Johannes Brahms: Viola Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2
Brahms’s (1833-1897) last works – a trio, a quintet and two sonatas with piano accompaniment – were inspired by the sound of the clarinet, or more precisely, by Richard Mühlfeld’s play. Brahms first heard Mühlfeld play in Meiningen in 1890, and wrote enthusiastically about this experience to Clara Schumann saying “no man can play more beautifully than this”. This encounter was really fortunate as Brahms had previously hinted that he was thinking about giving up composing because he considered his lifework complete. A year later Brahms himself adapted the two sonatas (1894) for viola and piano.
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44, No. 2
Movement I: Allegro assai appassionato
Movement II: Scherzo, Allegro di molto
Movement III: Andante
Movement IV: Presto agitato
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44, No. 2
Mendelssohn’s ‘String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor’ was composed in 1837, and its premiere in Leipzig (Germany) was a great success. Mendelssohn, however, partially revised his original work in 1839, and published it in print in a new form in the following year together with two other quartets of his. Mendelssohn dedicated ‘String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor’ to the Swedish Crown Prince Oscar I. While in the composer’s two earlier string quartets the influence of Beethoven is obvious, this quartet is already dominated by Mendelssohn’s own individual style.
Carl Maria von Weber: Romance
The date of the composition of ‘Romance’ is uncertain, and so is its author. Traditionally, the work is attributed to Weber (1786-1826), but there is no evidence that he actually wrote the piece. In any case, the composition was published under Weber’s name at the beginning of the 20th century. Because the composers of the Classical and Romantic periods did not really offer trombonists significant chamber works, ‘Romance’ (just like Ferdinand David’s ‘Concertino’) has become a definitive piece in the repertoire for this instrument.
Béla Bartók: 44 Violin Duos – Selection
The complete series of these ‘44 Duos’ was published in 1933. On the occasion of the premiere of the piece, Bartók wrote: “44 Duos was written with the same aim as the series entitled ‘For Children’ composed earlier. The goal was to provide students in the first few years of their musical studies with access to performance pieces that capture the unpretentious simplicity of folk music, and comprises all the melodic and rhythmic variations folk music has to offer.” In addition to various children’s games and dances, Hungarian and international folk songs assume significant presence in the collection, and they open the ears of those students who are new to the world of music to a special and new sound experience. Selections from the series ‘44 Duos’ are sometimes staged at concerts, but such performances have the desired effect only when the pieces are performed by well-established and musically mature artists.
Benjamin Britten: Phantasy Quartet, Op. 2
‘Phantasy Quartet’ was written in 1932, and was premiered in the following year. The piece is an early work: Britten (1913-1976) wrote it at the age of 18 while he was a student at the Royal College of Music. He composed this piece for oboist Léon Goossens, who also premiered the work in a live BBC radio broadcast. In April 1934, ‘Phantasy Quartet’ was performed at the International Society of Contemporary Music festival in Florence, and the composition catapulted Britten into the limelight of international musical attention. (In fact, at the same festival, József Szigeti performed an orchestral version of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra.)
Variations No. 2
nov 5., 7 PM
Dohnányi Ernő Music Center
TICKETS