Notes on the String Quartet Weekends Festa: Dai-Ichi Semei Hall, Tokyo; two weeks in May and June, 2008
Nicholas Kitchen (Spring 2008)
Program I May 30, 2008
Haydn Op. 76 #5
Beethoven Op. 18 #3
Mozart g minor Viola Quintet, K. 516
Program II May 31, 2008
Bartok Quartet #6
Beethoven Op. 132
Program III, June 1, 2008
Howells Fantasy String Quartet
Bartok Quartet #1
Tchaikofsky “Souvenir de Florence”
Program IV June 5, 2008
Shostakovich #8
Shostakovich #12
Program V June 6, 2008
Bartok Quartet #5
Beethoven Op. 130+133
Program VI June 8, 2008
Schubert Quartetsatz
Schumann Quartet No. 1
Mendelssohn Octet
The Howells and the Schubert will be performed by the Quartet Excelsior. They will be joining the Borromeo Quartet for the collaborative works.
Overview draft:
Welcome!
Over a number of years the Borromeo String Quartet has played many different types of concerts at Dai Ichi Seimei Hall. We have created seminars for students, done cycles such as Bartok and Schoenberg, and done many forms of outreach to bring music to more people in the Harumi Island community. Now, it is a special honor to create a new vehicle for music, creating a kind of “exhibit” of the art of string quartet playing. We think the Festa being initiated in May 2008 can be something which makes two weeks of rich experience for someone who enjoys listening to music in Tokyo. I think if a person comes to some or all of the concerts, they will experience a beautiful variety of music by different composers, but also a beautiful variety of pieces written by the same composer. Bartok 1st String Quartet, Bartok 5th String Quartet, Bartok 6th String Quartet: there are profound differences between these pieces. Shostakovich 8th String Quartet and Shostakovich 12th String Quartet point in two opposite directions in what they meant in the composer’s life and the way they use musical form. The Beethoven op. 132 and the Beethoven op.130 with Grosse Fugue are starkly opposite in many respects, though they are written just a short time apart. And then consider these in contrast to the first quartet Beethoven wrote: Op. 18 No. 3. The Tchaikovsky ‘Souvenir de Florence’ and the Mendelssohn Octet win us over time after time with their thrilling virtuosity and bold expression. And consider the unforgettable Quartetsatz and the delicate but dark beauty of the g minor string quintet of Mozart, or the charismatic Schumann first quartet. Every one of these pieces creates a world in itself. But now we will have the chance to enter the separate world of each piece but also let all of these pieces interact on the same stage within this rich Festa. In Tokyo, I don’t think it would be hard to hear a lot of different music, but this will be a chance to enter quite deeply into the artistic work of one set of artists, to journey together through this music over two weeks.
I think when we were coming up with the programs and strategizing about the programs as a set, the idea that it was like a kaleidoscope was very attractive. A kaleidoscope combines a finite group of chosen objects. As the kaleidoscope turns, these objects are seen in an infinite variety of unplanned relationships. These new relationships are brought to intense focus by the self-contained and reflective geometry that is fundamental to the Kaleidescope.
It is rare to have a ‘grand program’ of six concerts and we hope that the audience will take advantage of the chance of hearing such a large musical statement. But I think for string quartet it is natural to create a grand scheme of programming. Every composer of string quartet has combined a unique personal passion of musical creation with a deep study of the string quartets that have come before. The overwhelming quality of the works that make up the string quartet tradition demand this attitude. This means the 200-year sequence of creations for string quartet are deeply interwoven, forming a kind of grand program in themselves. So, creating a six concert grand program is just creating a smaller version of the huge grand program that is at the heart of the repertoire.
Now, let us take advantage of the chance to share a few thoughts about each of the six concerts.
Concert I “Eavesdropping in Vienna"
Haydn Op. 76 #5
Beethoven Op. 18 #3
Mozart g minor Viola Quintet, K. 516
Sometimes we don’t appreciate how lucky we are that certain groups of artists collaborate with each other. Consider the violinmakers in Cremona that managed to inspire each other between their workshops in the time of Amati and Stradivari. That same interaction occurred around the birth of the string quartet in the works of Haydn. Haydn created something all on his own, but I don’t think our string quartet tradition would exist if Haydn and Mozart and Beethoven had not managed to inspire each other in very, very close proximity. And, particularly, Haydn and Mozart managed to have a sense of teamwork about their exploration in music that is truly inspiring to consider.
Haydn had a long creative life and seemed to never lose his boldness of imagination. He also never lost his energy to create more and more refined musical forms and it seems he also never lost the humility to realize that he could learn from even a very young person like Mozart. Mozart also had the wisdom to realize how much he could learn from Haydn. I think the history of the string quartet could easily have turned out to be significantly inferior to the tradition we are proud of today if Haydn and Mozart had not had such a healthy musical friendship.
