2019/20 Season Ensembles

In 1799, both an elderly Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and a young Beethoven were simultaneously working on a new set of string quartets: Haydn's last and Beethoven's first. On this noteworthy "passing of the baton", the composers shared a common patron. A young Price Lobkowitz commissioned both composers around the same time. Beethoven's Op. 18 was published at the end of 1801, Haydn's Op. 77 in early 1802. It is no surprise that Haydn's last quartets are often called "Beethovenian" just as Beethoven's first quartets may be called "Haydnesque." (Kai Christiansen).

I. Allegro moderato

II. Adagio

III. Menuetto. Presto

IV. Finale. Presto

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was a renowned Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century. 

Many of her compositions were written for  the violin, including seven string quartets. This prize-winning quartet No. 4, from 1951, was written in a neoclassical in style, with evident influences of Polish (and a little Spanish)  folk music.

I. Andante - Allegro molto

II. Andante

III. Allegro giocoso

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) composed this magnificent quartet in 1842, his "year of chamber music", where he miraculously produced three string quartets, the glorious piano quintet, and the equally superb piano quartet.

I. Andante espressivo - Allegro molto moderato

II. Assai agitato

III. Adagio molto

IV. Finale: Allegro molto vivace

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) composed his last piano trio (his 45th!) in 1797 and dedicated it to Therese Jansen Bartolozzi, a German pianist that had been a student of Muzio Clementi. This magnificent late work is full of character and humour and reflects the composer's full musical maturity.

I. Poco allegretto

II. Andantino ed innocentemente

III. Finale. Allemande. Presto assai

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) wrote this gorgeous one-movement trio when he was just 18 years old and still a student in Moscow. It is the first of two Trio Élégiaque written in 1892-93. 

Despite his youth, Rachmaninoff shows in the virtuoso piano part his ability to cover a breathtaking spectrum of sound colors. 

The two piano trios of Beethoven's Opus 70 were composed in 1808 during the composer's stay at the house of the Countess Marie von Erdödy, to whom he dedicated both works (as a thank you for her hospitality). Because of its curiously scored and undeniably eerie slow movement it has been nicknamed the "Ghost" Trio. A perfect way to celebrate Beethoven's 250 Birthday year!

I. Allegro vivace e con brio

II. Largo assai e espressivo

III. Presto

Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) was born in Paris to a wealthy family. He studied law and became a barrister but realized he had no interest in the law. He decided to pursue music at the Paris Conservatory in 1879 where he studied with Jules Massenet and Cesar Franck. This early and intense masterpiece was written in 1881 during this exploratory period. Sadly, Chausson died when he was 44 years old just as his career was beginning to flourish.

I. Pas trop lent - Animé

II. Vite

III. Assez lent

IV. Animé

The two Serenades, Op. 11 and 16, represented two of the earliest efforts by Johannes Brahms to write orchestral music. They both date from after the 1856 death of Robert Schumann when Brahms was residing in Detmold and had access to an orchestra.

The first serenade, Op. 11, was completed in 1858, at the same time that Brahms was also working on his Piano Concerto No. 1. Originally scored for wind and string octet, and then expanded into this longer work for chamber nonet, the serenade was later adapted for orchestra in 1959.

Allegro molto

Scherzo. Allegro non troppon — Trio

Adagio non troppo

Menuetto I — Menuetto II

Scherzo. Allegro  — Trio

Rondo. Allegro 

Syrinx  is a one movement work for solo flute that Claude Debussy wrote in 1913. It is considered the first significant piece for solo flute after the Sonata in A minor composed by C. P. E. Bach over 150 years earlier. It is also the first such solo composition for the modern Böhm flute, perfected in 1847, and played a pivotal role in the development of solo flute music in the early twentieth century. 

Syrinx was written as incidental music to the uncompleted play Psyché by Gabriel Mourey. Its evocative name is in reference to the myth of the amorous pursuit of the nymph Syrinx by the god Pan, in which Pan falls in love with Syrinx, however, as Syrinx does not return the love to Pan, she turns herself into a water reed and hides in the marshes. Pan cuts the reeds to make his pipes, in turn killing his love.

Britten composed his one-movement Phantasy Quartet for oboe and string trio in 1932 when he was 18 and a student at the Royal College of Musica. It was his second published work and dedicated to the acclaimed oboist Léon Goossens, who played the first performance in a BBC broadcast on August 6, 1933.

George Gershwin was inspired by the idea of composing a cycle of 24 preludes for the keyboard like those of Bach and Chopin. He only completed 6 in 1926, and only published these three.

These innovative works are heavily jazz influenced, featuring syncopated rhythms, flattened sevenths, and blues motifs. 

1. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso

2. Andante con moto e poco rubato

3. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso

The woodwind sextet, Mladi (which means Youth), is a chamber composition written in May 1924 by Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) as a reminiscence of his youth in the Old Brno Monastery. It is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and bass clarinet.

Historians suggest that the idea for the work came as a result of the his visit to the festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music in Salzburg in August 1923.

I. Allegro

II. Andante sostenuto

III. Vivace

IV. Allegro animato