THE BELFAST MUSIC SOCIETY Cu ELEBRITY CONCERTS -1989-90- AT THE ELMWOOD HALL

ENDELLION STRING QUARTET Andrew Watkinson, Ralph de Souza (violins), Garfield Jackson (viola), David Waterman (cello). Programme ,88T1 ml sonar 101 18 BUD Haydn Quartet in Eb op.64 no.6 Quartet no.4 Bartók dolu gols anbyall as 320 bosesy at sugos amljenisest Iviga alya-"yazA s'bad" INTERVAL pods bensspnoo asv abysli no" slave in to zotqoo aixe Isuson JaoT ters! Idog Smetana Quartet no.2 in D minor

1 String Quartet in E flat, op 64 no.6 Allegretto Andante Minuet and trio Presto Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Johann Tost was the bane of Haydn's life. Employed as leader of the second violins in the orchestra at Esterháza, where Haydn lived out a solitary and often frustrating existence as Kapellmeister, he left for France in 1788, taking with him various manuscripts of music he had commissioned from Haydn. Although he hadn't paid for these, he sold them to a publisher, along with music by other composers that he passed off as Haydn's work. Tost seems to have been a fascinating rogue in a later era he might have been a "Dad's Army"-style spiv! Although, quite naturally, Haydn was concerned about unscrupulous copyists making extra copies of his music "on the side" to sell to publishers, Tost actually planned to set up a profitable copying business at Esterháza, marketing stolen copies of all the new music that came into the Prince's possession. He even wrote to the music masters of the various courts, advertising this service, "...all at a cheap price!" The Tost "affair" seems to have had a peaceful ending, as Tost returned to Vienna, married the Prince's housekeeper, became a wealthy cloth merchant and continued to commission music from the leading composers, including Haydn's six quartets of Opus 64 which were dedicated to him. His ability as a performer is reflected in the virtuoso first violin writing in the set. The first movement of the present work is, characteristically, almost entirely built from the

2 opening theme and its intimate, thoughtful mood is typical of all Haydn's quartets in this key. The andante weaves a beautiful web of serene contrapuntal lines; there is a stormy minor-key central section featuring Tost's violin. The trio of the minuet is one of Haydn's Ländler (country dance) movements, the first violin providing a countersubject in its highest register. The typical finale reveals, like those of the London symphonies, its composer's love of writing music that is both intellectual and entertaining, a fusion of more serious sonata form, including fugato treatment of his material, and more light-hearted rondo elements. String Quartet no.4 Allegro Prestissimo con sordino Non troppo lento Allegretto pizzicato Allegro molto Bela Bartók (1881-1945) The six quartets of Bartók form the core of his output, covering, as they do, the whole of his career, from the early, rather Debussyan, first quartet, through his growing interest in the folk music of his native Hungary and the growing complexity of his music in the 1920's to a more accessible late style as reflected in the sixth quartet and the popular Concerto for orchestra. The fourth quartet (1928) can be considered the archetypal Bartok quartet; all the aspects of his mature idiom are present irregular metres, repeated note ostinatos, stabbing dischords, fascinating and, for the time, novel sonorities (in Bartók's quartets are collated virtually all the "devices" of twentieth century string technique) and, underlying it all, a clear influence of folk music. The fourth quartet also

3 reveals Bartók's interest in symmetrical forms; many of his themes are also heard in mirror inversions (a rising passage falling, for example), while on a larger scale, the whole quartet is designed as a symmetrical structure. of the five movements, the central slow movement provides a kernel, around which are grouped ***pairs of movements that are thematically related, II to IV and I to V. Thus the overall shape of the work can be seen as A - B - C - B' A'. The central slow movement breathes Bartók's favourite nocturnal atmosphere. The latter part of the movement includes some Hungarian 'scotch snap' rhythms and descending 4ths. The two scherzi specialise in e unusual sonorities; insect-like, will o' the wispish and muted in II, harp- and guitar-like in IV. The thematic connections between these two movements are unlikely to be obvious on a first hearing, but the outer movements share the same six-note arch-shaped motif, heard fortissimo to end both movements. INTERVAL - String quartet no.2 in D minor Presto Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) Allegro Allegro noderato-andante cantabile Allegro non piu moderato, ma agitato e con fuoco Smetana's two surviving quartets come from late in his life, when ill-health was already seriously affecting his career. His health began to deteriorate in 1874; he was suffering from syphilis, which led to his becoming deaf, and eventually to a complete mental breakdown in the year before his death in the Prague asylum. The first quartet, subtitled "From my life",

4 completed in 1876, is one of his best-known compo- sitions. The second, completed shortly before his breakdown, is less familiar, but is a worthy companion. 38² The opening movement takes over where the first quartet left off. It is stormy and moody, with many changes of tempo, in a way that looks forward to the music of Janácek, something that could be said, indeed, of the whole work. The second movement is a miniature polka with a contrasting trio, marked dolce cantabile (sweetly singing). The two sections alternate several times. The changes of mood in the third movement are even more dramatic than in the first, and the idiom is remarkably forward-looking for 1882! The theme of the finale is a strangely searching allegro in 6/8; the second theme in 2/4 has a more pronouncedly Czech character. The ending is hectic. boysiq 0023208 Notes by Alec Macdonald 1990 (alletv) HOTIN 2013.180AN

5 TONIGHT'S ARTISTS Now in their tenth year, the Endellion String Quartet have toured the USA each year since formation, and regularly visit major European cities including Salzburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Warsaw, Zurich, Rome, Copenhagen and Oslo. In Britain the Endellion String Quartet have played a remarkable number of concerts including almost every major series and festival. They broadcast frequently for the BBC and have made several television appearances; they were featured quartet in Jeffrey Tate's Summerscope Festival at the South Bank in 1988 and will be again in Sir William Glock's 1990 Haydn Festival. The complete string chamber music by Benjamin Britten played by the Endellion String Quartet was released by EMI in 1986 to universal acclaim. The quartet now record exclusively for Virgin Classics. Already released are Haydn op 54 quartets; to come soon are records of Mozart, Bartok and Dvorak. NEXT RECITAL MADELEINE MITCHELL (violin), KLAUS ZOLL (piano) Saturday 21 April 1990 7.30 pm Elmwood Hall

r The BMS has been presenting concerts of first-rate chamber music, including masterpieces which are landmarks in European culture, for almost 70 years. Some of the world-famous artists who have played and sung for us have included the Amadeus Quartet, Elly Ameling, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Janet Baker, Pierre Bernac and Francis Poulenc, Alfred Brendel, Kathleen Ferrier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, John Lill, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Gerard Souzay and Rosalyn Tureck. Copies of BMS brochures available from the Secretary, Janet Quigg, 48, Bawnmore Road, Belfast, BT9 6LB, tel. 660115. CITY HOSPITAL ELMWOOD HALL H LISBURN ROAD CANDEN ELMWOOD AVENUE COLLEGE GARDENS METHODIST COLLEGE WELLESLEY AVENUE ER CRES MOUNT CHARLES UNIVERSITY STREE UNIVERSITY SQUARE DONEGALL PASS □D QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BOTANIC GARDENS T