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Mozart: Late String QuintetsHot on the heels of Marc Destrubé & Friends’ astonishing concerts last season, Early Music Vancouver continues the project with more of these uncontested highlights of the chamber music literature: sublime, mature masterworks, and an unforgettable performance. Marc Destrubé violin
Friday evening performance at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver:
Sunday matinée performance at the Kay Meek Studio Theatre in West Vancouver:
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): String Quintet in Eb Major K.614
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Mozart twice turned to writing string quintets after writing a set of string quartets, perhaps finding satisfaction in writing for this richer texture and providing an opportunity for him to indulge in playing his favourite instrument, the viola. He may also have been influenced by the success of Boccherini, who by 1787 had written over sixty quintets, albeit with two cellos rather than two violas. Mozart’s first quintet, written in 1773, was inspired by hearing a quintet with two violas by Michael Haydn. Mozart's last two string quintets were written in Vienna in December 1790 and April 1791 respectively. Mozart’s attempts to publish the quintets by subscription failed – they were likely far too sophisticated for popular Viennese taste – and these two were published posthumously by Artaria in May 1793, with the first of them described as "composto per un amatore ongarese" (composed for a Hungarian music-lover), and both advertised in the Wiener Zeitung as “auf eine sehr thätige Aneiferung eines Musikfreundes” (at the very urgent request of a music-lover). This may well have been the violinist Joseph Tost, principal second violin of Haydn’s orchestra at Esterházy, and dedicatee of three of Haydn’s sets of string quartets. He went on to become a prosperous cloth merchant in Vienna. The final movement of the D Major quintet, K. 593, is a wonderful example of how a mid-twentieth century preoccupation with Werktreue (literally: faithfulness to the original), which then led to ‘historical performance practice’ later in the century, has affected the performance of music from an earlier time. In Mozart’s autograph score the first violin opens the movement with a descending seven-note chromatic figure. This figure, and all its subsequent appearances in the movement, is scratched out in the manuscript and replaced by a diatonic zigzag pattern (in German: “Zickzackform”!). Early editors, and notably the musicologist Alfred Einstein, had remarked on the change, assuming it to be my Mozart: “The beginning of the theme, originally a chromatically descending fifth, gains grace and character by means of a single stroke”, writes Einstein. The editors of the twentieth-century Neue Mozart Ausgabe discovered that this alteration, which was the version that existed until then in all printed editions, and thus performances, was not in Mozart’s hand, and consequently made the assumption that this altered form was not according to Mozart’s intentions, and that the original chromatic version should be restored. And so it has appeared in the printed parts since 1967, along with editors’ comments that perhaps the original had been too difficult to play, but certainly much more interesting than the ‘lightweight’ zigzag version. The NMA editor, Ernst Hess, suggested that “the movement becomes harmless, non-committal and trivial” in its de-chromaticized form, and, in direct response to Einstein, states that “perhaps Mozart was interested in other things than charm and grace”. More recent scholarship questions the assumptions on both sides, suggesting that the zig-zag version originated in a transcription for flute (on which the chromatic version would have been difficult to play), that Constance, Mozart’s wife, might have initiated the change in the hopes of making the piece easier to sell to publishers, or indeed that the change could have originated with Mozart, and that twentieth century ‘restoration’ of the original was born of an overly serious view of Mozart’s compositional process. What we are left with is the delightful freedom to make our own informed choice, perhaps ultimately a more ‘authentic’ attitude than that of 19th and 20th century musicologists. The g minor quintet, K. 516, written in 1787 as his father was ailing, is one of Mozart’s most intriguing, most profoundly moving and most-studied, works, full of unusual features. To begin with, it is one of only a handful of works by Mozart in a minor key, and in this case a key it shares with other notable works: his only two minor-key symphonies, a piano quartet and a fugue, all of them exceptionally dark and personal compositions. There is no question that the first three movements are persistently dark and full of melancholy and pathos. The first movement remains persistently in g minor (second themes in sonata-form movements typically move to the relative major), the second movement is a minuet that could never be danced to, and comes, unusually, before the slow movement rather than after. The fourth movement opens with an Adagio even slower and darker than that of the preceding slow movement, but then springs unexpectedly into a lively and rollicking G major. This surprising transformation has remained an enigma for commentators, many of whom seek to discover hidden depths of sadness or seriousness behind its cheerful character. More recently it has been remarked on by more than one writer that the whole quintet, with the unusual sequence and character of its movements, in fact follows the stages of grief as described by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and other modern day psychologists: denial, anger, bargaining (or guilt), sorrow, and acceptance. What is undeniable in hearing these extraordinary quintets is Mozart’s unique and seductive ability to give his most joyful music a background of melancholy and the saddest music a hint of a smile. – Marc Destrubé, 2012
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Canadian violinist Marc Destrubé is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster or director of orchestras and divides his time between performances of the standard repertoire on modern instruments, and performing baroque and classical music on period instruments. He has appeared as soloist and guest director with symphony orchestras in Victoria, Windsor and Halifax as well as with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Lyra Baroque and Portland Baroque Orchestra. He is first violinist with the Axelrod String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., a member of the Turning Point Ensemble in Vancouver specializing in 20th century music and new music, and first violinist of the newly-formed string quartet Microcosmos. He is also co-concertmaster of the Orchestra of the 18th Century (Amsterdam) with whom he has toured the major concert halls and festivals of Europe, North America, Japan, China and Australia, including as soloist and leader. He was artistic director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra from its founding in 1991 until 2007. He is a frequent guest on the Early Music Vancouver concert series. A highly-respected teacher, he gives annual classes at international academies in Vancouver and Oberlin and has been an invited teacher at the Paris, Moscow and Utrecht Conservatoires, Indiana University, Case Western University, the University of Victoria and the Macphail School. He lives in Vancouver.
