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Mozart & Beethoven:
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Young Mozart at the keyboard (anonymous) -detail
 Concert Details and Ticket Information |
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Friday evening, 30 September 2011 | ||||
| Pre-Concert Introduction at 7:15 | Concert at 8:00 pm | |||||
| Christ Church Cathedral | |||||
| 690 Burrard at West Georgia, downtown Vancouver | directions | |||||
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Sunday matinée, 2 October 2011 | iin cooperation with the  |
Kay Meek Series proudly sponsored by  |
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| Pre-Concert Introduction at 2:15 | Concert at 3:00 pm | |||||
| Kay Meek Centre - Studio Theatre | |||||
| 1700 Mathers Avenue. West Vancouver | directions | |||||
Friday evening performance at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver:
for information on Ticket Prices and Seating Plans at Christ Church Cathedral.
Tickets for this performance at $35 (students & seniors $3 discount) can be ordered on-line via our secure connection.
These ticket prices include 12% HST.They can also be ordered by phone (604 732-1610) from the office of Early Music Vancouver. Tickets are also available at Sikora’s Classical Records.
Rush Seats for Students with valid ID on sale for $10, at the door only, from 7:00 pm on the evening of the concert.
These concerts are included in our “Bring a Youth for Free” programme.
< click on this logo for Chirst Church Cathedral’s listing of this Early Music Vancouver concert
Sunday matinée performance at the Kay Meek Studio Theatre in West Vancouver:
Tickets for this concert at $35 (adult) or $32 (student/senior), are only available from the Kay Meek Centre Box Office: 604 913-3634 or www.kaymeekcentre.com.
Rush Seats for Students with valid ID on sale for $10, at the door only, from 2:00 pm on the afternoon of the concert.
This concert is included in our “Bring a Youth for Free” programme.
| Programme |
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791):
Quintet for Fortepiano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn & Bassoon in E flat, K. 452
Largo - Allegro moderato
Larghetto
Allegretto
i n t e r v a l
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 -1827):
Sonata for Horn and Piano in F major, Op.17
Allegro moderato
Poco adagio, quasi andante
Rondo (Allegro moderato)
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Quintet for Fortepiano & Wind Quartet in E flat, Op.16
Grave - Allegro ma non troppo
Andante cantabile
Rondo (Allegro ma non troppo)
five-octave classical fortepiano by Thomas & Barbara Wolf, Washington DC,
after Johann Schantz, Vienna, ca. 1790, from their instrument collection
– programme subject to changes
| Programme Notes |
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Mozart & Beethoven: Quintets for Fortepiano & Winds
How does a composer like Mozart decide to write for a new combination of instruments like the one we have in this programme? Perhaps it helps if he has a group of friends with whom he might like to perform. Even better if he has already successfully written for similar groups of instruments in other compositions. Such were the circumstances in which Mozart wrote his Quintet K452, first performed by the composer and musicians that he knew and engaged, in the Burgtheater in Vienna on April 1st (no fool he) in 1784. In this subscription concert, organised by himself, he also performed his Piano Concerti K.450 and K451, following them with the Quintet. Clearly he was rather pleased with how it went, writing to his father nine days later that the quintet "was applauded extraordinarily; I myself consider it the best work I have composed in my life… I only wish you could have heard it; - and how beautifully it was performed!"
Mozart's excellent writing for wind instruments had already been practiced in several other forms: the wind serenades; the wind solos within other larger compositions, in particular his piano concerti; the Sinfonia Concertante for four solo winds and orchestra K297b; and the soprano aria Se il padre perdei from Idomeneo, also with four solo wind instruments. His keyboard writing in this instance, it almost goes without saying, was for himself to play and has a concerto type role.
Now that we can compare all of Mozart's works, what was it that he considered to be so good about this one? The tunes might not be particularly better in this work than in others (although the slow movement does achieve great beauty in this respect) but what he does with them is very sophisticated and satisfying. In terms of orchestration, the writing for each instrument is idiomatic – not always an easy task for composers who have to take advantage of what the instruments can play, and not write notes that the 18th century winds cannot achieve. Nevertheless, the voicing works as well as any of his operatic quartets where individual characters each need to express their own comments to make up the whole. Whether the instruments play in pairs, or one after the other, or all together, there is a continuing narrative line that leads logically on to the next idea. The interweaving of the counterpoint supports the harmonic direction in a concise but detailed way that both performers and audience can fully appreciate. Perhaps that is why Mozart was so pleased about his composition: not only had he worked out how to play off each instrumental character, together and against the others, but he was able to do this at the same time as highlight an operatic-style tension in the progression of ideas and direction. That the audience appreciated his efforts for this no doubt felt particularly good to him.
