T h e W i l l i a m T.

K e m p e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l c h a m b e r M u s i c s e r i e s

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

with Jeremy Denk, piano

Saturday, October 13

The Folly Theater

8 pm
Jeremy Denk
Jose Franch-Ballester
John Zirbel
Erin Keefe
Paul Newbauer
Nicholas Canellakis

piano
clarinet
horn
violin
viola
cello

BRUCH
Selections from Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op. 83
Allegro agitato
Nachtgesang: Andante con moto
Rumanian Melody: Andante
Allegro vivace, ma non troppo
BRAHMS
Trio in E-flat Major for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40

Andante
Scherzo: Allegro
Adagio mesto
Finale: Allegro con brio
INTERMISSION
DOHNNYI
Sextet in C Major for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano, Op. 37
Allegro appassionato
Intermezzo: Adagio
Allegro con sentiment
Finale: Allegro vivace, giocoso

This concert is underwritten, in part, by the Board of Directors of The Friends of Chamber Music
The International Chamber Music Series is underwritten, in part, by the William T. Kemper Foundation

This concert is supported,

in part, by the ArtsKC Fund.

Financial assistance for this project has been provided,

in part, by The Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

the friends of chamber music | the intimate voice of classical music

program notes

first of the six miniatures are straightforward in structure:

in either a binary structure (AB) or a ternary structure
Max Bruch, widely known and respected in his day as a (ABA). The last two miniatures are in a compact sonata
composer, conductor, and teacher, received his earliest music form. And with the exception of the 7th miniature, all of
the others are in thoughtful, minor keys. Though Bruch was
instruction from his mother, a noted singer and pianist.
fond of incorporating folk music into his concert works,
He began composing at 11, and by 14 had produced a
only the 5th movement entitled Rumanian Melody
symphony and a string quartet, the latter garnering a prize
that allowed him to study with Karl Reinecke and Ferdinand incorporates a folk tune, in this case suggested to him by
the delightful young princess zu Wied at one of his Sunday
Hiller in Cologne. His opera Die Loreley (1862) and the
open-houses, and to whom he dedicated the work. The
choral work Frithjof (1864) brought him his first public
Eight Pieces are the product of one aspect of the 19thacclaim.
century cultural climate, wrote Gordana Lazarevich. In
For the next 25 years, Bruch held various posts as a
their display of lyrical effusiveness where each piece is based
choral and orchestral conductor in Cologne, Coblenz,
on an extensive melody, and in their rhapsodic treatment of
Sondershausen, Berlin, Liverpool, and Breslau. In 1883,
the material, the compositions epitomize those aspects of
he visited the United States to conduct concerts of his
Romantic thought which glorified the sensual, the emotive,
own choral compositions. From 1890 to 1910, he taught
and the sentimental.
composition at the Berlin Academy and received numerous
awards for his work, including an honorary doctorate from
Cambridge University. Though Bruch is known mainly
Trio in E-flat Major for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40
for three famous concertos (the G minor Concerto and
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
the Scottish Fantasy for violin, and the Kol Nidrei for
For many years, Brahms followed the sensible practice
cello), he also composed two other violin concertos, three
of the Viennese gentry by abandoning the city when the
symphonies, a concerto for two pianos, various chamber
weather got hot. The periods away from Vienna were not
pieces, songs, three operas, and numerous choral works.
merely times of relaxation for him, however, but were

Selections from Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, & Piano, Op. 83
Max Bruch (1838-1920)

Bruch composed his Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola,

and Piano, Op. 83 in 1909, in his 70th year, for his son
Max Felix, a talented clarinetist who also inspired a Double
Concerto (Op. 88) for his instrument and viola from his
father two years later. When the younger Bruch played the
works in Cologne and Hamburg, Fritz Steinbach reported
favorably on the event to the composer, comparing Max
Felixs ability with that of Richard Mhlfeld, the clarinetist
who had inspired two sonatas, a quintet, and a trio from
Johannes Brahms two decades before. This was indeed sweet
praise to Bruch, since Steinbach had been Music Director at
Meiningen before moving to Cologne and knew Mhlfelds
playing intimately.

