MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE PRESENTS

DEBUSSY STRING QUARTET7.30PM, SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2017

Melbourne Recital Centre acknowledges the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this concert is being presented.

Christophe Collette violinMarc Vieillefon violinVincent Deprecq violaCédric Conchon cello

‘Their feat can hardly be overstated… Shostakovich would have thrilled to every second.’

THE GUARDIAN

Saturday 16 September7.30pm Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

Approximate Duration: One hour and 45 mins including one 20-minute interval

DEBUSSY STRING QUARTET

Stream a selection of these works by Debussy String Quartet on Melbourne Recital Centre’s Spotify playlist.

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PROGRAM

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (b. St Petersburg, Russia 1906 — d. Moscow, Russia 1975)

From Two Pieces for String Quartet, Op.36a: Elegy

String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.122 Introduction: Andantino Scherzo: Allegretto Recitative: Adagio Etude: Allegro Humoresque: Allegro Elegy: Adagio Finale: Moderato —

Meno mosso — Moderato

String Quartet No.7 in F-sharp minor, Op.108 Allegretto Lento Allegro — Allegretto

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (b. Bonn, Germany 1770 — d. Vienna, Austria 1827)

String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 ‘Serioso’ Allegro con brio Allegretto ma non troppo Allegro assai vivace ma

serioso — Più Allegro Larghetto espressivo —

Allegretto agitato — Allegro

INTERVAL

MAURICE RAVEL (b. Ciboure, France 1875 — d. Paris, France 1937)

String Quartet in F, M.35 Allegro moderato Assez vif, très rythmé Très lent Vif et agité

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

Two Pieces for String Quartet, Op.36a: ElegyShostakovich’s two movements for string quartet predate his famous string quartet repertoire. Both are adaptations of earlier works by the same composer. The Elegy we hear tonight is derived from Katerina’s aria in Act I, Scene 3 of the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, while the Polka first appeared in his ballet score for The Age of Gold. Shostakovich made these arrangments over the course of a single evening in 1931 as a gift to the Vuillaume Quartet.

The Elegy, which must surely stand as one of the composer’s most beautiful utterances, originally accompanied a lament sung by the principal character of the opera as she contemplates a life of oppressive misery and life-denying boredom trapped inside a loveless marriage.

Although he was to develop into one of the greatest string quartet composers, this early movement predates Shostakovich’s first full string quartet by some seven years.

Words by Peter Tregear © 2010

String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.122 Introduction: Andantino Scherzo: Allegretto Recitative: Adagio Etude: Allegro Humoresque: Allegro Elegy: Adagio Finale: Moderato —

Meno mosso — Moderato

On a visit to Leipzig in 1950, Shostakovich sat on the jury of a piano competition to mark the 200th anniversary of Bach’s death. He was so impressed with one of the young contestants, Tatiana Nikolayeva, playing selections from Bach’s Well-Tempered Klavier, that he set about composing for her, likewise, his own set of 24 preludes and fugues for piano, one in every major and minor key. Having completed this ambitious task in less than six months, he secretly set himself an even more arduous goal, this time one entirely unprecedented in music history, of producing a parallel set of 24 string quartets. He’d already composed four, the first in 1938, all in different keys, but it wasn’t until 1960, after finishing his seventh, that he divulged his ambitious plan publicly.

His co-creators in this huge task were the members of the Beethoven Quartet of Moscow, to whom he entrusted the premiere of each new work. Together, Shostakovich and these four players clocked up 10 quartets.

Dmitri Shostakovich

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In 1964, however, time began to take its inevitable toll. That year the quartet’s original viola player, Vadim Borisovsky, retired, and in the summer of 1965 the second violinist, Vasily Shirinsky, died. Shostakovich was almost 60 when, in January 1966, he composed the Eleventh Quartet in Shirinsky’s memory. Then, late on the night of the work’s premiere, 28 May 1966, he himself suffered a serious heart attack that confined him to hospital for two months. Sensing time was short, he thereafter took the precaution of dedicating the next three quartets (Nos 12—14), composed between 1968 and 1973, to the remaining members of the Beethoven Quartet. But a year after completing the Fifteenth Quartet, the most important member of the team, Shostakovich himself, died, not yet two-thirds of the way toward their projected total of 24.