Perhaps Mozart would have felt even more flattered had he known that at some point between ten and thirteen years later he would have Beethoven writing a companion quintet. We know that just as Brahms felt the pressure of trying to live up to the greatness of Beethoven, Beethoven felt much the same thing about Mozart. Intriguingly, there was a performance of the Mozart Quintet in Vienna on 4th April, 1800, only two days after Beethoven's debut academy concert in the same city in which his popular Septet (Op.20) was performed. It is suggested by Cliff Eisen that the resurgence of Mozart's quintet spurred Beethoven on to have his own quintet published.
Comparisons between each composer's quintet can show similarities and differences. Both were also to appear in published form with an additional version for piano quartet to help increase performances. Both have slow introductions and are in the same key. Beethoven's has a much longer first movement, and as might be expected, visits more distant keys. Beethoven's character is shown as being quite different to Mozart's by using less counterpoint and having the instruments play together in a symphonic style more of the time. Perhaps it is the humour that really links the quintets together. Both have middle movements that are like an aria and both have fun finales that are designed to leave the listener with a smile.
Perhaps only a horn player would notice the similarity between the horn melody in the second section of the slow movement, and the second subject of the first movement of the Horn Sonata. There are six notes in a row which, although in a different key, move in exactly the same direction and rhythm. Even the hand-stopping is similar. Beethoven's mind must have been working in a particular way between Op.16 and Op.17.
One thing that is refreshing about hearing Beethoven's writing in this quintet is that although it is easy to think of him as a serious composer who wrote a lot of angry music such as that famously contained in his 5th and 9th symphonies, at this stage of his life he was not yet affected by the troubles that were to afflict him in later years. Deafness and other health problems that probably led to him becoming the great innovator that he was, only came after he had been a composer who had seemed quite content to entertain his audience with the alternation of seriousness and then infectious fun that permeates much of the great music of the classical period.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata Op.17
Many music lovers know the story about how Beethoven wrote this sonata in 24 hours, having left it to the last day to compose it before the first performance in which he played the fortepiano (April 18th, 1800) improvising much of the accompaniment which had yet to be written down. But it's not usually explained how he did it. I think it went something like this:
Beethoven: "I had better hurry up and write this sonata to feature this wonderful horn player (Giovanni Punto) who is famous for playing fast arpeggios and with a terrific low register. So in bar 1 I'll write a fanfare and finish it off with a blast on a low note in bar 2. Then everyone will know it's a sonata for low horn and piano. [In those days horn players were either a specialist in the low or high register.] I'll write a 1st subject (which includes the rhythm of the fanfare) but then what am I going to do for a contrasting 2nd theme? In the absence of time to think of a new tune, I'll pinch a little bit from the 1st theme, but instead of accompanying it with 16th notes I'll change it from the initial high energy to calm, by harmonising it very simply in straight ¼ note chords. Then I'll link it all together with scales and arpeggios."
[These would be totally familiar to a pianist who had been trained to practice them everyday since an early age and who had been a deputy court organist from the age of twelve.]
"The second movement will also based on the same fanfare rhythm and incidentally have the same number of bars as the opus number. This helps to keep the composition time short, and reminds future musicologists what a sophisticated composer I am. (One has to think of one's legacy, you know.)
"The last movement will use the same first three notes as the first movement but I'll alter the rhythm to make a departure from that fanfare character. I'd better throw in a few more of those jumps and arpeggios that Punto keeps practising. Daily exercises he calls them. At least he can play them…"
[Punto wrote a book of 52 pages of increasingly difficult Exercices Journaliers which are enough to drive most aspiring natural horn players to despair.]
So successful was the first performance that the new rules in Vienna forbidding loud clapping and encores were broken, and Beethoven and Punto repeated the entire sonata.
| The Artists |
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Michael Jarvis classical fortepiano
Michael Jarvis has been acclaimed as one of Canada’s finest harpsichordists and fortepianists. He has performed across Canada, the USA, England, Italy and Bermuda. He has worked with many of Canada’s finest singers and is in demand as a coach and collaborative artist. Michael has recorded for, among others, Hungaroton, ATMA, Naxos, and Marquis Classics labels, and has many times broadcast nationally and regionally for the CBC, as well as across the U.S. on NPR. His performing editions of 17th and 18th century choral and organ music are published by GIA, Chicago. He is on faculty as harpsichordist and vocal coach at the Early Music Vancouver Summer Baroque Vocal Programme: "The Compleat Singer" (www.earlymusic.bc.ca). He was also co-host and star of the 13-part television series "Come into the Parlour". Featuring co-host and star Carolyn Sinclair, soprano, and their original 1857 Chickering piano, the series featured some of Canada's finest musicians (including Colin Savage!) from the opera and concert stages in the musical highlights of the nineteenth century. He is also the duo-partner of violinist Paul Luchkow. Their new CD featuring the world-premiere recordings of J-N. Hummel's Op. 5 Fortepiano and Violin Sonatas performed on an original Viennese instrument from c.1800 will be released by Marquis Classics late October/early November of this year. For more information, please go to: www.michaeljarvis.ca
Washington McClain classical oboe
Washington McClain, a specialist on baroque and classical oboes, has performed with many groups in the United States, including The City Musik (Chicago), Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), Apollo’s Fire (Cleveland), Opera Lafayette (Washington, D.C.), and Washington Bach Consort. In Canada and Europe, he has performed with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, serving as core oboist for seven years, Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Vancouver), The Netherlands Bach Society, and is currently principal oboist of l’Ensemble Arion in Montréal, Québec. Washington’s extensive teaching and performing experience in workshops and festivals in North America include The Amherst Early Music Festival, Western Baroque Double Reeds Festival (Seattle), the Madison Early Music Festival, The International Baroque Institute at Longy (Boston), Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque (New Brunswick, Canada), The Staunton Music Festival (Virginia), and the Boston Early Music Festival. He is also the first period instrument performer to be featured in an article of Windplayer Magazine. He has recorded for the Sony Classical, ATMA, Analekta, Naxos, Centaur, and CBC Records labels, and currently teaches at The Early Music Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington. He makes his home in Windsor, Ontario (Canada).
