The Concert - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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73. From the Periphery to the Center Jul 01, 2009

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Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat Major, Op. 61
Chopin: Nocturne-Waltz-Scherzo
Grieg: Violin Sonata in C minor, Op. 45

Frédéric Chopin and Edvard Grieg came from the periphery of Europe to become two of the most celebrated 19th century composers. Chopin was born in Poland but spent most of his life in Paris. After the Polish uprising against the Russian empire in 1830, he realized that he could use his music to raise awareness of Polish culture. The polonaise - the quintessential Polish dance form - thus played an important role in his compositions. His Polonaise-Fantasy incorporates the polonaise’s martial rhythm while maintaining an organic spontaneity and sustained intensity. An early Nocturne, Waltz, and Scherzo illustrate Chopin’s ability to compose emotional and innovative pieces in a range of genres. Committed to being a Norwegian nationalist composer, Grieg drew on a range of influences, from the intense romanticism of Schumann to the angular rhythms and unusual intervals of Norwegian folk song. His Violin Sonata in C minor displays Grieg’s Scandinavian roots alongside the wider aesthetic influences that affected his music.

72. A Baroque Master and a Romantic Disciple Jun 15, 2009

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Bach: Partita for solo flute in A minor, BWV 1013
Schumann: Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110

The first piece on today’s program is Bach’s Partita in A minor, made up of four movements that constitute a typical baroque dance suite. Because the work is for solo flute, with no accompanying instrument to provide the harmonic bass figures, Bach had to conjure meter, harmony and counterpoint in one solo melodic instrument. The result is a challenging piece, demanding frequent leaps between registers to create the effect of multiple voices in just one instrument. Robert Schumann idolized Bach. Throughout his life he collected and studied Bach’s works, especially the Well-Tempered Clavier, which greatly influenced his own keyboard compositions. Even within Schumann’s lush and romantic Piano Trio No. 3, the flowing lines and densely layered voices mask a carefully refined structure, a rigor of form and development that hints at Bach’s central role in Schumann’s musical world.

71. Beginning and Ending in Vienna Jun 01, 2009

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Beethoven: Piano Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3
Mozart: Viola Quintet in E-flat Major, K. 614

Beethoven wrote his Op. 10, No. 3 piano sonata in 1798, six years after moving to Vienna. In its elegance, structure, and charm, Beethoven’s early music is certainly indebted to the work of Haydn and Mozart. Yet the underlying drama and urgency that eventually became the hallmarks of Beethoven’s music can be detected even in the Classical style of this early piano sonata. Mozart’s Viola Quintet in E-flat Major was written in 1791. The viola was Mozart’s favorite string instrument, so writing for an ensemble that had two violas must have satisfied him. The work’s deft combination of virtuosity and melodiousness demonstrate Mozart’s compositional maturity. Sadly, this is the last chamber work the composer was to write; he died later that year.

70. Musical Recycling May 15, 2009

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Vivaldi: Concerto for Orchestra in C Major, FXI No. 25
Ives: Sonata No. 2 (“Concord”)

Today’s program begins with Antonio Vivaldi’s very short Concerto for Orchestra in C Major. A prolific composer, Vivaldi often re-used part of one piece in another work – and indeed the second movement of this piece was repurposed in his Double Trumpet Concerto. This borrowing of musical material is a common compositional practice, but no composer is more famous for the quotation and recycling of musical snippets than Charles Ives. The piano sonata that we’ll hear next, officially titled “Concord, Mass. 1840-1860,” recalls the 19th century Transcendentalists. Each movement of the sonata represents one of the great thinkers of the time: Emerson, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and Thoreau. Throughout the piece, Ives draws on a range of musical styles and sounds, from folk songs and austere hymns to ragtime melodies and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, to create these musical portraits.

69. Mendelssohn's Intentions May 01, 2009

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Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words
Mendelssohn: Octet for strings in E-flat Major, Op. 20

First on this program is a selection of short piano pieces from Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words.” Mendelssohn wrote eight volumes of these songlike works between 1830 and 1845. Typical of Mendelssohn, every song is carefully structured and elegantly refined. Even without words, each short piece has a very definite character and temperament, ranging from triumphal to nostalgic. Mendelssohn composed his string octet in 1825, when he was only sixteen years old. This work is considered his first great masterpiece. Scored for a double quartet, Mendelssohn specified that the octet should be played with the dynamics, strength and style of a symphony. Mendelssohn considered the octet to be one of his favorite works.