It was the opinion of one member of the Quartet that Shostakovich had long-since become obsessed with death. Death entered the quartet-cycle fully as a theme with the Seventh Quartet, dedicated to the memory of the composer’s first wife. Perhaps the late Shirinsky had been especially fond of the Seventh’s nevertheless catchily amusing main rhythmic motif (short-short-long, short-short-long); often supposed to represent fate knocking, it too features prominently in the Eleventh Quartet in his memory.

The layout and contents of the seven-movement work are far removed from the traditional four-movement scheme of the Classical quartet. The self-explanatory movement titles suggest instead a succession of contrasting character-pieces, such as might be found in a series of Schumann piano pieces or Shostakovich’s own early piano Aphorisms. Yet they form an unexpectedly cohesive whole, as a result of being played without any break, and because of the tight web of thematic connections between them. For instance, the sixth-movement Elegy continues the musical argument begun in the slow opening movement. And the Finale commences by taking up again the contrasting basic idea of the fast Scherzo, while further elements of the Scherzo seed ideas in the other two fast movements, the Etude and Humoresque, reminiscences perhaps of the dedicatee’s vitality and wit. Shostakovich registers the most extreme note in the Recitative, music of such nightmare discordance that its most likely impetus must, indeed, have been fear of death.

Words by Graeme Skinner © 2017

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String Quartet No.7 in F-sharp minor, Op.108 Allegretto Lento Allegro — Allegretto

By 1960 Shostakovich no longer had to fear persecution by the Soviet state. His main problem now, beyond bouts of poor health, was the regime’s fond embrace and attendant obligations. As the country’s star composer, he felt smothered by his honours and official duties. He told a friend, ‘I am frightened that I will choke in an ocean of awards.’

Appointed to government posts, he was put forward as a cultural figurehead and expected to attend plenary sessions, congresses and peace conferences. He gave speeches and published articles using officially prepared texts. He was also requested to compose a steady stream of patriotic songs and film scores. In 1960 he was elected First Secretary of the Russian Composers’ Union, and later that year he was pressured to join the Communist Party.

The Seventh Quartet was composed in memory of Nina Vazar, the mother of his children whom he married twice and who died in 1954. As music historian Judith Kuhn has observed, in addition to the formal dedication to her, the first and third movements of the Seventh Quartet end in the key of F-sharp major, the key of the ‘love theme’ in the composer’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which is also dedicated to Nina Vazar. The shortest of Shostakovich’s

15 string quartets, the Seventh is written without pause between movements. Its brevity and the reappearance in the last movement of musical motifs from the first and second movements suggest a view of the entire quartet as a single movement in sonata form, with the first movement Allegretto as the primary theme; the second movement Lento as a contrasting theme; and the last movement a development of the themes followed by the recapitulation. This view is supported by the gradually increasing presence of Shostakovich’s personal four-note ‘DSCH’ pattern across the three movements as a unifying element. (The up-down pattern of the notes D, E-flat, C, B spells DSCH for Dmitri SCHostakowitsch in German musical notation.)

Two themes alternate in the first-movement Allegretto, a short, twisting three-note gallop and a contrasting rhythmic line in the cello. Unusually for Shostakovich, both themes are harmonically resolved when they reappear later in the movement. The grieving second movement Lento is unsettled by a restless, weaving accompaniment and a startling glissando slide in the viola and cello. The third movement explodes with a violent fugue based on the DSCH note pattern. The music builds to a frantic climax, and the quartet’s opening theme returns, forcefully at first, then in the grieving voice of the second movement. The music gradually fades to a quiet pizzicato, and the quartet ends with a gentle cadence.

