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| Mozart String Quintet: Stephanie Zyzak, violin; Mari Lee, violin; Hwayoon Lee, viola; Kim Kashkashian, viola; Edvard Pogossian, cello |
Mozart is over and now we will hear the Beethoven Piano Trio in G-Major, Op. 1, No. 2. This is the second of three piano trios composed by a youthful Beethoven and dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky.
Here is a musicologist's description:
"The G major Trio immediately establishes its symphonic scale with an imposing slow introduction – something unheard of in a piano trio, and rare even in a string quartet. But the start of the Allegro lightens the atmosphere with a wispy, capricious theme that hovers on the dominant rather than emphasizing the tonic, G – shades here of Haydn’s ‘Oxford’ Symphony. Haydnesque, too, is the way this theme derives from phrases in the introduction. Beethoven is less lavish with his material than in the E flat Trio, though there is a delightfully jaunty ‘second subject’, proposed by the violin and then elaborated by the piano. But the first theme dominates both the development and the typically ample coda, where Beethoven continues to make witty and whimsical play with the theme’s opening phrase.
Haydn and Mozart wrote many Andantes in gently swaying 6/8 siciliano rhythm. But only rarely did they compose a siciliano in the slower, Adagio tempo. It is characteristic of the young Beethoven’s search for increased profundity of expression that the second movement of the G major Trio combines a siciliano lilt with an unprecedented hymn-like solemnity. The tempo marking, Largo con espressione, is itself novel and significant; and the rapt atmosphere is enhanced by the choice of key, E major, which sounds remote and radiant after G major. Beethoven shows a typical feeling for long-range tonal planning when he later plunges dramatically (with a sudden fortissimo) from B major to the work’s home key of G, initiating a searching modulating development of the opening theme.
Though definitely a scherzo rather than a minuet, the third movement is less wilful than its counterpart in Op 1 No 1, playing insouciantly with rising and falling scales, à la Haydn. The Trio turns to B minor for a laconic waltz of comic banality – the kind of music likely to turn up in Beethoven’s works from the early years right through to the visionary late quartets. After the return of the scherzo Beethoven appends a brief coda that toys with the theme’s opening figure before dying away to pianissimo.
The finale was originally in 4/4 time. But at an early run-through the cellist Anton Kraft (best-known for his association with Haydn) suggested that the music would be better notated in 2/4, and Beethoven duly adopted the idea. Opening with a catchy ‘riding’ theme in rapid repeated notes (perfect for the violin, but artfully refashioned when the piano takes it over), this is another movement that infuses Haydn’s spirit with Beethoven’s own brand of boisterousness. The music is full of aggressive sforzando accents, rough dynamic contrasts (at their most extreme in the coda) and mysterious or dramatic plunges to distant keys. The development alights for a while in E major, the key of the Adagio – another instance of Beethoven’s large-scale tonal strategy. But perhaps the wittiest moment of all comes with the start of the recapitulation. Here a smooth new figure in octaves on the piano seems to be preparing for the return of the ‘riding’ theme, which then enters unobtrusively, before we realize it, while the piano octaves continue as if nothing has happened.
The first violinist for this piece is Brian Hong, who looks to be in his twenties (he is 25):
"Korean-American violinist Brian Hong
is currently in pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance at
the Juilliard School under the guidance of Laurie Smukler and Li Lin,
where he is a proud recipient of a prestigious Kovner Fellowship. A
graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he acquired a
Bachelor’s Degree in violin performance under the tutelage of Donald
Weilerstein, Mr. Hong’s past mentors have also included Sergiu Schwartz,
Zvi Zeitlin, and Shmuel Ashkenasi.
As soloist, Mr. Hong has performed with orchestras such as the Fairfax Symphony, the Chesapeake Orchestra, the US Army Orchestra, the National Philharmonic, the Springfield Symphony, and the Juilliard Orchestra, and has won top prizes in many major US Competitions, including first prize in the national finals of the Music Teacher’s National Association Competition (2012), first prize of the American String Teacher’s Association Competition (2016), first prize in the Hellam National Young Artist’s Competition (2016), and first prize in the Juilliard School’s Concerto Competition (2017). Mr. Hong was also the first participant featured on NPR’s “From the Top” to perform on a period baroque instrument, playing an Uccellini Sonata with Christopher O’Riley on harpsichord.