Farran James began studying violin at the age of six. She studied first in Vancouver with Gwen Thompson, and finished her studies with a Master’s in violin performance at the State University of New York and the Julliard School, studying with Joel Smirnoff. She has been performing professionally since the age of sixteen, in many different ensembles around the world, including the Metamorphosen Chamber Ensemble based in Harvard, Les Violons du Roy from Quebec and the Montreal Chamber Orchestra. Since moving to Europe her main focus has been early music. She has played with many ensembles and conductors, including Jordi Savall, Ottavio Dantone, Monica Huggett, Pablo Valetti (Cafe Zimmerman), Skip Sempé (Capriccio Stavagante), Alfredo Bernardini, and many other ensembles around Europe. She is acting concertmaster for both the Academia 1750 and al Ayre Español, with whom she has been touring extensively throughout Europe for the past six years, playing in such halls as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théàtre des Champs Elysées and the Philharmonic in Berlin. She has been invited as a conductor and leader of the Granollers Chamber Orchestra, Menorca Chamber Orchestra, Parry Sound Orchestra, Kiel Opera Orchestra, Barcelona Liceu Orchestra and the Palau of the Arts Orchestra in Valencia. She is part of the Albada String Quartet, which has been invited to many important festivals around Europe, including La Caixa in Barcelona, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and Toruella de Montgrit. She has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Naive, Arsis and Aranjuez (the complete Salomon reduction of 12 Haydn Symphonies with La Tempestad). She is a founding member of Quartet Albada, and first violin of La Tempestad. Apart from classical music she has been drawn to both improvising and playing other kinds of music. This past year she has collaborated with jazz musician Uri Caine in his Wagner project, flamenco singer Mayte Martin, and is part of a duo with Luis Paniagua. She enjoys finding multiple ways of expression through the violin. Her violin is a Cuypers from 1790.
Originally from Seattle, Joanna Hood studied viola with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Abraham Skernick at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington. Since 1986, she has played with the Lafayette String Quartet, which she co-founded. As artist-in-residence at the University of Victoria, in Victoria, BC, she teaches viola and chamber music. She performs with Victoria's Gagliano Ensemble, as well as the Loma Mar Quartet and Orchestra of St. Luke's (both in New York City), and Eclipse quartet, an Los Angeles based new music group. Ms. Hood has been a committed teacher since 1983, when she was associate instructor at Indiana University. In 1986, she taught viola at the Institute of Music and Dance, in Detroit, Michigan, and served as artist-in-residence at Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan. She performs with the Loma Mar Quartet based in New York. She helped found the group in 1997, for the Bard Music Festival (when a classical style quartet was needed). Since then, they have collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney in a performance, and a recording of his music, titled "Working Classical" (on the EMI label), and A Garland for Linda (Selections) also on the EMI label. Also along with the other members of the Loma Mar Quartet she has been principal viola with the Lincoln Center Jazz orchestra, as well as making a recording with Jazz singer Claudia Acuña. With pianist Karen Enns she has performed recitals in Canada and the United States, and has commissioned works for the viola by Murray Adaskin, Al Hood and Justin Haynes. Steve Creswell inclines towards the more imaginative slopes of the classical spectrum: early/historical performance music, and contemporary music. His youthful studies took him to Indiana University and the Curtis Institute, in Philadelphia. Mr. Creswell has had the privilege of working with many great musicians, including Anner Bylsma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gustav Leonhardt, Abraham Skernick, and the Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets. He currently performs with the Northwest Sinfonietta, Seattle New Music Ensemble, and the baroque orchestras of Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, B.C. Steve Creswell teaches as Adjunct Professor of Violin at Seattle University, is a member of the Annas Bay Musicians group, and frequently acts as concertmaster for the Seattle Choral Company and Seattle Pro Musica. In the past summers, he has performed chamber music at Cascade Early Music Festival in Leavenworth with flutist Jeffrey Cohan, historical guitarist Oleg Timofeyev, gamba player Susie Napper, and lutenist/leader Stephen Stubbs. This season in Seattle, Mr. Creswell will present several contemporary music recitals, in addition to resuming his Walk to Bach series after a two children hiatus. Joanna Blendulf, baroque cellist, has performed as soloist and continuo player in leading period-instrument ensembles throughout the United States. Ms. Blendulf holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Indiana University, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Alan Harris. In 1998, she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate for her accomplishments on baroque cello from Indiana University. Ms. Blendulf was a principal cellist of The New World Symphony under Michael Tilson-Thomas and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony. She is currently performing with the Portland and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestras and American Bach Soloists and has also been a member of Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, the New York Collegium and Musica Angelica. Ms. Blendulf is also an active chamber musician, touring with American Baroque, Mirable, Musica Pacifica, Reconstruction, and the Streicher Trio. She was named runner-up in the 2000 Early Music America/Dorian Competition for her recording of the complete cello sonatas of Jean Zewalt Triemer. Ms. Blendulf's summer engagements have included performances at the Bloomington, Boston, Berkeley Early Music Festivals, the Aspen Music Festival as well as the Carmel Bach Festival. |
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“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”, copy by L. Bode (1859) after a painting by Giuseppe Cinaroli - detail.
Farran James
Joanna Hood
Steve Creswell
Joanna Blendulf