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The St. Lawrence String Quartet Website  |
Wednesday November 18, 2009 7:30 pm The St. Lawrence String Quartet Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 FREE PARKING *Pre-concert lecture, 6:45 pm Pre-concert lectures are given by Lisa Brooks, Ph.D., Butler University Program Quartet in C Sharp Minor, Op. 131 Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet (2008) - composed for St. Lawrence String Quartet John Adams The Musicians The St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) has established itself among the world-class chamber ensembles of its generation. Its mission: bring every piece of music to the audience in vivid color, with pronounced communication and teamwork, and great respect to the composer. Since winning both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1992, the quartet has delighted audiences with its spontaneous, passionate, and dynamic performances. Alex Ross of The New Yorker magazine writes, "the St. Lawrence are remarkable not simply for the quality of their music making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection." The SLSQ is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new recording of Haydn and Dvorák quartets through a partnership with the innovative company ArtistShare.com. ArtistShare offers artists a ground-breaking way to embark on a recording project: the musicians maintain complete creative control, communicate directly with fans, and offer them a way to experience the project from its inception to fruition, as well as participate at the level they wish, from a free download to various membership tiers. In concert, the foursome regularly delivers traditional quartet repertoire, but is also fervently committed to performing and expanding the works of living composers. This season sees them performing new works by both John Adams and Osvaldo Golijov. Adams penned his “String Quartet” (co-commissioned by The Juilliard School, Stanford Lively Arts, and the Banff Centre) expressly for the St. Lawrence, who premiered the work at Juilliard in January 2009. Golijov’s forthcoming new work (commissioned by Stanford Lively Arts) is expected to build on the success of their previous collaboration, which culminated in the twice-Grammy-nominated SLSQ recording of the composer’s Yiddishbbuk (EMI) in 2002. The quartet also paid tribute to a lineup of Canadian composers with performances of five new string quartets around their native country. The St. Lawrence has active working relationships with numerous other composers, including R. Murray Schafer, Christos Hatzis, Jonathan Berger, Ka Nin Chan, Roberto Sierra, and Mark Applebaum. The SLSQ has been involved in numerous inventive collaborations, including projects with the renowned Pilobolus Dance Theatre and the Emerson Quartet. In 2007 they joined with soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and pianist Kevin Murphy to premiere Roberto Sierra’s “Songs from the Diaspora” – a commission through the Music Accord consortium. They have also performed R. Murray Shafer's Concerto for Quartet and Orchestra “4-40” with Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony, Emmanuel Villaume and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and Yuli Turovsky with I Musici de Montreal. Having been privileged to study with the Emerson, Tokyo and Juilliard String Quartets, the St. Lawrence are themselves passionate educators. Since 1998 they have held the position of Ensemble in Residence at Stanford University. This residency includes working with students of music as well as extensive collaborations with other faculty and departments using music to explore a myriad of topics. The foursome's passion for opening up musical arenas to players and listeners alike is evident in their annual summer chamber music seminar at Stanford and their many forays into the depths of musical meaning with preeminent music educator Robert Kapilow. Violist Lesley Robertson is a founding member of the group, and hails from Edmonton Alberta. Cellist Christopher Costanza is from Utica, NY and joined the quartet in 2004. Violinists Geoff Nuttall and Scott St. John both grew up in London Ontario; Geoff is a founding member and Scott joined in 2006. Depending on concert repertoire, the two alternate the role of first violin. All four members of the quartet live and teach at beautiful Stanford University, in the Bay Area of California. The SLSQ is deeply committed to bringing music to less traditional venues outside the classroom or concert hall. Regardless of the venue, the St. Lawrence players maintain a strong desire to share the wonders of chamber music with their listeners, a characteristic of the foursome that has led them to a more informal performance style than one might expect from chamber musicians. “Play every concert like it’s your last; every phrase like it’s the most important thing you’ve ever said,” Geoff Nuttall asserts. “Remember that the only reason you’re there is to make people cry and sweat and shiver, and give them that incredible sense of creation happening before your eyes. That’s the reason we all play. Otherwise there’s no point.” