galina De Roeck Raul & Isabel Delgado Philip & Nancy Fahringer Mr. Richard E. Firth Leonid Friedlander Milton FrancisHarold FrommDrs. J. D. & Margot Garcia Elizabeth Giles Dr. Marilyn HeinsMs. Ruth B. Helm Helen & Jerry Hirsch Dr. & Mrs. Robert & Harriet Hirsch Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Hirsh Mr. & Mrs. Joe & Janet Hollander Robert & Deborah Johnson Paul & Marianne Kaestle

Mr. I. Michael Kasser Keith Kumm & Sandy Pharo Dr. & Mrs. Wayne Magee Mr. & Mrs. Larry & Rowena G. Matthews Mr. Eddy Muka George & Irene Perkow Mr. John Raitt Reid & Linda Schindler Ted & Shirley Taubeneck George Timson John Wahl & Mary Lou Forier

$250 – $499

Mr. Robert Alpaugh Ms. Anna Anderson Gail Bernstein Mr. & Mrs. Dennis & Anna BourretMr. & Mrs. Tim & Diane Bowden Cynthia & Lee J. Cannon Peter & Deborah Coogan James & Frances Dauber Mr. Philip M. Davis Bob Foster Linda FriedmanMr. Brad Holland Dr. & Mrs. Henry Koffl er Dr. Daniela Lax Dr. Alan Levenson & Rachel GoldwynKarla van Drunen LittooyMs. Mary Lonsdale Baker Ms. Martha Mecom Harry NungesserNancy Pitt

AFCM Donors

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Mr. Herbert Ploch Dr. Glenn Prestwich Mr. Teresa Pusser Dr. Elaine Rousseau Dr. & Mrs. Richard Sanderson Susan S. Small Mr. Steven Strong Ms. Pamela Sutherland Mr. & Mrs. Lester & Carol Welborn Jan Wezelman & David BartlettMr. & Mrs. John & Helen Wilcox Mr. James Wittenberg Mrs. Peggy Wolf

$100 – $249

Helmut Abt Thomas & Susan Aceto Syd ArkowitzMr. & Mrs. Mark & Jan Barman Mrs. Margaret Bashkin Dr. Nathaniel Bloomfi eld Gary Blumenshine Ms. Joyce Bolinger Ms. Laurie Camm William & Barbara Carpenter James Cassady Shirley Chann Nancy CookPhyllis Cutcher Ms. Ruth Davis Ms. C. Jane Decker Mr. Raul Delgado Anne Denny Marilyn & John Dettloff Mr. Martin Diamond Stephen Doctoroff Mr. & Mrs. John & Mary Enemark Dr. & Mrs. Lionel & Karen Faitelson Carol & Peter Feistmann Mr. & Mrs. James & Ruth Friedman

Mr. Tommy Friedmann Dr. & Mrs. Gerald & Barbara Goldberg Mr. & Mrs. Marvin & Carol Goldberg Mr. Ben Golden Ms. Rachael Goldwyn Ms. Kathryn Gordon Ms. Marilyn Halonen Ms. Clare Hamlet Mr. Ted & Jeanne Hasbrook Dr. & Mrs. M.K. Haynes James Hays Dr. Matt HeintzEvan & Lydia Hersh May Lou Hutchins Dr. David Johnson Ms. Lee L. Kane Carl Kanun Barbara Katz Boris & Billie Kozolchyk Keith & Adrienne Lehrer Mr. & Mrs. Amy & Malcolm Levin Ms. Mary Ellen Lewis Mr. Robert Lupp Dr. Dhira Mahoney Ms. Ana Mantilla Dr. & Mrs. Frank Marcus Mrs. Marjory Margulies Mr. & Mrs. Warren & Felicia May Mr. William McCallum Ms. Sally McGreevy-Gorman Joan Mctarnahan Mr. Lawrence & Nancy Morgan Ms. Gisele Nelson David & Cookie Pashkow Drs. Lynn Nadel & Mary Peterson

Donn Poll Mr. & Mrs. Jim & Debbie Quirk Ms. Lynn Ratener Richard & Harlene Reeves Ms. Kay Richter Jo RiesterJay & Elizabeth Rosenblatt Dror & Lea Sarid Howard & Helen Schneider Dr. Stephen & Janet Seltzer Goldie & Isidore Shapiro Barbara Silvian Ms. Donna Somma Ms. Jennalyn Tellman Carl Tomizuka & Sheila Tobias Mr. Stokes Tolbert Dr. & Mrs. Joseph Tolliver Allan & Diane TractenbergMs. Ellen Trevors Ms. Barbara Turton Mr. Clague Van Slyke III Ms. Iris C. Veomett Mrs. Rudolf von Glinski Angel VoyatzisMs. Gail Wahl Ms. Patricia Wendel Sam & Grace Young Stephen Zegura Ms. Carol Zuckert