Beethoven didn’t have quite as healthy a friendship with these great musicians. But in his own way, he learned from them just as much. He had the real allegiance to the tradition that allowed him to digest in the deepest way the music that was around him: the genius of Mozart; the genius of Haydn; and in his case also the genius of J. S. Bach. Eventually, he had to break his loyalties to create his unique way that we know so well. But when we view Beethoven in the “eavesdropping” program, we are still seeing him as a teammate with his de facto mentors, Haydn and Mozart. This program is a salute to the possibilities of inspiring friendships.
We celebrate friendship in this program by our own collaborations on stage. During these three of these six concerts, the Borromeo Quartet will collaborate with the Excelsior Quartet. The Borromeo and Excelsior Quartet have known eachother for a number of years and it is an honor to work together for this Festa at Dai-Ichi Semei Hall. On program one, the violist of the Excelsior will join the Borromeo in the Mozart Viola Quintet.
Concert II “Dealing with death”
Bartok Quartet #6
Beethoven Op. 132
The first program dealt with the birth of the string quartet, and the life-giving collaborations that surrounded that birth. The second program deals with a finishing of life that we all have to face, and shows the way sorrow can be transformed by genius into beautiful music. Great musicians can often explore their own feelings through music in a way that allows all of us to feel a greater peace with the strength of the emotion we ourselves feel. They create a vehicle for all of us to channel our feelings. In 1824 Beethoven came extremely close to death. When he recovered from his critical condition, he could have been exhausted or defeated, but he was not. Far from it, he wrote a hymn of thanks to the divine entity from a recovered man: the “Heiliger Dankgesang” that is the third movement of Op. 132. This music creates a profound serenity that is moving and unforgettable, and gives voice to a feeling of awe at the forces we deal with in our living and dying.
In a related way, Bartók was a curious combination of being isolated as an individual, but actually keenly aware of what was happening in the world around him. And around his composition of the 6th string quartet, he was deeply disturbed by the brutality and prejudice that was overtaking European life during the 1930s. He sensed the impending catastrophes of the Second World War and wrote the sixth string quartet in 1939, on the eve of these horrific events. The sixth String quartet takes this deep sadness and despair and gives it musical expression. Outwardly it uses Mesto (Sad) in all four movements. By the fourth movement, the Mesto is the whole movement.
Bartók was able, like Beethoven, to take the complex, powerful emotion he was feeling and find a suitable musical expression for it.
I think that “Heiliger Dankgesang” and the Mesto movement of the 6th String Quartet are very similar in the gift they give to us as listeners. Both manage to transform overwhelming emotions, channeling them into something that has beauty and dignity.
Concert III “The Beating Heart”
Howells Fantasy String Quartet
Bartok Quartet #1
Tchaikofsky “Souvenir de Florence”
If the second concert turned inwards, the third concert turns outward.
The third concert is about the way that passion for life can find musical expression.
The Tchaikovsky “Souvenir de Florence” is grand music with a very attractive architecture that harnesses powerful bursts of feeling. Tchaikofsky was uniquely able to conceive of musical ideas that give voice to a heightened expression and for him it was very natural for these outgoing expressions to find their place in a well-organized musical form. This combination of emotion and architecture has made the Souvenir de Florence one of the favorites of audiences for generations. In this performance the violist and cellist of the Excelsior Quartet will join the Borromeo.
The Bartók 1st String Quartet is an equally compelling expression of musical ardency. Bartók was 28 when he wrote this work. He had been in love with the violinist Stefi Geyer, and this was a relationship that was to end in frustration. Both passion and frustration seem to show through in the emotion of this quartet, giving the piece tremendous drive and an intensity of expression. The quartet starts with the very notes Bartók associated with Stefi Geyer and with its gradual acceleration from adagio opening to presto ending, it is one of the most exciting of all of the six string quartets.
The Program will open with the Howells Fantasy quartet played by the Excelsior Quartet. Howells himself nearly died of Graves disease as a young man, but recovered to go on to live and work until the age of 91.
Concert IV “Suicide note and return to life”
Shostakovich #8
Shostakovich #12
The fourth concert will take a new direction. It will present the music of just one composer, Shostakovich, and will also incorporate some verbal explanation of the two pieces and where they fit into Shostakovich’s musical and personal life. The first piece is a self–made epitaph, a suicide note, Quartet No. 8. The second piece, Quartet No. 12, is a vigorous reaction to Shostakovich’s musical surroundings, written after recovery from the time of crisis.
In the 8th String Quartet, Shostakovich created a musical portrait of himself before he carried out a plan of ending his life. Different people who were close to him describe details with some variation, but what seems clear is that Shostakovich had said he would end his life if he were forced to join the Communist Party. And in 1960 Shostakovich was manipulated so that he would have to join the party. He is reported to have purchased sleeping pills in preparation for suicide. Fortunately his family and friends stayed with him every minute and thwarted his plans.
