CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Weill Recital Hall
Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 7:30 PM

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Soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra
·· Raphael Christ, Violin
·· Brigitte Lang, Violin
·· Dirk Niewöhner, Viola
·· Julia Neher, Viola
·· Thomas Ruge, Cello
·· Claudia Benker, Cello
·· Sarah Christ, Harp
·· Slawomir Grenda, Double Bass

MENDELSSOHN String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87
CAPLET Conte fantastique
ROSSINI Duo for Cello and Double Bass in D Major
TCHAIKOVSKY Souvenir de Florence for String Sextet, Op. 70
DVOŘÁK String Quintet in G Major, Op. 77

Program Notes:

The Concert At a Glance

Composed near the close of Mendelssohn’s career, the String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 87, shares many of the virtues of its author’s better-known string quartets: expressive melodies, deft harmonies, and skilled instrumental writing. Moreover, the Romantic feeling that informs this music is tempered by its Classical form.

There is nothing Classical about André Caplet’s Conte fantastique. Instead, this piece derives its form and musical substance from a dark romance by Edgar Allan Poe, which the composition vividly suggests. If Caplet’s piece is unusual, Rossini’s Duo for Cello and Bass is equally so, though in a very different way. Much of its music partakes of the spirit of bel canto opera.

Whereas Rossini’s Duo is the work of an Italian visiting England, our final number, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, is at least in part a musical recollection of Italy by a Russian visitor. But Russian passion and lyricism outshines any Mediterranean qualities in this string sextet.

Notes on the Program
By Paul Schiavo

FELIX MENDELSSOHN String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87
Born February 3, 1809, in Hamburg; died November 4, 1847, in Leipzig.

Mendelssohn’s String Quintet in B-flat Major was completed in the summer of 1845. It received its Carnegie Hall premiere on November 18, 1973, with Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern, violins; Jaime Laredo and Pinchas Zukerman, violas; and Leonard Rose, cello. An arrangement for string orchestra of the third movement, Adagio e lento, was previously performed on January 21, 1909, by the Volpe Symphony Society of New York conducted by Arnold Volpe.

Although his string quartets now appear fairly regularly on concert programs, Mendelssohn’s two string quintets have been unjustly neglected. These works date, respectively, from near the start and close of the composer’s career. Mendelssohn wrote his Quintet in A Major, Op. 18, during his precociously fruitful adolescence—specifically, in early 1826. Its sibling, the Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 87, followed nearly two decades later. We do not know what prompted the composer to return to the string quintet genre at this time. We do know that the rigorously self-critical Mendelssohn never felt quite satisfied with the work and withheld it from publication. He often revised his compositions, sometimes years after their initial completion, and he probably would have done this with the B-flat Quintet. Sadly, he did not live to undertake that task, and the quintet was published posthumously.

In this composition, as in his Op. 18, Mendelssohn employs the quintet instrumentation established by Mozart in his string quintets: pairs of violins and violas, with a single cello. (The alternate configuration, with just one viola but two cellos, was used by Boccherini and by Schubert in his magnificent Quintet in C Major.) Mendelssohn also avails himself of a classic four-movement design, with a pair of allegro movements framing a scherzo and slow movement.

The first movement opens with a theme of great verve given out over a rhythmic tattoo, a gambit Mendelssohn had ventured in his popular “Italian” Symphony, and a comparably energetic spirit marks the music here. As its Andante tempo marking promises, the second movement is no fleet scherzo of the kind Mendelssohn so often wrote, but a relaxed dance-like intermezzo. The ensuing slow movement is the heart of the work, its music as intensely felt and finely wrought as anything in the composer’s chamber music output. A bright and athletic finale closes the piece.

ANDRÉ CAPLET Conte fantastique
Born November 23, 1878, in Le Havre, France; died April 22, 1925, in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Composed in 1908 but revised in 1922–23, Conte fantastique was first performed on December 18, 1923, in Paris with Micheline Kahn, harp, and the Quartour Poulet. It received its Carnegie Hall premiere on March, 5, 1985, in Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) with Sara Cutler, harp, and the Mendelssohn String Quartet: Laurie Smukler and Nicholas Mann, violins; Ira Weller, viola; and Marcy Rosen, cello.

“The ‘Red Death’ had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood.” So begins The Masque of the Red Death, a story by Edgar Allan Poe that blends horror and medieval romance. Borrowing a conceit from Boccaccio, Poe relates how a group of aristocrats sequester themselves from a deadly plague in a fortified abbey.

Instead of passing time telling stories, as in Boccaccio’s The Decameron, these courtiers devote themselves to pleasure. The zenith of their revelry comes with a masked ball, commanded by their prince. “It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade,” Poe writes, with the courtiers arrayed in fanciful costumes. But as the clock strikes midnight, the festivity suddenly stops, and a strange figure appears among them. Tall, gaunt, and dressed in burial vestments, it seems to wear a mask speckled with blood. It walks slowly among the revelers until challenged by the prince. But the stranger merely turns his glance upon the prince, who falls lifeless on the spot. As do, soon, each of his courtiers, for as Poe relates, “the Red Death had come ... like a thief in the night.”

