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Music of the Spheres Society Announces 2009/2010 Season
The 2009/2010 Chamber Music and Lecture Series in New York
Three Superb Chamber Music Concerts - Three Inspiring Talks, Included in Concert Admission
Under the artistic direction of Stephanie Chase, the Music of the Spheres Society is “dedicated to exploring the links between music, philosophy, and the sciences” (The New Yorker) through our innovative concerts and pre-concerts talks.
The 2009/2010 season features three Friday evening concerts of chamber music masterpieces from four centuries, performed by our “outstanding artists” (New York Times) in original and creative contexts. Each concert is preceded by a thought-provoking talk, included in admission.
CONCERT I
Friday, October 16th, 2009
Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m.- Concert at 8:15 p.m.
Flying Fingers! Virtuoso String Quintets
Siete Canciones Espagnolas - Manuel de Falla
Sonata in D Minor for Violin and Piano* - Johannes Brahms
Caprice Basque - Pablo de Sarasate
Romanza Andaluza
Ziguenerweisen
A Capricious CHASE - Niccolo Paganini
All works arranged for string quintet by Stephanie Chase
*World premiere of this arrangement
Pre-concert talk and demonstration at 7:30 p.m. by Bo Lawergren and Tomoko Sugawara:
An Ancient Stringed Instrument Reborn: The Angular Harp
CONCERT II
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m. - Concert at 8:15 p.m.
Sound Travels Through Vienna
Sonata No. 2, Op. 115 for Violin Solo (1948) - Ernst Krenek
Caprice Viennois (1910) - Fritz Kreisler
Four Pieces for violin and piano (1910) - Anton Webern
Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120 (1894) - Johannes Brahms
Klavierstucke No. 1, D. 946 (1828)- Franz Schubert
Sonata for violin and piano K305 (1778) - Wolfgang Mozart
Artists: violinist Stephanie Chase, clarinetist Jon Manasse, and pianist William Wolfram
Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m. by Styra Avins:
”I drink my wine where Beethoven drank his!”: Johannes Brahms in Vienna
CONCERT III
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m.- Concert at 8:15 p.m.
Immortal Beloveds
Piano Trio, WoO 36 - Ludwig van Beethoven
Late Summer- Tom Cipullo
Race for the Sky - Richard Pearson Thomas
Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (rev.) - Johannes Brahms
Artists: soprano Hope Hudson, violinist Stephanie Chase, 'cellist Darrett Adkins, and pianist Todd Crow
Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m. by Richard Pearson Thomas:
Race for the Sky: Poetry and Music in Response to 9/11
All concerts take place at: Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, located at 120 West 69th Street (between Broadway and Columbus). Admission at the door: $30, seniors/students: $15, requested donation. Seating is by general admission. Doors open at 7:15 p.m.
About the Programs:
Flying Fingers! Virtuoso Music for String Quintet – October 16, 2009
Stephanie Chase has created string orchestra versions of virtuoso violin music by Sarasate, which have been recorded on the MSR Classics label in live-concert performances by The American String Project and performed by the Perlman Music Program. Her arrangements of music by Falla and Paganini have been called "the treat of the night" (www.gatheringnote.org) and "brilliant" (Seattle Times).
This concert features her string quintet arrangements of Manuel de Falla's sumptuous Siete Canciones Populares - arranged from the original version for voice and piano - followed by the brilliantly evocative Caprice Basque, Romanza Andaluza and Ziguenerweisen by Pablo de Sarasate, and the world premiere of the Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 for Violin and Piano by Johannes Brahms. For dessert, the program concludes with A Capricious CHASE - her version of Paganini's famed Caprice No. 24, into which she has inserted the musical spelling of her own name
Sound Travels Through Vienna – February 26, 2010
Through much of its history, Vienna has served as a music capitol - the Vienna Boys' Choir dates back to 1498! - and home to many of classical music's most influential and innovative composers. This concert is a journey through the music of six composers with pivotal ties to this city, starting in the mid-20th century and ending in the 1770's.
Our listening tour begins with the Sonata No. 2 for Violin Solo, Op. 115 by Ernst Krenek, which he composed shortly after moving to the United States. A student of Franz Shreker - first in Vienna and then in Berlin - Krenek was later influenced by the music of Schoenberg, Webern and Berg, and after about 1933 he composed principally in the 12-tone system. We then travel back a few decades to 1910, where we encounter both the Caprice Viennois by Fritz Kreisler and Four Pieces for violin and piano, Op. 7 by Anton Webern.