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) String Quartet in C Sharp Minor, Op. 131 Adagio, ma non troppo e molto espressivo Allegro, molto vivace Allegro moderato Andante, ma non troppo e molto cantabile Presto Adagio, quasi un poco andante Allegro “After this, what is there left to write?” Franz Schubert Beethoven’s nephew, Karl, had always given the composer trouble since acquiring joint custody with his sister-in-law in 1815. The custody arrangement was terrible: For years, and many lawsuits, Beethoven was determined to prevail. “At least I have the satisfaction of saving an innocent child from the hands of an unworthy mother.” (Letter to Reis, February 28, 1816.) Karl became his raison d’être, his only family, and his obsession. By 1825, Beethoven was infuriated, disillusioned, and exhausted by Karl’s thievery, demands, and general worthlessness. “I have been deeply grieved by your faithlessness…and you have betrayed my love for you…” (Letter from Baden, 1825). In 1826, Karl attempted suicide (unsuccessfully) and Beethoven was terrified: “I beg you to come back to me…no reproach shall pass my lips…come at once.” Attempted suicide was punished by imprisonment in Austria. Beethoven managed to place him in the military thanks to the kindness of Baron Joseph von Stutterheim who took the ingrate into his regiment. In gratitude, Beethoven dedicated Opus 131 work to his friend. Opus 131 lies within the famous “Last Six” of Beethoven’s String quartets written during the last three years of his life. Were these “experimental?” Beethoven’s answer, “Art demands of us that we should not stand still” provides some guidance. Joseph de Marliave notes that these six reflect “expression of Beethoven’s most intimate spirit, …no external influence can touch the melodies, they are birthed in the soul of a musician…his ardor is unquenchable. The most beautiful example of his colossal variation form is Opus 131.” Life often hinges on threads, and thus it is the history for Beethoven’s last quartets. In 1822, Beethoven, then in dire straits, received a commission from Prince Nicholas Galitzin for three quartets, spurred on by violist Zeuner in the St. Petersburg Quartet where Galitzin was the cellist. Galitzin admitted he had a “mania” for Beethoven. “As a deep admirer of your genius, I am taking the liberty to ask if you would write one, two or three new quartets for whatever fee you think adequate.” Truly, this was miraculous. With the open-ended commission in hand, Beethoven was off like a rocket. In November 1825, he finished the request for three quartets. Immediately thereafter he began more concentrated work on a new quartet, Opus 131. In the case of 131, Beethoven worked on all movements at the same time (Sketch books.) On May 20, 1826 the composer wrote to his publisher Schott that “the quartet still was not quite completed, but it is “finished…you will very soon have the quartet in C sharp minor.” Nottebohm commented that he polished his material endlessly, “he takes a passage and repeats it in every possible way, and every possible variety of part writing.” When Opus 131 was performed in Galitzin’s home, reception was confused, lukewarm at best. Galitzin noted his disappointment to the composer, but also wrote “I was undeterred by disparaging criticism from my effort to make known among artist and amateurs the last works of a genius several decades ahead of his generation.” The seven movements are played without pause: three (only eleven measures), and six (only twenty-eight measures) are often considered introductory to the subsequent movements. Beethoven shows off his complete mastery traditional music form: fugue, theme and variations, sonata form, scherzo (in duple not triple time) rondo, and his mastery of the tonal system as it stood in his day. Though diverse, thematic kinship between first and seventh movements insures connectivity. A musical x-ray reveals the following: Movement one: fugue: adagio, slow, intensely moving, unique placement as a first movement. Movement two: dance Movement three: a short recitative, introductory to Movement four: variations: among the finest Beethoven ever wrote: the central movement of the quartet, A major theme: breathless, conversational, delicate Movement five: scherzo: rapid, brilliant, jolly Movement six: introductory to Movement seven: sonata-allegro: contrasting themes, incredible mastery of sonata-allegro format. Note: the equal importance of musical material assigned to each instrument; perfection of musical