68. Paradoxes of Music and Life Apr 15, 2009

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Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2

Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 1 is a beautifully structured series of emotional contradictions, from the impish and dark Allegro Vivace to the brooding yet ethereal Finale. It was written at a time of similarly mixed emotions in Schumann’s life: the period in which he experienced his first severe bouts of depression, but also when he began his romance with the brilliant pianist Clara Wieck, whose own compositions inspired this piece. When Beethoven wrote his Sonata in D Major for cello and piano, he was enjoying great acclaim as a composer, but his growing deafness meant the end of his career as a pianist. In this sonata, Beethoven takes full advantage of the instruments’ sonorous possibilities, coupling his characteristic musical strength with rich melodic lines and moments of intimacy and delicacy. This is most clearly heard in the final fugue, where the forthright emotions and unusual harmonies seem to foreshadow Romantic music.

67. The Integrity of Dvořák Apr 01, 2009

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Dvořák: Terzetto in C Major, Op. 74
Dvořák: Serenade for Winds and Strings in D minor, Op. 44

Today, we will hear two pieces by the Czech composer Antonin Dvořák, beginning with his Terzetto for two violins and viola from 1887. Besieged with commissions after several very successful trips to England, Dvořák wrote this piece in just one week! Unapologetically melodic, the Terzetto’s themes dovetail and layer between the instruments, always containing a hint of wistfulness. The piece is far more rich, dramatic, and complex than either its title or its simple instrumentation would indicate. One of Dvořák’s earlier works, his Serenade for Winds and Strings, was written over the course of two weeks in 1879, during another period of increased demand for his compositions. Scored for a large ensemble of winds, brass, cello and bass, it nonetheless maintains a simplicity of line and texture. The work’s solidity of sound and honesty of expression convey an integrity that is present in much of Dvořák’s music, especially fitting for a composer who always placed family, homeland, nature, and music above all else.

66. Vienna, Beethoven, Brahms Mar 15, 2009

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Beethoven: Sonata No. 25 in G Major, Op. 79
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26

Beethoven called his Sonata No. 25 a ‘sonatine facile’—a simple, or easy, little sonata—and its three compact movements comprise one of his shortest works. Throughout the varying moods of the three movements, this work maintains an air of freedom and innocence. But the readily apparent thematic clarity and easy spirit of this little sonata belie its compositional sophistication and elegant structure. Johannes Brahms moved to Vienna, Beethoven’s adopted hometown, in 1862, seventy years after Beethoven’s death. Brahms idolized Beethoven and was deeply influenced by his work. Upon arriving in Vienna, Brahms was hailed as Beethoven’s musical successor. And Brahms’ very first pieces to be performed in that city were his first two piano quartets, completed the previous year. His second piano quartet, a lyrical counterpart to the muscular first, is quintessential Brahms in its rich and expansive nature, with a still, stationary quality that underlies even the moments of dark rumbling and playful intensity.

65. Biography and Music Mar 01, 2009

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Mozart: Piano Trio No. 5 in C Major, K. 548
Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421

When trying to understand a composer’s music, we often turn to his or her life to learn more about what biographical events might have influenced a particular work or period. Sometimes, though, what we know about a composer’s life and what we hear in a piece seem to be diametrically opposed. Mozart’s Trio in C Major was written in 1788, at a time when Mozart’s wife was battling a serious illness and just a year after his father’s death. Already under financial pressure, Mozart quickly wrote three piano trios in order to secure funds. The C Major trio is short but sophisticated, with a lighthearted spirit that belies the financial and psychological duress that Mozart was under at the time. In contrast, his String Quartet in D minor, written five years earlier when Mozart was recently married and enjoying great popularity and success in Vienna, opens with a melody that is deeply haunting and unsettled. And while Mozart does introduce sunnier themes, he always returns to a dark and brooding atmosphere.

64. Bach and Beethoven Feb 15, 2009

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Bach: Andante from Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Beethoven: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132

First on today’s program is the Andante movement from Bach’s Italian Concerto. Surprisingly, while the piece is called a concerto, it is only played by one instrument: the harpsichord. Bach took the popular Italian concerto style—usually used for instrumental soloists and an orchestra—and transcribed it for harpsichord. Here, however, the piece is not performed by a keyboard player at all, but a harpist. Our second piece is Beethoven’s monumental String Quartet in A minor. The second of Beethoven’s famous late quartets, it is particularly well-known for its third movement, the “Heiliger Dankgesang,” which Beethoven composed just after recovering from a serious illness. The quartet as a whole is alternately fiery and charming—almost schizophrenic in its quick changes of tonality and temperament. But the “Heiliger Dankgesang” is of another character entirely: simple and austere, with incredible harmonies emerging as the instruments slowly move in unison.

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