Like other late Brahms works for clarinet, the Eight

Pieces favor rich, mellow instrumental hues in the alto range
of the instrument and an autumnal maturity of expression,
deeply felt but purged of excess. In Bruchs Op. 83, the
clarinet and viola are evenly matched, singing together in
duet or conversing in dialogue, while the piano serves as an
accompanimental partner. Bruch intended that the Eight
Pieces be regarded as a set of independent miniatures of
various styles rather than as an integrated cycle, and advised
against playing all of them together in concert (tonights
selections are Nos. 4, 6, 5, and 7).

The Pieces range three to six minutes in length. The

actually working holidays, and some of his greatest scores

were largely realized during his various summer trips. Late
in the spring of 1865, Brahms took comfortable rooms in
Baden, which, he wrote to a friend, Look out on three sides
at the dark, wooded mountains, the roads winding up and
down them, and the pleasant houses. It was while walking
upon the sylvan hillsides above the town that the idea for
the Horn Trio occurred to him. He began the work that
summer and continued it after his return to Vienna in the
fall, finishing the score in November.

The Trios opening movement, written in a leisurely

Andante tempo (perhaps the speed of Brahms walk upon the
Baden hills), is disposed in an unusual form: rather than the
traditional sonata-allegro, it employs two alternating strains
(ABABA) whose relaxed structure is the perfect vessel
for this amiable music. The energetic Scherzo is countered by
the lyrical melody of the central trio section marked Adagio
mesto (mournfully). In the finale marked Allegro con brio, this
theme is transformed becoming the echo of a folk song that
Brahms sang as a child, In der Weiden steht ein Haus (In the
meadow stands a house) is woven, almost imperceptibly, into
the horn and violin lines soon after the return of its opening
strain is, which, transformed, becomes the principal theme
of the finale, a joyous and life-affirming answer to the sad
plaint of the preceding music.

37th season 2012-13

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program notes

Sextet in C Major for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, South America. From 1905 to 1915, he taught at the
and Piano, Op. 37
Berlin Hochschule fr Musik, a position he assumed at
Ern Dohnnyi (1877 - 1960)
the invitation of his friend, the eminent violinist Joseph
Ern Dohnnyi was among the 20th-centurys foremost Joachim (to whom Brahms dedicated his violin concerto).
He returned to Budapest in 1915, becoming director of
composers, pianists, teachers, and music administrators.
Born on July 27, 1877 in Pozsony, Hungary (now Bratislava, the Academy in 1919 and music director of the Hungarian
Radio in 1931.
Slovakia), he inherited his interest in music from his father,
a talented amateur cellist, who gave him his first lessons in
piano and theory. At 17, he entered the newly established
Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the first Hungarian of
significant talent to do so. The young composer was honored
with the Hungarian Millennium Prize for his Symphony No.
1 in 1895, and two years later, the Bsendorfer Prize for his
First Piano Concerto.
Dohnnyi graduated from the Academy in 1897, and
toured extensively for the next several years, appearing
throughout Europe, Russia, the United States, and

A focus on the third Movement

The slow third movement begins with rolled chords
deep in the bass of the piano, like some infinite sigh
of regret. There is an autobiographical explanation
for the musics profound air of melancholy: Brahmss
mother had died at the beginning of the year in which
he composed the Trio, and it is not for nothing that
the word mesto (sorrowful) appears in the tempo
indication for this slow movement. The atmosphere
of mourning is heightened by the sustained, winding
theme introduced at the first entrance of the violin
and horn. The pianos rolled chords return, to be
followed by another sinuous theme, played this time
in dialogue by horn and violin alone.
This second theme, closely related to the first, is to
weave its way through the remainder of the piece
(at the reprise, Brahms shows that it can effortlessly
be combined with the pianos lugubrious chords),
until a more consolatory version of the same idea
provides an unmistakable pre-echoalbeit in slow
motionof the finales bucolic main theme.
Such thematic anticipations can be found on
occasion in Schumann (the link between the close
of the slow movement and the start of the finale
in the Op. 47 Piano Quartet furnishes an example
which Brahms can hardly fail to have known), though
they invariably occur in the closing moments of the
relevant piece. Brahms, on the other hand, allows
his harbinger of the finale to be followed by the
passionate climax of his slow movement, before the
music slowly sinks towards its subdued close.
R.R. 2012

