Roy Eaton

Piano

Quantum of Preludes

Since its formation in 1990, the Maia Quartet, Quartet‐in‐Residence at the University of Iowa, has established itself nationally as an ensemble of innovation and versatility. Praised by critics for its "sparkling musical intelligence," the quartet has appeared in major concert halls throughout the U.S. and abroad, including New York's Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and the 92nd Street Y, Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall and the Aspen Music Festival's Harris Hall. Collaborations with leading chamber musicians have included performances with Joel Krosnick, Andre‐Michel Schub, Cynthia Phelps and Daniel Avshalomov. The Maia Quartet's commitment to the work of living composers has led to premieres of compositions by Pierre Jalbert, Dan Coleman, Vivian Fung and Ronn Yedidia.

Recognized for their innovative approach to programming, the Quartet has spearheaded noteworthy projects both at the University of Iowa and beyond. In November 2009, as part of the many worldwide events marking the 200th year since Haydn's death, the Quartet will present "Haydn Slam," a five‐day marathon event during which all of Haydn's eighty‐three string quartets will be performed by the Maia Quartet and various other professional and amateur ensembles.

As a recipient of a Chamber Music America Extended Residency Grant and several other grants, the Maia Quartet collaborated with the Danish Immigrant Museum of Elk Horn, Iowa to bring chamber music of Danish and other great Scandinavian composers to communities with strong Scandinavian roots. Other past projects include "Scandinavian‐NordicFest" at the University of Iowa, a festival celebrating works of major Scandinavian and Nordic luminaries in the areas of music, dance, art and art history, theatre, film and physics; and "Music, Healthcare and Well Being," a collaboration with the University of Iowa's Department of Music Therapy, and the University of Iowa's Holden Cancer Center. These events focused on numerous health‐related issues, such as breast cancer awareness, hearing loss, mental health, multiple sclerosis and involved concerts, lectures and numerous outreach events.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~c025188/

    PROGRAM

Haydn: Quartet in B minor, Op. 33 No. 1

James Romig: "Variations" - 

(a short work drawing inspiration from Anton Webern")

    INTERMISSION

Zemlinsky: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 15

Program notes

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732- 1809)

String Quartet, Op. 33, No.1 in B minor (Hob.III:37)

     In the latter part of 1782, almost ten years after the publication of  his most remarkable and successful Opus 20 quartets, Haydn composed a set of six quartets dedicated to the Russian Grand Duke, Paul Petrovich. These were published as Op. 33, subtitled variously as "Russian" and "Gli  Scherzi. Haydn wrote a statement at the time that these quartets were written "in quite a new and special way."  Scholars have argued for over 100 years whether this statement was just an advertising gimmick, or if the compositional style was indeed new and special. However, it is noted that most of the features that distinguished the Opus 20 quartets, namely the fugues, other strict contrapuntal devices and the heavy use of minor mode, were replaced in the Opus 33 quartets by a more elaborate rhythmic scheme. In the new set, Haydn is noted as breaking the music down into motives, reassembling the fragments with great contrapuntal skill but unlike that used in his earlier approach. There are many instances of musical jokes (Scherzi) spread through the six quartets. Musical "jokes" in Haydn's time could refer to the use of "wrong key" sections, unexpected interruptions or shifts in tempo or tonality, and disordered progressions (non-mathematical). The light-hearted nature of the new quartets with their humor may well have been abetted by his long involvement in arranging and directing comic operas as part of his many obligatory duties as the Esterházy Kappelmeister.  It was these Opus 33 quartets that Mozart studied when he composed his set of six masterpiece quartets that he dedicated to Haydn and are known as The Haydn Quartets of Mozart.

     The Quartet No. 1 in B minor presented in today's concert was actually the third quartet in chronological order of composition of the set of six.The work is in four movements. The first movement (Allegro moderato) provides an example of Haydn's "new way", changing the texture by playing around with shifts in the tonal center going from main theme to secondary theme, then weaving them together with each instrument having its individual say, not merely accompanying the lead player. The second movement (Scherzando: Allegro) is a spirited miniature minuet with a sharply contrasting trio section.  The Andante movement that follows opens with a formal minuet theme that moves into a series of softly played phrases, lending a sense of calmness to the piece. The Finale (Presto) gives us wild gypsy rhythms full of passion as it develops along the lines of a formal sonata.

James Romig’s Variations, a short work drawing inspiration from Anton Webern will be introduced by the musicians from the stage.

Intermission 

Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942)

String Quartet No. 2 , Op. 15

    The Viennese-born composer and conductor Alexander von Zemlinsky's  reputation has been overshadowed by the achievements of his Austrian contemporaries of the late 1890s and early 20th century. During his career he composed a number of operas, other stage works, songs, chamber music and four symphonies, most of which are rarely performed. Along with his composing activities, Zemlinsky was a highly regarded conductor of symphonic and operatic works, admired greatly by Mahler.  Despite his personal connections with members of  the "New Viennese School", Zemlinsky never abandoned tonality although he felt free to stretch its boundaries. The advent of Nazism in Austria, imported from Germany in 1938, led to his having to flee the country. He settled in America where he died in 1942 after suffering a series of strokes. 

    The Quartet No.2, Op. 15, long considered Zemlinsky's strongest chamber work , was completed in 1915 but not given a public performance until 1924 by the Rosé Quartet in Vienna. The quartet, a dense symphonic-like work, has the double construction of a suite of theme and variations blended into a classical four-movement quartet with theme, exposition, development and recapitulation. The motifs for each movement–like section are variations of a single theme. The sections are developed through passages that are sharply contrasted by their extremes of mood and passion ranging from bitterness and despair, to exhilaration and dreaminess. The expressiveness of this work would be consistent with the views of biographers who have suggested that the work reflects tragic events in Zemlinsky's life. The contrasting passages are played seamlessly, befitting their notation for tempo and mood in each section  The first movement opens with  the principle theme (as marked) vehemently "violent and passionate". This calms down briefly and then wildly returns with intensity as the opening theme is restated in a new form. The first section of the second movement is in the mode of a song which changes in tempo as the recurrent theme is modified, during which episode there is a brief quotation from Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. The second part of the movement is a series of variations.  The third movement is  Scherzo, simply marked as Schnell (fast),/ first expressed by pizzicato by the cello and then turns into what has been described as "non-expressive"  or "trivial" before concluding in a solemn passage. The Finale movement presents a recapitulation of the motifs of  episodes of the earlier movements combined with the main theme and develops them into an expressive but dense symphonic coda that seems to have no end .  

─Arthur Canter 

Left to right: Hannah Holman, Cello,

Elizabeth Oakes, Viola, Tricia Park, Violin,

Zoran Jakovcic, Violin

Tickets $15 general.  $12 students, seniors 65 yrs,

IA Course participants, children (under 12 yrs free).

Call the Sondheim Center box office at 641-472-2787.

www.sondheimcenter.com

Roy Eaton

Piano

Quantum of

Preludes

Design and copyright 2009 Freddy Niagara Fonseca

Fairfield Creates

Maia

Quartet