The Masque of the Red Death provides the inspiration and subject for André Caplet’s Conte fantastique. Active as both a conductor and a composer, Caplet was highly regarded by many who knew him for his skilled and fastidious musicianship. Debussy, who shared Caplet’s attraction to Poe, admired him enough to entrust him with orchestrating several of his compositions. With the outbreak of the Great War, Caplet volunteered for military duty. He was wounded and gassed at the front, suffering subsequent poor health and, probably, an early death as a result.

Scored for harp and string quartet, Conte fantastique follows the general narrative of The Masque of the Red Death. An introductory paragraph establishes an air of gothic mystery. This gives way, in the main section of the piece, to scintillating music conveying the merriment of the masquerade. But the revel is halted by the tolling of the midnight chime, vividly suggested in the score. As the mysterious intruder walks among the masqueraders, the music grows increasingly strange and, eventually, ominous, leading to the ghastly denouement. Caplet uses imaginative harmonies, instrumental sonorities, and percussive knocking to fine dramatic effect.


GIOACHINO ROSSINI Duo for Cello and Double Bass in D Major
Born February 29, 1792, in Pesaro; died November 13, 1868, in Passy.

Composed in 1824, Rossini’s Duo for Cello and Double Bass received its Carnegie Hall premiere on March 31, 1985, with Rolf Dohler, cello, and Barbara Sanderling, double bass.
Chamber music featuring the contrabass is not particularly common, and duets for that instrument with cello are almost unheard of. So when we come across such a piece, it’s a safe bet that some story lies behind its composition. Such is the case with the Duo in D Major by Gioacchino Rossini.

In the 1820s, Rossini was the most acclaimed composer in the world. His operas, some three dozen in number, were produced with extraordinary success throughout Europe, bringing him wealth and celebrity to a degree that few musicians have ever attained. In 1824, at the height of his success, Rossini paid a visit to London. There he enjoyed the attention of much of English society, and of many of the country’s best musicians. Occasionally social standing and musicality were combined in one and the same admirer, as it was in the person of David Salomons.

A wealthy London banker, Salomons was also an accomplished cellist. He had formed a friendship with Domenico Dragonetti, a virtuoso bass player who had emigrated from Venice to London some 30 years earlier and was now a fixture on the local music scene. “Il Drago,” as he was called, possessed a peerless technical command of his instrument. When Salomons approached Rossini about writing a piece that he might play with Dragonetti, the composer, who found that he could command extravagant fees for his services, named a steep price. Salmons did not flinch but agreed at once. Having heard Dragonetti perform and being deeply impressed with his skill, Rossini could not have been too unhappy with the arrangement. In any event, he quickly produced a duo in three movements whose scoring for cello and bass is all but unique.

The music itself requires little comment. Much of it has the character of bel canto opera melodies, which is hardly surprising in view of Rossini’s career in the theater. A minor-key lament in the second movement and the jaunty tune that serves as the subject for a set of variations in the finale are so operatic that one can almost imagine words being sung to them. For the most part, Rossini makes no concession to the traditionally lumbering gait of the bass. Instead, he treats it as an agile and singing instrument, a tribute to Dragonetti’s playing.


PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Souvenir de Florence for String Sextet, Op. 70
Born May 7, 1840, in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia; died November 6, 1893, in St. Petersburg.

Composed in 1890 and revised extensively in 1891–92, Souvenir de Florence was first performed in its definitive form on December 6, 1892, in Saint Petersburg, by an ensemble led by the renowned violinist Leopold Auer.

The genesis of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence dates to 1886, when the Saint Petersburg Chamber Music Society conferred honorary membership upon the composer. In return, Tchaikovsky promised to write a sextet for strings, but for several years made little progress on it. Finally in the early summer of 1890 he set to work on the piece in earnest and completed it, as he described in a letter, “with the greatest enthusiasm and without the least exertion.” But in the end, the composition proved not so effortless. Upon hearing the music in a private performance the following winter, Tchaikovsky felt dissatisfied with the final two movements and withdrew them for revision. He completed this task over a year later, and the work was published as his Op. 70.

The first of the composition’s four movements opens with dramatic music full of Russian pathos and passion. Although Tchaikovsky introduces more lyrical ideas as the movement unfolds, he nevertheless maintains a high level of emotional intensity throughout. Next comes a slow movement beginning with an expressively harmonized introductory passage that will recur again later in the composition. The main feature, however, is one of those long, singing melodies at which Tchaikovsky excelled. According to the composer’s brother, this was sketched during a visit to Italy and consequently prompted the title Souvenir de Florence.

The third movement begins with a scurrying tremolo figuration before proceeding to a broad theme for the cello. A subject that we might easily take for a melody from a Russian folk dance launches the finale, whose subsequent developments also seem balletic or otherwise suggestive of choreographic movement.