He served as conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic

for the 25 years after 1919 while continuing to concertize
at home and abroad while remaining active as a composer.
In addition to his work as a performer and composer,
Dohnnyi made immense contributions to the musical life
of his homeland. He encouraged and performed the works
of younger composers, most notably Bartk and Kodly,
reformed the Budapest Academys music curriculum, guided
the development of such talented pupils as Georg Solti,
Gza Anda, and Annie Fischer, expanded the repertory of
the nations performing groups, and served as a model in the
music world through his strength of personality and the high
standards of his musicianship.
In 1944, Dohnnyi left Hungary, a victim of the
raging political and militaristic tides that swept the country
during World War II. He moved first to Austria, then
Argentina, and finally settled in Tallahassee in 1949 where
he served as pianist and composer-in-residence at Florida
State University. His students included the prominent
American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and his grandson,
conductor Christoph von Dohnnyi. Dohnnyi continued
an active career throughout his seventies appearing regularly
on campus and in guest engagements. His last public
performance was as conductor of the FSU Symphony just
three weeks before his death. He died in New York on
February 9, 1960 during a recording session.
The Sextet for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello,
and Piano is a work of intense lyricism in Dohnnyis
heightened Romantic style. It draws its structural strength
from the music of Brahms and its sense of continual motivic
development from Liszt. The opening movement is based
on two themes: the first, a broadly arched melody presented
by the horn; the other, a more tender strain initiated by the
viola. The second movement (Intermezzo) begins and ends
with soft, chorale passages, but uses as its extended central
section music of a more dramatic character, marked in the
score in the manner of a march. The following movement
is a series of free variations on the folk-inflected melody
first given by the clarinet. A transition based on the first
movements arching main theme acts as a bridge to the
spirited finale.

the friends of chamber music | the intimate voice of classical music

Dr. Richard E. Rodda 2011

program notes

Jeremy Denk

merican pianist Jeremy Denk has steadily built a reputation as

one of todays most compelling and persuasive artists with an
unusually broad repertoire.
Denk is an avid chamber musician. He has collaborated with many
of the worlds finest chamber musicians appearing at the Italian
and American Spoleto Festivals, the Santa Fe and Seattle Chamber
Music Festivals, the Verbier and Mostly Mozart Festivals, and the
Bravo!-Vail Valley and Bard Music Festivals. He has spent several
summers at the Marlboro Music School and Festival in Vermont
and been part of Musicians from Marlboro national tours. He
regularly collaborates with cellist Stephen Isserlis at New Yorks
92nd Street Y. Known for his numerous lectures and master classes,
he is a member of the Bard Conservatory Faculty.
The artists widely-read blog, Think Denk, is highly praised and
frequently referenced by many in the music press and industry.
Denks blog comments on touring, practicing, and otherwise
unrelated experiences, as well as delving into fairly detailed
musical analyses and essays. Denks website and blog are at www.
jeremydenk.net.
After graduating from Oberlin College and Conservatory in piano
and chemistry, Denk earned a masters degree in music from
Indiana University as a pupil of Gyrgy Sebk, and a doctorate in
piano performance from the Juilliard School, where he worked with
Herbert Stessin. He lives in New York City.

CMS of Lincoln Center

he Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is one of

eleven constituents of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,
the largest performing arts complex in the world. Along with other
constituents such as the New York Philharmonic, New York City
Ballet, Lincoln Center Theater, and The Metropolitan Opera, the
Chamber Music Society has its home at Lincoln Center, in Alice Tully
Hall. Through its performance, education, and recording/broadcast
activities, it draws more people to chamber music than any other
organization of its kind.
CMS presents an annual series of concerts and educational events for
listeners ranging from connoisseurs to chamber music newcomers
of all ages. Performing repertoire from over three centuries, and
numerous premieres by living composers, CMS offers programs
curated to provide listeners with a comprehensive perspective on
the art of chamber music. The performing artists of CMS, a multigenerational selection of expert chamber musicians, constitute an
evolving repertory company capable of presenting chamber music
of every instrumentation, style, and historical period (see Artists of
the Society and Guests). Its annual activities include a full season of
concerts and events, national and international tours, nationally
televised broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center, a radio show
broadcast nationwide, and regular appearances on American Public
Medias Performance Today.
In 2004, CMS appointed cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han
artistic directors. They succeed founding director Charles Wadsworth
(1969-89), Fred Sherry (1989-93), and David Shifrin (1993-2004).

Jeremy Denk appears courtesy of Opus 3 Artists

For more information visit www.chambermusicsociety.org
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center appears courtesy of Opus 3 Artists

37th season 2012-13

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