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AFCM Donor Tributes

Gifts in honor of

JEAN-PAUL BIERNYby William & Bonnie Carpenterby Raul & Isabel Delgadoby Joe & Janet Hollanderby Barbara Katzby Dan Leachby Paul A. St. John & Leslie Tolbert by Sam & Grace Young

JEAN-PAUL BIERNY & CHRIS TANZby Luis & Maritza Dabdoub

MARILYN HEINSby Anonymous

ERIC HOLTANby Raul & Isabel Delgado

ANNE NARDby her daughter, Linda Leedberg

PETER REJTOby Stefanie Fife

ALLAN & DIANE TRACTENBERGby Mark Barmann

Gifts in memory of

DR. MURRAY BORNSTEINby Selma Bornstein

JACK CHAIKINby Goldie & Isidore Shapiro

CLIFFORD & WENDY CROOKERby Beth Foster

MIKE CUSANOVICHby Marilyn Halonen

RUDOLF VON GLINSKIby Elfriede von Glinski

ANN JENSENby Barbara Katz

KATHY KAESTLEby Paul & Marianne Kaestle

PATTE LAZARUSby Jean-Paul Bierny & Chris Tanzby Nancy Bissellby Dagmar Cushingby Beth Fosterby Joan Jacobsonby Randy Spaldingby Joseph Tolliver

RHODA LEWINby Tom Lewin

DANA NELSONby Carla Zingarelli-Rosenlicht

HARRY & LOUISE RICKELby their son, Boyer Rickel

ALAN ROSENLICHTby his mother, Carla Zingarelli-Rosenlicht

LEA SARIDby Lee Kane

NORMAN VAINIOby Marilyn Halonen

This program lists contributions made to the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. Space limitations prevent us from listing contributions less than $100. We are grateful, however, for every donation, each of which helps us to secure the future of AFCM.

Please advise us if your name is not listed properly or inadvertently omitted.

Please advise us if your donation is composed of stocks or bonds, so that we can properly credit you in our donor list.

To donate, please call our offi ce at 520–577–3769 or e-mail “donations@arizonachamber-music.org.”

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Upcoming 2015–2016 Season

Evening Series68th SeasonEMERSON QUARTETWednesday, October 21, 2015, 7:30 pm

ZEMLINSKY QUARTETWITH NIKITA MNDOYANTSWednesday, November 4, 2015, 7:30 pm

ESCHER QUARTETWednesday, December 16, 2015, 7:30 pm

MINGUET QUARTETWITH ANDREAS KLEIN, PIANO

“Homage to Glenn Gould”Wednesday, January 27, 2016, 7:30 pm

MODIGLIANI QUARTETWednesday, February 17, 2016, 7:30 pm

JERUSALEM QUARTETWednesday, April 13, 2016, 7:30 pm

Piano & Friends21st SeasonDENIS KOZHUKHIN, PIANOSunday, November 1, 2015, 3:00 pm

NIKKI CHOOI, VIOLINSunday, January 17, 2016, 3:00 pm

ISTVÁN VÁRDAI, CELLOSunday, April 10, 2016, 3:00 pm

23rd Annual Tucson Winter Chamber Music FestivalPETER REJTO, ARTISTIC DIRECTORSunday, March 13, 2016Tuesday, March 15, 2016Wednesday, March 16, 2016Friday, March 18, 2016Sunday, March 20, 2016

Festival MusiciansClive Greensmith, celloMarc-André Hamelin, pianoBernadette Harvey, pianoYura Lee, violin/violaJohannes Moser, celloVolkan Orhon, bassCynthia Phelps, violaEric Ruske, hornAxel Strauss, violinSvet Stoyanov, percussionPacifi ca Quartet

Special Encore PerformancesTHE COMPLETE CELLO SONATAS OF BEETHOVENSharon Robinson, celloBenjamin Hochman, piano

Two Concerts:Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm

Contact us for more informationPhone: 520–577–3769Email: offi ce@arizonachambermusic.orgWebsite: www.arizonachambermusic.org

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