Words by Robert Strong © 2013

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Dmitri Shostakovich (continued)

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String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 ‘Serioso’ Allegro con brio Allegretto ma non troppo Allegro assai vivace ma serioso —

Più Allegro Larghetto espressivo — Allegretto

agitato — Allegro

Among its near neighbours, Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor of 1810 is an oddity. Surrounding it, chronologically, are musical works overwhelmingly positive in mood, among them the delightful E-flat major String Quartet, Op.74 of 1809, nicknamed ‘The Harp’, and the ebullient Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, both completed in 1812. But the F minor Quartet, alone, is a dark and somewhat enigmatic piece. The circumstances of its composition are equally singular. Unusually, Beethoven wrote it without a commission, which suggests that it was an especially personal project. Remarkably too, he himself gave the Quartet a nickname, the ‘Quartetto serioso’. It is also quite short, seldom lasting more than 20 minutes in performance. Indeed, everything about the F minor Quartet seems pared back to its essentials.

The first movement has neither of the automatic large-scale structural repeats previously used to extend such movements. As for the central development section (which in earlier quartets might, coupled to the reprise, have been expected to be heard twice), once was apparently enough for the influential early 20th-century critic, Donald Tovey, who characterised it as ‘a short process of Mozartean straightforwardness and Beethovenish violence’. The constant return of unison passages suggests that the hearing-impaired Beethoven found himself repeatedly losing patience with the distorting effects of harmony, preferring instead to present his themes in their most basic guise.

Ludwig van Beethoven

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The second movement is a sort of quick ‘slow movement’, whose speed lends it a sense of emotional remoteness, it being hard to attribute traditional slow-movement affections such as pathos or passion to music so cool and impassive. The descending scale for the cello at the start, and the smooth slurs and meandering harmonies of the main melody almost suggest the steady sound of an organ, and the old-fashioned ‘church’ style of composition is further hinted at in the fugal middle section.

The third movement, which follows the second without a break, is what might be called a scherzo.

But Beethoven (who did not call it that) accentuated the differences between it and happier scherzos by marking it ‘ma serioso’. The rhythmic abruptness of its outer sections contrasts with a central episode which is almost lugubrious. The fourth movement begins with a few bars marked Larghetto espressivo, giving way to the incessant turmoil of the Allegretto agitato. The work’s two final gestures are both unexpected. First, the music winds down completely, dynamically to triple piano, harmonically to a pedal on the tonic F (in the bass), and finally melodically and rhythmically onto two sustained, apparently terminal chords. Then suddenly Beethoven seems to snap out of his seriousness and into a lighter mood. The music slides into F major, changes time signature, and quickens pace to Allegro, for an oddly extroverted close.

Words by Graeme Skinner © 2017

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Ludwig van Beethoven (continued)

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String Quartet in F, M.35 Allegro moderato Assez vif, très rythmé Très lent Vif et agité

Remarkably, Ravel’s String Quartet — one of the standard quartets of the 20th-century repertoire — was actually a student work. He composed it in late 1902 and early 1903 while still enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire, around the time of his second unsuccessful attempt to win the Prix de Rome.

Certainly the composer’s youth is evident in the obvious influences upon the String Quartet — in particular the impressionist mood and extraordinary tone colours which seem to have derived from Debussy whose own String Quartet (with which Ravel’s is often coupled on recordings) appeared almost a decade earlier. But there is greater evidence still of the older, more mature Ravel in the translucent instrumental textures, the economy and aloof style of utterance, the neo-classical, indeed almost Mozartian elegance of formal construction, and the exotic touches inspired by the music of the Far East.

The premiere of the String Quartet by the Heymann Quartet at the Société Nationale on 5 March 1904 excited much comment. Ravel’s own teacher, Gabriel Fauré, sternly advised his pupil to revise the final movement, while Debussy himself famously told Ravel, ‘In the name of the gods of music, and in mine, do not touch a single note of

what you have written in your quartet.’ Perhaps this disagreement between the older, disapproving Fauré and the younger, more appreciative Debussy was symbolic, for there can be no doubt that the String Quartet was to prove a landmark on Ravel’s journey toward a distinctively ‘new’ musical language in subsequent works.

