THE BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND in association with The Department of Music, Queen's University 000180 and one. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland FOURTH RECITAL CANTILENA CHAMBER PLAYERS OF NEW YORK Edna Michell Jesse Levine Stephen Kates Frank Glazer (violin) (viola) (cello) (piano) Elmwood Hall Saturday 1 December 1979 PR2 ig

Tonight's recital is part of a tour by the Cantilena Chamber Players which has been made possible by the assistance of a grant from the Helena Rubenstein Found- ation of New York. Piano Quartet movement in A minor Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Listeners will be surprised that this programme includes a piano quartet by Mahler, known as a conductor and a composer only of symphonies and songs, and Mahler himself would be surprised that this student work is being played. He might also be rather annoyed, for he seems to have deliberately destroyed most of his student compositions from his years at the Vienna Conservatory which he entered in 1875 at the age of fifteen. One or two of Mahler's works of this time won prizes or were performed. Henry de la Grange in his biography of Mahler published in 1974 has finally deduced that this movement, written in 1876 according to the manuscript, is not in fact any of these, but it is the most complete student work surviving and has had performances since 1964. Intended as a first movement of a never-completed piano quartet, the work is in A minor. Its place in this concert is fitting, as it will be obvious to the listener that the influences on Mahler at this time are Schumann and Brahms (a reflection, perhaps, of Mahler's fairly. conservative teachers). De la Grange says that "the style is not particularly original, but the writing is skilful, and while the themes themselves are not always very distinguished, a certain amount of invention and craftsmanship is displayed in the development". The two main subjects are both in A minor but strongly contrasted. To us it will be a fascinating glimpse of the sixteen-year- old's talent, which was never in the end to be used for the composition of instrumental chamber music.

Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60 Allegro ma non troppo di assede edi Scherzo Isbro Andante Finale Allegro aga gols - Johannes Brahms (1832-1897) -pasiq ba Allegro The piano Quartet No. 3 was finished and published in 1875, when Brahms was at the height of his powers (it is d just before he embarks on the First Symphony), but the first two movements were conceived during a difficult period in Brahms' life the days in 1855 when he was staying with the Schumann family during Schumann's last illness and before his death in an asylum. The tragedy of the older composer's end and the fact that Brahms himself fell in love with Clara must have had a traumatic effect on the young man, and the subsequent remodelling and finishing of the work twenty years later do not erase the questioning, brooding nature of the work. t da Mein The sonata-form first movement only gradually reveals the elements of the first-subject group, much in the list manner of Beethoven.on Listen to the sighing two crotchets in the strings at the beginning this little motif will dominate the movement. The equally sad downward phrase which follows is, after further mysterious introductory material, systematised into a stronger piano theme played against the two-crotchet rhythm. The second subject is an example of one of Brahms' lovely calm melodies - here. subjected to four variations before the crotchet theme returns to signal the codetta. The development section is based mainly on the first subject material although the second is alluded to canonically. An insistent trip- let ostinato gradually takes over and we find that the recapitulation has begun, in which all of the material already heard is curtailed and recoloured the tension

building up to a triumphant restatement of the two-crotchet motif in the major. A coda, also based on first subject material but somewhat more tame, ends the movement. The scherzo which follows begins with a call to action in the piano, which then sets up a galloping rhythm which barely stops, constantly developing and modulating. A short epigrammatic "breathing space" - a chordal section alternating strings and piano - now appears, followed by a middle section (amounting to a 'trio') which consists of two statements of a more lyrical theme. A marvellously mysterious transition leads us back, with one short dram- atic pause, to an exact repeat of the opening section, building up to a short coda. 30711 add 300 The next movement is a lovely Andante in E major, giving the strings more play. It opens with a long, sing- ing cello melody, followed by a duet with violin and then a delightfully hesitant violin and viola duet. This leads to B major and a wistful violin tune, developed by all instruments before the first section returns with the theme in the piano. The wistful violin theme is also heard again before a quiet, peaceful close. The finale returns to the conflict of the first move- ment. Again the opening material (especially the violin's falling third) is more important than it would at first seem. Against a "moto-perpetuo" piano accompaniment it constantly develops until a chorale-like theme is played by the strings. You will also hear a rhythmic motif which must be a reference to the "fate" theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The rest of the movement is built on all of this complicated material and the work ends with a coda which highlights the major-minor conflict of the movement as a whole. **** * * * * * * INTERVAL * * * * * * * * * *

Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47 Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo Scherzo Molto vivace Andante cantabile Finale - Vivace Most of Schumann's best chamber music was written in 1842, the year of the three string quartets, the piano quintet and this piano quartet. He prefaced the compos- ition of these works with a close study of the chamber music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven; the piano quartet betrays the influence of Beethoven's formal procedures and not a little of his piano idiom. The first movement certainly has a Beethoven-like quality, noticeable in the rather relentless piano accom- paniment and in the slow introductory chords which trans- mute themselves into the first subject. An orthodox exposition includes a self-important scalic second subject, but it is the first subject that dominates the develop- ment. The introduction reappears at the end of the expos- ition and again before the coda a device learnt from Haydn and Beethoven. movement. The breathless Scherzo is a typical fast Schumann Its two trios are both punctuated occasionally by bursts of the Scherzo rhythm. The first is given can- onic treatment, the second delights in syncopated chords. The slow movement which follows builds on Schumann's song- writing flowering of 1841. A rather sugary melody is followed by a curious syncopated variation, leading to a middle section also containing some almost ungainly syn- copations. The reprise of the main tune is famous for the direction to the cellist to tune his bottom string down a tone in order to play a low pedal B flat in the coda.

The finale is a sonata-rondo with a vigorous fugal first subject and a melodic second subject heard first in the cello. The fugal subject carries great momentum. There is a smoothly-phrased episode in A flat before the second and then the first subjects return. Tightly argued, the finale makes a convincing end to the quartet. Programme notes by Hilary Bracefield TONIGHT'S ARTISTS Although the individual members of Cantilena pursue active careers as soloists, as an ensemble, they are one of the most exciting performing before the public today. They have received major foundation awards and present the Helena Rubenstein concerts both internationally and throughout the United States. As well as performing all the Classical Piano Quartets, Cantilena are very much involved with the music of our own time, having performed, over the past two years, World Premieres of 12 new works dedicated to them by prominent living composers. 1 unidad

NEXT RECITAL Saturday 12 January 1980 at 7.30 pm in the Elmwood Hall DORA SCHWARZBERG (violin) VICTOR DEREVIANKO (piano)