Copyright © 2007 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Paul Schiavo writes frequently on music and is the program annotator
for the Seattle Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra
·· Raphael Christ, Violin
·· Brigitte Lang, Violin
·· Dirk Niewöhner, Viola
·· Julia Neher, Viola
·· Thomas Ruge, Cello
·· Claudia Benker, Cello
·· Sarah Christ, Harp
·· Slawomir Grenda, Double Bass
Raphael Christ was born in Berlin in 1982. He started taking violin lessons at the age of six and attended masterclasses with Igor Ozim, Christian Altenburger, Franco Gulli, Michel Schwalbé, and Zakhar Bron. Among his many awards is a prize from the Arles Competition, which he won with his sister, Sarah Christ (harp). He has made solo appearances with many major orchestras under such conductors as Arnold Östman, Jiří Bĕlohlávek, Christoph Müller, Werner Stiefel, Wolfram Christ, and Daniel Barenboim. At the invitation of Claudio Abbado, he has been concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra since 2003. Mr. Christ has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2006.

Born in Lucerne, Brigitte Lang studied violin at the Lucerne and Basle Hochschulen and with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Currently she is deputy concertmaster of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg. She has appeared as soloist with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic. Among her chamber music partners are Bruno Canino, Renaud Capuçon, James Galway, and her sister, the pianist Yvonne Lang. Ms. Lang has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2003.

Born in Wuppertal, Dirk Niewöhner first studied violin with Ida Bieler and Rainer Kussmaul before taking up the viola with Wolfram Christ and Hariolf Schlichtig. He has won awards for his solo playing at the Eastern Music Festival and the German Viola Society Competition, and for his string quartet at the Charles Hennen Concours and the German Music Competition. Besides guest appearances at the Rheingau Festival, he gained experience with the Berliner Philharmoniker before becoming a violist with the Munich Philharmonic in 2003. Mr. Niewöhner has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2003.

Julia Neher was born in Wangen, Allgäu, in 1983, and studied piano, violin, and viola from 1989 to 2002. Since 2002, she has studied viola at the Freiburg Musikhochschule and appeared with the Palatine Chamber Orchestra, the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Baden-Baden and Freiburg, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, among others. She has worked with such conductors as Abbado, Eschenbach, Masur, and Marriner and given chamber concerts with Nigel Kennedy, Martha Argerich, and Alfred Brendel. Her awards include a scholarship to the Villa Musica (2005) and another from the Märkischer Kreis für Musik (2006). After deputizing with the Munich Philharmonic in the first half of 2006, she played the Bartók Viola Concerto in early 2007 with the Berliner Philharmoniker. A member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra since 2004, she has appeared regularly with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2005.

While still a student, Thomas Ruge served as solo cellist with various orchestras, including the European Community Youth Orchestra and the Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence festival orchestras under Abbado, Mehta, and Bernstein. After playing four years with the Berliner Philharmoniker, he was appointed solo cellist of the Munich Philharmonic in 1991, also serving in the same capacity in the Munich Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. He has also appeared as solo cellist with the European Union Opera, the Philharmonic String Soloists, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and taken the solo part in works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms with the Berliner Philharmoniker. He has twice received the Brahms Prize. Mr. Ruge has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2003.

Claudia Benker was born in 1974 in Berlin, where she studied cello at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule (Günter Sennewald) and the University of the Arts (Wolfgang Boettcher). She received scholarships to the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1996 to 1998, after which she joined the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin (1994). Her awards include a second prize at the Leipzig Bach Competition for Pupils and Young People (1990) and first prizes with the “Jugend musiziert” youth competition at the regional and state level (1992). At the invitation of Claudio Abbado, she joined the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra as solo cellist and played chamber music at the Berlin Festival with Kolja Blacher, Natalia Gutman, and Diemut Poppen, among others. Ms. Benker has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2003.

Sarah Christ was born in 1980 and studied harp with Margit Süss and Marie-Pierre Langlamet. After studying with Catherine Michel in Detmold (from 1999) and Fabrice Pierre in Lyons, she completed her degree with Helga Storck in Munich. The holder of a German Music Council Scholarship, she made solo appearances with the Prague Opera Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic, and the Cologne Sinfonietta. She appeared as a guest artist at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Prague Autumn, the Edinburgh Festival, and Tanglewood—playing with Emmanuel Pahud, Gérard Caussé, and Renaud Capuçon, among others. After joining the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (2001–03), she played with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra (since 2005). She also concertizes in a duo with her brother, Raphael, founded the Bax Trio in 2002, and has taught at the Orchestra Academy of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival since 2005.

Slawomir Grenda was born in Poland in 1968 and studied at the Szymanowski School of Music. He then continued his studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and won a scholarship to the Karajan Academy. Since 1993 he has held master classes in Croatia and Spain. Mr.Grenda became the principal double bass player at the Berlin State Opera in 1994, switching to the Munich Philharmic in 1996. A founding member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, he has won many competitions, including the Geneva Competition, and has appeared with such renowned ensembles as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC.