Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Beshore Performance Hall at the Cornell Complex
212 West 7th Street, Joplin, MO 64801
7:30 PM
Pro Musica is thrilled to present the Schumann Quartett and pianist Jon Nakamatsu in collaboration with Connect2Culture. Join us for a celebration of the opening of the Cornell Complex – and especially the new piano in the Beshore Performance Hall!
Patrons are encouraged to register in advance for this event due to limited capacity in the hall. Please make your FREE reservation at the following Google Form:
https://bit.ly/c2c-pro-musica-collab-2022
The Program
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Quartet in c minor, Op. 18, No. 4
Allegro ma non tanto
Scherzo; Andante scherzoso, quasi allegretto
Menuetto: Allegretto
Allegro
Fritz Kreisler: Quartet in a minor
Fantasia: Moderato
Scherzo: Allegro vivo, con spirito
Einleitung und Romanza
Finale: Allegro moderato
Robert Schumann: Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
Allegro brillante
In modo d’una marcha. Un poco largamente
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Allegro ma non troppo
Program Notes
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Quartet in c minor, Op. 18, No. 4
It has been suggested that Beethoven’s C minor quartet is based on material from his earliest period in Bonn; whatever the truth, the work represents him at full power so far as he had evolved it around 1800, when the six Op. 18 quartets were being composed. C minor has always been connected with Beethoven in trenchant mood, and there is some of that here, with instantly assimilable melodic invention. For all this, there is no lack of subtlety in the proportions, and the sense of movement is as perfect as a cat’s. In the crisply effected first movement we feel strong purpose rather than the tragedy or pathos often associated with a minor key, and the E flat music of the second group has an unmistakably optimistic “lift”. As if to confirm this, there is no slow movement – instead a lighthearted C major andante actually entitled “scherzo”; this anticipates in some ways the second movement of the First Symphony, especially in its fugato beginning.
By far the most serious part of this quartet is the so-called minuet, having the urgency of some of Beethoven’s later scherzo movements (which incidentally when they were not humorous he never called “scherzo”). This dramatically intense “minuet” has some remarkable chromaticisms, and the Trio, with its constant quick triplets in the first violin, could well have influenced Schubert’s quartet textures. The finale is one of Beethoven’s rare excursions into the Hungarian style of which Haydn was fond; it is a simple rondo with a contrasting much broader second theme. At the end the tempo increases and unlike Haydn in such cases, Beethoven allows the minor key to persist to the end. In this quartet, all the movements are in C.
-Dr. Robert Simpson
Fritz Kreisler: Quartet in a minor
How many people know that Fritz Kreisler (1875-1963) the famous violinist and composer of works for violin and piano wrote a string quartet—and a very good one too. That it is good is really no surprise, not only because Kreisler was a talented composer, but also because he was a regular string quartet player. Of course, it does not sound anything like his sweet morsels such as Liebesfreud or Schön Rosmarin.
Kreisler’s quartet was completed in 1922. In the preceding decade, there had been many new and, some would say, shocking developments in music. Those who, as Kreisler, rejected the atonalism of Schönberg and his Second Vienna School, could no longer write in the idiom of Brahms. New ways had to be found. Composers such as Dohnanyi, Weigl, Weiner, Stravinsky, to name but a few, all struck out in different directions, while retaining some aspects of traditional tonalism.
Many critics have considered Kreisler’s quartet to be programmatic and autobiographical as was Smetana’s From My Life. Kreisler, however, never openly admitted this although he did tell his biographer, “It is my tribute to Vienna.” (his birthplace) The opening movement, Allegro moderato but also titled Fantasia, immediately strikes a note of tragic drama with the opening cello solo. The main part of the movement does not turn out to be tragic but nonetheless has an eerie aura and gives off a haunted sense. The tonality of the following Scherzo, Allegro vivo con spirito, has a waywardness about it as the music dances along, literally bursting with energy. The languid trio section provides a mighty contrast. A slow movement, Andante con moto, also has a title: Introduction & Romance. The music is poignant and portrays an aching or a yearning for something lost. In main theme of the finale, has a rhythmic gaiety to it. It is an updated version of a Viennese dance tune. Slowly the music builds to a huge dramatic climax which is capped by the restatement of the tragic utterance of the opening cello solo. The music ends peacefully on a quiet note. Perhaps eulogizing the gay Vienna of the closing decades of the Habsburg Empire, which was destroyed forever by the First World War.
This quartet is truly a modern masterwork. That it did not achieve the fame it deserved and was not taken seriously can only be due to the fact that its composer was a violin virtuoso known for writing effective encore pieces. It deserves to be heard in concert and will be enjoyed by experienced amateur players as well.
-Edition Silvertrust
Robert Schumann: Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
Schumann’s Piano Quartet dates from the “chamber music year” of 1842, which also saw the completion of the three string quartets and the Piano Quintet. If the latter is, perhaps, the more brilliant of the two works for keyboard and strings, there’s at least no faulting the sweeping lyricism, deep reservoirs of emotion, and spectacular technique to be found on nearly every page of the Quartet.
Its first movement opens with a noble, chorale-like theme in the strings punctuated by tolling octaves in the piano. This flows directly into the main body of the movement, a brisk Allegro marked by a snappy opening figure that transforms into a rather lyrical tune played by cello and violin over a chugging piano accompaniment. Its second theme falls into two parts: a rising scale, followed by a descending arpeggio. It’s often heard in canonic textures or in the vicinity of a choral-like cantus firmus.
The brisk second movement channels Schumann’s friend Mendelssohn’s “elfin” style, here, though, a bit darker and dourer. It’s sprightly and whimsical, all the same, filled with impetuous energy that’s only interrupted by the two trio sections that pop up in the middle.
In the third movement, Schumann’s considerable gifts as a tunesmith are fully on display. The cello opens with a gorgeous, expansive melody that’s passed to each member of the quartet and heard with slightly varied accompaniments in each iteration. In the middle comes a striking, devotional passage that seems to recall late Beethoven, but does little to dispel the music’s sense of yearning.
The brilliant finale offers two contrasting ideas: a lively, extroverted fugato and a more ambiguous, songful tune. Neither really wins out – the blazing coda pays homage to both – but perhaps that’s the point. Musical complexity and contradiction are but a reflection of the same human characteristics, a fact of which Schumann was well aware.
-Jonathan Blumhofer
More About the Ensemble
Schumann Quartett
The Schumann Quartett has reached a stage where anything is possible, because it has dispensed with certainties. This also has consequences for audiences, which from one concert to the next have to be prepared for all eventualities: “A work really develops only in a live performance,” the quartet says. “That is ‘the real thing’, because we ourselves never know what will happen. On the stage, all imitation disappears, and you automatically become honest with yourself. Then you can create a bond with the audience – communicate with it in music.” This live situation will gain an added energy in the near future: Albrecht Mayer, Menahem Pressler, Kit Armstrong, Anna Vinnitskaya and Anna Lucia Richter are among the quartet’s current partners.
A special highlight of the 21/22 season will be the four concerts at Wigmore Hall London, where the quartet is Quartet in Residence this season. Furthermore, the quartet will be back on tour in the USA after an enforced break. It will be a guest at the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival and the MDR Musiksommer, as well as in Berlin, Schwetzingen, Frankfurt, Cologne and Dortmund. In addition, the quartet will be able to present two special programs in Madrid and Bilbao together with mezzo-soprano Anna-Lucia Richter.
Its album “Intermezzo” (2018 | Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Schumann und Reimann with Anna-Lucia Richter) has been hailed enthusiastically both at home and abroad and received the award “Opus Klassik“ in the category quintet. It is celebrated as a worthy successor to its award-winning “Landscapes” album, in which in which the quartet traces its own roots by combining works of Haydn, Bartók, Takemitsu and Pärt. Among other prices, the latter received the “Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, five Diapasons and was selected as Editor’s Choice by the BBC Music Magazine. For its previous CD “Mozart Ives Verdi”, the Schumann Quartett was accorded the 2016 Newcomer Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards in London. In 2020 the quartet has expanded its discography with “Fragment” and his examination of one of the masters of the string quartet: Franz Schubert.