But for all his concerns about the final movement, the String Quartet was nevertheless dedicated to Fauré and his influence remains prevalent throughout the work, not least in its structural precision and maturity. (Ironically, in the wash-up of the String Quartet’s premiere, Ravel fell out with Debussy rather than Fauré.) Sonata form is still treated with respect in the Quartet and the impressionist tinges never result in lack of clarity. As one commentator noted, ‘Perfection rather than innovation was Ravel’s aim’ — an ambition which he achieved with conspicuous facility.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Maurice Ravel

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The opening movement, beginning Allegro moderato, is built on two traditional themes. The first is a stylish melody stated immediately throughout the entire quartet, while the second appears on the first violin over rapid figurations in the second violin and viola. As the movement proceeds through the first of its several climaxes, the striking instrumental effects begin (note, for instance, the extraordinary tone colour produced by the first violin and viola playing two octaves apart). But for all the deft handling of the instrumental writing, it remains as close as Ravel ever came to a traditional sonata form opening movement.

The rapid, pizzicato opening of the second movement, Assez vif, represents sheer exhilaration, with an inherent tension between 3/4 and 6/8 rhythms. It’s been suggested that Ravel was imitating an Indonesian gamelan orchestra in this movement, but it’s difficult to imagine the extravagant trills and tremolos which begin and end phrases being played on anything other than European instruments. There is a formal second subject (bowed and marked ‘Bien chanté’) and a slower, more reflective middle section introduced by the cello. Then the movement closes with a brief, frenzied reprise of the opening.

The strictness of form is relaxed slightly in the slow movement, which is more improvisatory in character, and more episodic in its sequences. The tempi change continually and the opening theme of the first movement returns here in quite a different guise. In true chamber music fashion, themes and ideas (two of which are introduced by the viola) are tossed back and forth between the protagonists.

A vigorous flourish renews the sense of urgency in the helter-skelter finale. The unusual rhythm (based on five-in-a-bar) creates an off-beat feel, but passages of a more expressive character continually emerge amidst the disconcerting effects. The opening theme of the quartet returns once more, suitably contorted within the ‘new sound world’ of the finale, both rounding off the work as a whole, but also pointing toward a new direction in Ravel’s later music. No wonder it made the venerable Fauré feel uncomfortable!

Words by Martin Buzacott © Reprinted with permission by Symphony Australia.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Maurice Ravel (continued)

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Through its passionate commitment to speak in a unique voice, eschewing the creation of an international quartet sound, the Debussy String Quartet has established its reputation as one of the finest quartets touring and recording today.

Formed in 1990 by a group of young musicians studying at the Conservatoire de Lyon (France), the Quartet has gained international renown for its exciting performances and award-winning recordings. In major concert halls from New York to Tokyo they perform a wide range of works, and are perhaps most well known for their devotion to the French repertoire. The Quartet’s performances of the Ravel, Debussy and Fauré quartets are legendary, and these four musicians continue to create new audiences for works of their countrymen such as Lalo, Lekeu, Milhaud and the late romantic composer, Ermand Bonnal.

Winners of the Evian International String Quartet Competition, the Debussy String Quartet performs about 80 concerts a year in Europe, Asia, and North America. They are regular guests at some of the most distinguished concert halls including Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Auditorio Nacional de Musica (Madrid), Grand Theatre (Geneva), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Théâtre du Châtelet, Musée du Louvre (Paris) and at many of Europe’s finest festivals.

In addition to mixed chamber music with renowned colleagues, the Quartet has embarked on an adventurous collaboration with the famed modern dance ensemble, Compagnie Käfig (choreographer Mourad Merzouki), for a new project in which they

are incorporated as choreographed elements while performing on their respective instruments in concert with the dancers: Boxe Boxe.

The Debussy String Quartet’s extensive discography includes the acclaimed Decca label release of the landmark Mozart Requiem recording, in the 1802 transcription by Peter Lichtenthal (about which a documentary film has also been made). The Arion label produced several volumes in the ‘French Music’ collection (Bonnal, Ravel, Fauré, Witkowski, Lekeu) and the complete Shostakovich Quartets, among other works. The Quartet’s mixed chamber music repertoire includes its highly regarded album recording of the Brahms and Weber clarinet quintets with clarinetist Jean Francois Verdier and a highly acclaimed collaboration with the pianist François Chaplin in several Mozart piano concertos. In addition, their discography includes the complete works of Webern for string quartet (for Harmonia Mundi), which received the coveted Choc award of Le Monde de la Musique. In 2016, their new records include the soundtrack to the TV show Opus and the jazz album, Filigrane (for Radio France). Earlier this year, the Debussy’s released a new record of Marc Mellits’s quartets available under the Evidence Classics label.

