Frank Bridge and more

We are at Marlboro again, listening to Sextet for. Strings, H. 107 by Frank Bridge. Five of the six musicians are women today; Peter Myers, cello, is the sole male. Right now, they are talking things over and playing specific passages that need work.

The musicians performing Bridge's Sextet for Strings.*********************** Who is Frank Bridge? Not a familiar name to me.

Frank Bridge was a teacher of Benjamin Britton, which locates him in time and space. "Frank Bridge, (born Feb. 26, 1879, Brighton, Sussex, Eng.—died Jan. 10, 1941, Eastbourne, Sussex), English composer, viola player, and conductor, one of the most accomplished musicians of his day, known especially for his chamber music and songs. Bridge studied violin at the Royal College of Music, London, but changed to viola, becoming a virtuoso player. After a period in the Joachim Quartet (1906) he played with the English String Quartet until 1915. He also held various positions as a conductor, both symphonic and operatic." I would say from what I have heard so far that he stands in the Late Romantic tradition, but has introduced some new features into his work - like atonality, for example. Ellen remarked that he reminded her of Schoenberg. WE both like the piece very much. It is very lush and complex, but also beautiful. The String Sextet was composed between 1906 and 1912, so Bridge was relatively young - 27 years old - and this was before WW I, which profoundly affected Bridge, who held some pacifist principles. Bridge was sort of forced into being a musician. "His father "ruled the household with a rod of iron", and was insistent that his son spend regular long hours practising the violin; when Frank became sufficiently skilled, he would play with his father's pit bands, conducting in his absence, also arranging music and standing in for other instrumentalists. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others." So I guess he eventually embraced with enthusiasm what he had been forced into doing as a child. I have often wondered just what effect that sort of early coercion has on a person. The musicians in this piece are Cherry Choi Tung Yeung, violin; Isabelle Durrenberger, violin; Hayang Park, viola; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; Julia Yang, cello; Peter Myers, cello. We have heard three of these before: Peter Myers, Isabelle Durrenberger and Hayang Park. So lets learn something about the others.

Cherry Choi Tung Yeung, violin. "Yeung, from Hong Kong, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2019 and studied violin with Ida Kavafian and Arnold Steinhardt; she also studied viola with Steven Tenenbom. Ms. Yeung has performed with the New York Philharmonic; Hong Kong Academy, New World, and Princeton Symphony Orchestras; Symphony in C; and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra. Ms. Yeung served as Concertmaster of The Juilliard School Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra where she was awarded the loan of a fine Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin. Ms. Yeung led the orchestra in the 2020 edition of “Curtis on Tour” and performed in world-renowned venues including Carnegie Hall. Ms. Yeung recently won the position of Associate Principal Second Violin of the San Diego Symphony and will be performing at the Marlboro Music Festival in summer 2022.

Julia Yang, Cello, is praised for “her sense of joyful virtuosity” as concerto soloist (South Florida Classical Review). She is "a courageous and soulful cellist, multi-faceted performer, and founding member of the “riveting” (Reading Eagle) and “impeccably elegant” Merz Trio (All About the Arts)." As a solo cellist, Yang is active as a recitalist and in 2019 was featured as a Young Artist in Residence with Fred Child on Performance Today. Yang has won top prizes at competitions including the Lennox International Competition and the Union League of Chicago’s Young Artist Competition. She has also performed as concerto soloist with the New World Symphony Orchestra, Central Florida Symphony Orchestra, and Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra.

Hsin-Yun Huang, viola. Huang has forged a career as one of the leading violists of her generation, performing on international concert stages, commissioning and recording new works, and nurturing young musicians. Ms. Huang has been soloist with the Berlin Radio Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Bogotá Philharmonic, the NCPA Orchestra in Beijing, Zagreb Soloists, International Contemporary Ensemble, the London Sinfonia, and the Brazil Youth Orchestra, and has performed the complete Hindemith viola concertos with the Taipei City Symphony. She is a regular presence at festivals including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Rome, Spoleto USA, Moritzburg, Music@Menlo, and the Seoul Spring Festival, among many others. She tours extensively with the Brentano String Quartet, most notably including performances of the complete Mozart string quintets at Carnegie Hall. She is currently on the Viola Faculty at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music and most grateful for her teachers David Takeno, Peter Norris, Michael Tree and Samuel Rhodes. She is married to Misha Amory, violist of the Brentano String Quartet. They live in New York City and have two children Lucas and Leah. She plays on a 1735 Testore Viola. LATER AFTER A LUNCH BREAK. We are now going to hear again the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, and today we will probably hear it straight through.

The Quintet playing Brahms: Yoonah Kim, clarinet; Isabelle Durrenberger, violin; Brian Hong, violin; En-Chi Cheng, viola; Christoph Richter, cello. There are two musicians that we have not given any background on before: Brian Hong and En-Chi Cheng.

Korean-American violinist Brian Hong has studied at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Laurie Smukler and Donald Weilerstein. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory and a master’s from Juilliard, where he was awarded a Kovner Fellowship. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Chesapeake Orchestra, US Army Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and Juilliard Orchestra, and has won top prizes in many major US competitions. In addition to his many solo achievements, Brian has extensive experience as a chamber musician, having performed at such festivals as the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Taos School of Music, Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall, and Yellow Barn. At the New England Conservatory, he studied both classic and contemporary quartet repertoire with mentors such as Laurence Lesser, Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, and Lucy Chapman. Highlights of his past seasons include performances of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Kyle Wiley Pickett and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and performances of Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto with Edward Gardner and the Juilliard Orchestra. Brian is a co-artistic director of Nexus Chamber Music Chicago, a collective of vibrant and dynamic musicians who serve to deconstruct the barriers between classical artists and audiences with varied and unique chamber music performances in unconventional venues. As part of his fellowship with Ensemble Connect, Brian teaches at Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music.

En-Chi Cheng, viola. Taiwanese violist En-Chi Cheng is currently a graduate student of Samuel Rhodes, as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, as a pupil of Joseph de Pasquale and Hsin-Yun Huang. He has also been deeply influenced by the legendary Nobuko Imai, with whom he has worked for the past decade. He is currently the principal viola of the Juilliard Orchestra. Mr. Cheng's recent performance highlights include a solo appearance with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, playing the Walton Concerto with conductor Felix Chiu-Sen Chen. He also performed as part of the 30th anniversary celebration concert series of the Taiwan National Concert Hall, chamber concert tours led by Nobuko Imai in Taiwan and Japan, and the anniversary gala concert of the Playing for Formosa - one of the most important emerging concert series in Taiwan for young musicians. In addition to sharing music around the world, Mr. Cheng enjoys teaching students both in the United States and Taiwan.**************************************** END OF THE AFTERNOON We got to hear the entire Brahms Clarinet Quintet uninterrupted, and it was incredibly lovely - I think I will rate it my favorite of the summer thus far. I am astounded at how well the clarinet blends with the four stringed instruments. In its lower register, it sounds like a stringed instrument. That may be in part a tribute to the player, Yoonah Kim. In any case, it is a marvelous work, a theme and variations structure that is endlessly creative. It also has an unusual ending on a pianissimo, not a big flourish. Listen to it on YouTube if you can, but it probably won't sound like what we heard today.******************************** We got an email telling us that Jim H had left some groceries from the Guilford Food Pantry for Jerome in the Guilford Church, so we took the beautiful back road through the woods to West Guilford and then over Carpenter Hill Road to Guilford Center, and on to the church, picked up the groceries and delivered them to Jerome. A good day!