Colin Savage classical clarinet
Colin Savage has performed on recorder and historical clarinets with ensembles in Canada, the USA and Japan, including Artek, New York Collegium, Tafelmusik, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, la Nouvele Sinfonie, Aradia Ensemble, Apollo’s Fire, les Boréades and the Toronto Consort. He is principal clarinetist with the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, and particularly enjoys playing bass clarinet with the Arctic fusion band Ensemble Polaris, whose recordings of Nordic/Canadian/Mediterranean folk melodies have received international critical acclaim. He is regularly heard on CBC Radio, and has recorded for Sony Classical, ebs, Naxos, Atma, Analekta and Dorian. Colin's interest in analog photographic processes finds him in well-lit and very dark places, and his images of abandoned spaces, shot with a vintage twin lens reflex camera, are included in the recently published book “Modern Canadian Interiors.”
Katrina Russell classical bassoon
Born and raised in Edmonton, Katrina Russell obtained her Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance from The University of Victoria. Further studies took her to Toronto, Banff, and then to Boston Massachusetts where she attended the New England Conservatory of Music. There she was able to pursue her interest in the Baroque bassoon, and was granted a Graduate Diploma Historical Performance (with distinction in performance). Armed only with a handful of bassoons and a desire to play them, Katrina moved to London, England where she was lucky enough to spend eighteen years playing them (as well as several others that presented themselves along the way). Specializing in historical performance, she played and recorded with many of the period instrument ensembles in Britain and Europe, including The English Concert, The King’s Consort, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Hanover Band, The Gabrieli Consort and Players, L’Orchestre de la Champs Elysees, The Orchestra of “The Sixteen”, and The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. After several years of return visits to Canada to play with Early Music Vancouver ensembles and The Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Katrina and her husband (British horn player Andrew Clark) relocated to the West Coast in late 2010, and are currently establishing themselves near Ladysmith where they are also setting up a speciality brass making workshop producing horns and trumpets.
Andrew Clark natural horn
Principal horn player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Andrew Clark is known for his stylish performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire on the natural horn. He has made several solo recordings for well-known labels, including Mozart’s Horn Quintet, Beethoven’s Horn Sonata and Brahms’ Horn Trio, and he teaches natural horn in London at both the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He performs on a variety of different horns according to the historical context of the repertoire. After studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with horn professors Anthony Halstead, Jeffrey Bryant and Anthony Chidell, he freelanced with all of London’s major orchestras and period instrument ensembles before specialising on historical instruments when Sir Roger Norrington appointed him as principal horn of the London Classical Players in 1990. One of his main areas of interest since then has been the high “clarino” horn parts written in many eighteenth century works, characteristically composed by Bach, Handel, and occasionally Haydn. Examples of the results of this research may be heard in his recordings of all of Bach’s twenty-five horn obbligati and several other works, such as Handel’s Julius Caesar and Haydn’s Symphonies 48 & 51. In attempting to improve upon knowledge of the natural horn and its technique, Andrew Clark has written a book of Sixteen Etudes, published by Mitre Music, and an article for the Historic Brass Society on the horn’s transition to valves as exemplified by the works for horn and piano by Carl Czerny. The latter were recorded with pianist Geoffrey Govier in 1999. Performing in the Edinburgh Festival in 1996 with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Hanover Band (broadcast “live” on BBC Radio 3) brought prominence in the national press for playing the horn obbligato in Haydn’s concert aria Pieta di Me, possibly the highest horn part ever written. It was shortly after these reviews appeared that EMI Classics made contact, resulting in recordings of several of the most famous pieces of chamber music for the horn. Andrew Clark travels extensively, having performed in North and South America, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Europe. [ www.naturallyhorns.co.uk/ ]