The Debussy String Quartet is based in Lyon, France. Its members are the founders of Les Cordes en Ballade, a chamber music festival and an academy of chamber music in the South of France, where they perform and teach each summer.

ABOUT THE DEBUSSY STRING QUARTET

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LEADERSHIP CIRCLESThe Leadership Circles comprise individual donors whose lead gifts support the Centre’s core concert program and its mission to be a singular place of inspiration, creativity, self-expression, learning and enrichment through music.

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INSPIRED GIVING

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The Hon Justice Michelle Gordon & The Hon Kenneth M Hayne AC QCJohn Howie AM & Dr Linsey HowiePeter Jopling AM QC & Dr Sam MandengAnthony J & Philippa M KellySnowe Li °Message Consultants AustraliaSimon & Genevieve MooreTravis PembertonRalph & Ruth RenardRae RothfieldProf Richard Smallwood AO & Mrs Carol SmallwoodLady Marigold Southey ACSusan Thacore

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($4000+)Naomi Golvan & George Golvan QCThe Hon Justice Michelle Gordon & The Hon Kenneth M Hayne AC QCPeter & Ruth McMullinPeter B Murdoch QC & Helen MurdochMaya Rozner & Alex King

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($1000+)Anonymous (3)Marcia & John K ArthurPeter BartlettAnnette Blonski & Martin Bartfeld QCDavid ByrneThe Hon Alex Chernov AC QC & Mrs Elizabeth ChernovLeslie G ClementsChristine CloughThe Hon Julie Dodds-Streeton

Colin Golvan QC & Dr Deborah GolvanTimothy GoodwinThe Hon Hartley Hansen QC & Rosalind HansenRobert Heathcote & Meredith KingThe Hon Peter Heerey AM QC & Sally HeereyJudge Sara Hinchey & Tom PikusaJohn Howie AM & Dr Linsey HowiePandora Kay & John LarkinsAnthony J & Philippa M KellyMaryanne B Loughnan QCBanjo McLachlan & Paul MahonyElizabeth O’KeeffeRalph & Ruth RenardMichael Shand QCTom SmythThe Hon Judge Josh Wilson & Dr Silvana Wilson

($500+)Ingrid BraunElizabeth BorosKatherine BrazenorThe Hon Stephen Charles & Jennifer CharlesGeorgie ColemanThe Hon David L Harper AMThe Hon Chris Maxwell ACThe Hon Justice O’CallaghanMichael & Penny Rush

THE MARY VALLENTINE LIMITLESS STAGE FUNDThe Fund supports projects of the Centre like digital broadcasts, recordings, webcasts or other forms of outreach, enabling the Centre’s music-making to be available everywhere.

($20,000+)Naomi Milgrom AOKim Williams AMMelbourne Recital Centre Board of Directors Kathryn Fagg Peter & Cally Bartlett Stephen Carpenter & Leigh Ellwood Joseph Corponi The Hon Mary Delahunty Paul Donnelly & Brigitte Treutenaere Margaret Farren-Price & Prof Ronald Farren-Price AM Eda Ritchie AMThe John & Jennifer Brukner Foundation

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($10,000+)Krystyna Campbell-PrettyJohn & Susan Davies

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($2500+)Anne Burgi & Kerin CarrDorothy Karpin

($1000+)Keith & Debby BadgerJohn & Mary BarlowKaye & David BirksMaria HansenIn memory of Beryl HooleyGeorge & Grace KassProf John Langford AM & The Late Christina McCallumAnn MillerGreg Shalit & Miriam FaineProf Richard Smallwood AO & Carol Smallwood

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° Amplify: Young Donors in support of Artist Development

List of patrons at 8 September 2017

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Melbourne Recital Centre acknowledges the generous support of its business partners, philanthropic supporters and patrons.thank you

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ENCORE BEQUEST PROGRAMProviding sustained support for all aspects of the Centre’s artistic program through its Public Fund. Anonymous (3)The Late Betty Amsden aoJenny Anderson Barbara BlackmanJennifer Brukner

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The Estate of Beverley Shelton & Martin SchönthalMary Vallentine ao

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