Composed a mere sixteen years earlier (1894), the majestic Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120 by Johannes Brahms forms the heart of the concert, followed by the mercurial Klavierstucke No. 1 (D 946) by Franz Schubert, which dates from 1828. The journey concludes with the delightful Sonata in A Major, K. 305 for piano and violin, composed in 1778 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Immortal Beloveds – April 16, 2010
Many enduring works of music have been inspired by a great love. Following his death in 1827, among Beethoven's possessions were letters written to an unidentified woman, including this excerpt:
"Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all."
Many scholars have speculated that these letters date from the summer of 1812, when he wrote the brief Piano Trio (without Opus, 39). This work is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano and was given to her by Beethoven personally on June 26, 1812. Although there is significant conjecture as to the identity of the "Immortal Beloved," the dedicatee's mother, Antonie, is considered a prime candidate.
American song composer Tom Cipullo (b. 1960) is a recipient of the Aaron Copland Award and winner of the American Art Song Competition for Composers. His song cycle Late Summer was written in 2001 and uses beautiful texts by William Heyen ("Crickets"), Emily Dickinson ("...Summer into Autumn Slips") and Stanley Kunitz ("Touch Me"). The program's first half concludes with the powerful Race for the Sky by noted American song composer Richard Pearson Thomas (b. 1957), whose work for soprano, violin and piano uses texts left in public memorials - including the Grand Central Station - following the World Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001. These documents were collected for preservation by City Lore.
In 1853 the twenty-year-old Johannes Brahms traveled to Düsseldorf to meet Robert Schumann, who then enthusiastically hailed his talent in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and became, with his wife Clara, an important mentor and friend. Brahms' Trio in B Major (Op. 8) dates from 1854, the year in which Schumann attempted suicide and was committed to a mental sanitarium. Virtually from their first meeting, Brahms and Clara enjoyed a mutually impassioned relationship - which may have remained platonic throughout their lives - that is memorialized in this Trio through its allusions to Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, which she was practicing and performing at the time of its composition. In revisiting this work some twenty years later, Brahms elected to make substantial revisions to its form, which is the version performed in this concert.
Admission at the door of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church: $30, seniors/students: $15, requested donation. Seating is by general admission. Doors open at 7:15 p.m.
Three Inspiring Pre-Concert Talks - Included in Admission
Friday, October 16, 2009:
Pre-Concert Talk by Bo Lawergren and Tomoko Sugawara at 7:30 p.m.:
An Ancient Stringed Instrument Reborn: The Angular Harp Reborn
Tomoko Sugawara, harpist, and Bo Lawergren, physicist and researcher of ancient musical instruments, present a slide-lecture on the history of the angular harp, along with performances of selections from its ancient and modern repertoire. The oldest repertoire comes from the eras and places that the instrument flourished, which include the Chinese Tang Dynasty, medieval Persia and Spain; in recent times, composers from the US, Japan, and Iran have also written music for it.
Friday, February 26, 2010:
Pre-Concert Talk by Styra Avins at 7:30 p.m.:
”I drink my wine where Beethoven drank his!”:Johannes Brahms in Vienna
Styra Avins is a cellist, musicologist, and the author of Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters (Oxford University Press).
Friday, April 16, 2010:
Pre-Concert Talk by Richard Pearson Thomas at 7:30 p.m.: Race to the Sky: Poetry and Music in Response to 9/11
Richard Pearson Thomas is an American composer (b. 1957) who specializes in songs. This work was created using texts, written by families and friends of the victims of the 9/11 attack, left in public areas as memorials, including Grand Central Station, and collected by City Lore.
Transportation: The Christ and St. Stephen’s Church is located at 120 West 69th Street near Lincoln Center and is convenient to the 2, 3, 1 and 9 subway trains, as well as the M5, M7, M11 and M104 buses. There is public parking nearby as well as numerous restaurants in all categories
Admission: at the door of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church: $30, seniors/students: $15, requested donation. Seating is by general admission. Doors open at 7:15 p.m.
For more information: please visit www.musicofthespheres.org or call (212) 877-4402.
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