conversations; harmonic novelties and experimentation (for example modulations through augmented sixth chords, if you are so inclined to listen for things like this). It has been said that Beethoven considered this not only his favorite, but also his finest string quartet “because there is less lack of fantasy than ever before.” Notes by: Marrianne W. Tobias John Adams (b. 1947) String Quartet String Quartet is John Adams's second full-sized work for the medium and his first without electronics. His first string quartet, John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994), was composed for the Kronos Quartet and is accompanied by pre-recorded CD, and his second string quartet, Fellow Traveler (2007), is a five-minute piece written for Peter Sellars's birthday. It was a stunning St. Lawrence String Quartet performance of Alleged Dances at Stanford University in 2007 that inspired Mr. Adams to compose a piece for them, leading to the world premiere at The Juilliard School and a subsequent tour. String Quartet was commissioned by The Juilliard School with the generous support of the Trust of Francis Goelet, Stanford Lively Arts Stanford University, and The Banff Centre. Working with composers is one of the most exciting experiences performing artists can have. The St. Lawrence String Quartet has been very fortunate over the past 20 years to have had interesting and meaningful interactions with dozens of composers, including John Adams. Since we live at Stanford and John is up the road in Berkeley, we're all practically neighbors, so we were very excited when, in 2007, John attended our performance of his "Book of Alleged Dances" at Stanford. This program included the Op. 132 string quartet of Beethoven, and after the concert John appeared back stage, particularly excited about our Beethoven performance. I recall him saying to us (and I paraphrase slightly), "I really loved that Beethoven! Can I write you a string quartet??!!?" Well, no hesitation on our part - we gave him a super enthusiastic "yes!!!", and in short order the commission was set up (with three co-commissioners, The Juilliard School, Stanford Lively Arts, and the Banff Centre). And by summer of 2008 we had parts and score of the new John Adams String Quartet, a monumental work 30 minutes in length. Of course, the fact that we're all neighbors did not necessarily make it easy for the quartet to find time to meet with John to "fine tune" the piece, since John travels all over the world for performances of his works and conducting engagements, and we're on the road a great deal of the time. But we did have some very exciting, enjoyable, and productive "workshop" sessions prior to the world premiere of the work at Juilliard this past January (including a particularly energetic and memorable one the afternoon of the premiere). And since that premiere performance, we've had more meetings with John, during which he's made several adjustments and rewrites to the work, leaving us with the current, revised edition. There's nothing like the experience of sitting down with a great composer for a few hours to essentially rework portions of a piece, giving the performers the chance to voice opinions and the composer the opportunity to try new ideas. Working with John Adams has been most enjoyable - his opinions are strong and clearly thought out, but he's very flexible and open to new options. And he's a great guy, full of positive energy and creativity. It also has given us the opportunity to ask him questions about the creation of the piece, his inspirations and influences as he put the thing down on paper. As is often the case with composers, he hasn't divulged huge amounts of information along those lines, but he did tell us that he was listening quite a lot to the string quartets of Ravel and Debussy while writing his quartet. I suspect listeners will hear that influence very clearly, not in a way that is imitative but as an honest Adams approach to a very wide range of string sounds, drawing on the vast beauty of tone colors one associates with the great Impressionist composers. I think all will agree that John has made a huge contribution to the string quartet repertoire with this magnificent piece. --Chris Costanza, St. Lawrence String Quartet |
New 2009-2010 Season Wednesday October 7, 2009 7:30 The Ying Quartet with Christopher Taylor, piano Wednesday November 18, 2009 7:30 The St. Lawrence String Quartet Wednesday January 27, 2010 7:30 Fauré Piano Quartet Wednesday February 24, 2010 7:30 Brooklyn Rider Wednesday March 17, 2010 7:30 Sérgio and Odair Assad, guitar Wednesday April 21, 2010 7:30 Takács Quartet All concerts are presented in: Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center Frank and Katrina Basile Theatre 450 West Ohio Street Free Parking |
| Mailing Address: P.O. Box 40188 Indianapolis, In 46240 |