The three brothers Mark, Erik and Ken Schumann have been playing together since their earliest childhood – meanwhile violist Veit Hertenstein completes the quartet. The four musicians enjoy the way they communicate without words. Although the individual personalities clearly manifest themselves, a common space arises in every musical work in a process of spiritual metamorphosis. The quartet’s openness and curiosity may be partly the result of the formative influence exerted on it by teachers such as Eberhard Feltz, the Alban Berg Quartet, or partners such as Menahem Pressler.
Awards, CD releases – it is always tempting to speculate on what factors have led to many people viewing the Schumann Quartet as one of the best in the world. But the four musicians themselves regard these stages more as encounters, as a confirmation of the path they have taken. They feel that their musical development over the past two years represents a quantum leap. “We really want to take things to extremes, to see how far the excitement and our spontaneity as a group take us,” says Ken Schumann, the middle of the three Schumann brothers. They charmingly sidestep any attempt to categorise their sound, approach or style, and let the concerts speak for themselves.
And the critics approve: “Fire and energy. The Schumann Quartett plays staggeringly well […] without doubt one of the very best formations among today’s abundance of quartets, […] with sparkling virtuosity and a willingness to astonish” (Harald Eggebrecht in Süddeutsche Zeitung). Quotes taken from an interview with journalists from the classical music magazine VAN (van-magazin.de)
www.schumannquartett.de/eng
Jon Nakamatsu
American pianist Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw unanimous praise as a true aristocrat of the keyboard, whose playing combines elegance, clarity, and electrifying power. A native of California, Mr. Nakamatsu came to international attention in 1997 when he was named Gold Medalist of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the only American to have achieved this distinction since 1981. Mr. Nakamatsu has performed widely in North and South America, Europe, and the Far East, collaborating with such conductors as James Conlon, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Osmo Vänskä and Hans Vonk. He also performed at a White House concert hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton.
Mr. Nakamatsu’s extensive recital tours throughout the U.S. and Europe have featured appearances in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Paris, London and Milan. He has worked with various chamber ensembles – among them the Brentano, Tokyo, Kuss, Jupiter, Cypress, Prazak and Ying String Quartets – and has toured repeatedly with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Together with clarinetist Jon Manasse, Mr. Nakamatsu tours continually as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. The Duo also serves as Artistic Directors of the esteemed Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts.
Mr. Nakamatsu records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released thirteen CDs to date. His all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic featuring Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F rose to number three on Billboard’s classical music charts, earning extraordinary critical praise. Other acclaimed releases include an all-Liszt disc featuring the “Dante Sonata”; a recording of Brahms’ Piano Sonata in F minor; and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Mr. Nakamatsu’s 2008 recording of Brahms’ Clarinet Sonatas with Jon Manasse was chosen by the New York Times as one of its top releases for the year; his latest disc with Mr. Manasse, released in August 2012, includes both the Brahms Clarinet Quintet and the Piano Quintet with the Tokyo String Quartet. Of his most recent release on the label, a 2014 solo disc of the piano works of Robert Schumann, BBC Music Magazine states that “Nakamatsu clarifies Schumann’s mid-range saturated textures to a remarkable degree, reveling in its fantastic imaginings with rapier-like precision and effortless command.”
Since 1997, Mr. Nakamatsu has served on multiple international piano competition juries and has also been invited as a guest speaker at numerous institutions including the Van Cliburn Foundation, Stanford University and the Juilliard School.
Mr. Nakamatsu studied privately with Marina Derryberry and has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, son of the great pianist Artur Schnabel. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in German Studies and a master’s degree in Education.
www.jonnakamatsu.com
COVID-19 Safety Information
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