In addition to his many solo achievements, Mr. Hong has extensive experience as a chamber musician, having performed at such festivals as the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, the Taos School of Music, the Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall, and Yellow Barn. Mr. Hong was also a member of three different honors ensembles at NEC: the Atlas, Vasari and Neruda String Quartets, where he studied both classic and contemporary quartet repertoire with mentors such as Laurence Lesser, Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, and Lucy Chapman, and performed abroad in cities such as Chicago and Washington, DC.
Highlights of his past season include performances of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Kyle Pickett and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Springfield, Missouri, and performances of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto with Edward Gardner and the Juilliard Orchestra in New York City’s Alice Tully Hall, as well as appearances at Concerts in the Barn in Quilcene, WA."
Just to fill out the trio, the pianist is Anna Polonsky and the cellist is Christine J. Lee.
Later, after lunch:
We forgot our picnic lunch, so we went to the Chelsea Diner take-out window, which was great. Now we are back for the Beethoven Choral Fantasy, (piano, chorus and orchestra) which for decades has been the finale at the Festival. Rudolph Serkin played the piano for it for decades. Now it is co-director, Jonathan Biss. As Ellen put it, it's a goofy piece. But it's fun. We could sing in the chorus if we could, but we don't have the time to rehearse it tomorrow or Sunday (today it is just piano and orchestra). All these many years I could have come up and sung in the chorus, but never did. Quelle domage!
Still later: Now the Choral Fantasy is over - what a piece! We are now on a little break before the final rehearsal of the afternoon - the Brahms Piano Quartet in C-Minor, Op.60, which Ellen heard the day I went to John's and which she says has some heart-breakingly lovely movements. That will be our last experience of the Festival this year, I guess. A fitting climax.
As soloist, Mr. Hong has performed with orchestras such as the Fairfax Symphony, the Chesapeake Orchestra, the US Army Orchestra, the National Philharmonic, the Springfield Symphony, and the Juilliard Orchestra, and has won top prizes in many major US Competitions, including first prize in the national finals of the Music Teacher’s National Association Competition (2012), first prize of the American String Teacher’s Association Competition (2016), first prize in the Hellam National Young Artist’s Competition (2016), and first prize in the Juilliard School’s Concerto Competition (2017). Mr. Hong was also the first participant featured on NPR’s “From the Top” to perform on a period baroque instrument, playing an Uccellini Sonata with Christopher O’Riley on harpsichord.
In addition to his many solo achievements, Mr. Hong has extensive experience as a chamber musician, having performed at such festivals as the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, the Taos School of Music, the Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall, and Yellow Barn. Mr. Hong was also a member of three different honors ensembles at NEC: the Atlas, Vasari and Neruda String Quartets, where he studied both classic and contemporary quartet repertoire with mentors such as Laurence Lesser, Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, and Lucy Chapman, and performed abroad in cities such as Chicago and Washington, DC.
Highlights of his past season include performances of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Kyle Pickett and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Springfield, Missouri, and performances of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto with Edward Gardner and the Juilliard Orchestra in New York City’s Alice Tully Hall, as well as appearances at Concerts in the Barn in Quilcene, WA."
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| Brian Hong |
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| Brian Hong, violin, and Christine Lee, cello. Anna Polonsky is hidden behind the cellist. |
Later, after lunch:
We forgot our picnic lunch, so we went to the Chelsea Diner take-out window, which was great. Now we are back for the Beethoven Choral Fantasy, (piano, chorus and orchestra) which for decades has been the finale at the Festival. Rudolph Serkin played the piano for it for decades. Now it is co-director, Jonathan Biss. As Ellen put it, it's a goofy piece. But it's fun. We could sing in the chorus if we could, but we don't have the time to rehearse it tomorrow or Sunday (today it is just piano and orchestra). All these many years I could have come up and sung in the chorus, but never did. Quelle domage!
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| Orchestra before the Choral Fantasy rehearsal |
Still later: Now the Choral Fantasy is over - what a piece! We are now on a little break before the final rehearsal of the afternoon - the Brahms Piano Quartet in C-Minor, Op.60, which Ellen heard the day I went to John's and which she says has some heart-breakingly lovely movements. That will be our last experience of the Festival this year, I guess. A fitting climax.
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