What is doubly fortunate for us is he prepared for his departure by making a musical statement that would sum up his musical life up to that point. This was something he called his own epitaph. It was dedicated to the victims of fascism, and in the foreground of these victims was Shostakovich himself, represented in no uncertain form by the first four pitches of the piece, his initials: D-S-C-H (D-Eflat-C-B). This autobiographical statement starts appropriately with a quote from the piece that started Shostakovich’s public musical life when he was a teenager – his first symphony, and it proceeds to quote pieces that were milestones in his own perception of his musical life. All themes are gradually repeated with less and less energy until the piece fades to nothing. He has described in a musical form his own departure. Interestingly, this piece has become one of the most important pieces in the string quartet repertoire.
In the concert we will discribe this story and the fortunate support of Shostakovich’s family and friends. Without their attention, the next story we tell in this concert might not be there to tell.
So, we will introduce the 12th String Quartet. This quartet becomes a painting of elements of musical life around Shostakovich. It is, for one, a commentary on the twelve-tone method of composition. That was, of course, a brilliant way of writing music, connected with Schoenberg, but a way of writing music that listeners had great difficulty with. Shostakovich chooses to create a drama in the 12th String Quartet where he starts out with a 12 tone row, and a few, almost terribly simplistic scale figures in Db major. He uses twelve tone rows in hundreds of forms throughout the piece, but also incorporates stronger and stronger elements of Db major. The final crescendo of the last section brings one of the most thunderous arrivals of a tonality possible, in this case Db, and both this crescendo and the soft music which precedes it, are some of the most life-affirming music Shostakovich ever wrote. It is a tremendous piece. It conveys the huge and vital force of the man and musician Shostakovich, and is it is doubly powerful when seen in contrast to the “suicide note” of the 8th quartet.
Concert V “Counterpoint out of control”
Bartók Quartet #5
Beethoven Op. 130+133
The fifth concert is an exploration and a celebration of something unique to Western music. Many types of music from the world have great complexity, but there really is no music that has developed anything resembling the complex counterpoint of Western music. The two pieces that we play in this program are pieces where the composers have so thoroughly absorbed the tradition of counterpoint that they have felt an inspiration to go many steps further: to take the use of counterpoint to the extreme.
In Bartók’s 5th Quartet and in Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue and Quartet Op. 130, what we are seeing is joyous exhibit of contrapuntal technique. The composer's genius is such that they do not only play with these elements with humor, freedom, and wide-ranging imagination; they also take these elements to extremes. I don’t think one can think of many instances in the history of music where counterpoint has reached this intensity and complexity.
In the case of the Bartók, in addition to traditional performance we will also take a new approach to bringing the audience into the music. The Borromeo Quartet has worked closely with the Library of Congress in Washington. The Library was the organization that commissioned Bartók to write the 5th String Quartet, and the manuscript is in the Library of Congress. For this concert, we have worked with the Library to create a document that can be projected behind the quartet during the performance. The audience will be given the chance to really focus on the brilliant machinery that is carrying the musical energy, in Bartók’s own hand.
With the Beethoven, we will be carried into the curious world that he created with the Op. 130 string quartet. Smaller movements each use elements that will eventually be swept up in the contrapuntal tornado of the Grosse Fugue. The force of the music of the Grosse Fugue was such that Beethoven himself was convinced to separate this movement into its own piece with its own opus (133). Beethoven then provided a new and very different last movement for the quartet. But tonight we will play the Op. 130 in its original, audacious form, with the Grosse Fugue as its tremendous finale.
Both Beethoven and Bartók make me think of those very few pilots who have flown airplanes at the outer edge of the atmosphere. They are at a border where the rules change and they (and eventually we) are given the privilege of seeing things with a new perspective and a new appreciation of what is possible.
Concert VI “19th Century Soiree”
Schubert Quartetsatz
Schumann Quartet No. 1
Mendelssohn Octet
The last concert in the journey of these six concerts is really a celebration of the richness of sound, a kind of a balance that was achieved by composers during the 19th century. These composers were very much in contact with the forms that gave Mozart, and Haydn and Beethoven such clarity and strength in what we perceive from their music. But these composers were also seeking a new richness that had been inspired by the exploration of the orchestra. They were also inspired by “romantic” notions of how a human being can relate to the world: a sense of a generous possibility of what the world has to offer and what each human being has to offer to the world. I think what so beautiful about Schubert Quartetsatz, Schumann Quartet No. 1 and Mendelssohn Octet is that they represent such a perfect balance of a freedom to enjoy the rich sensations that music can create without any sacrifice of the form that allows the music to retain its strength and vigor.
The Schubert (which will be played by the Excelsior Quartet) jumps to life with a bold crescendo, and then alternates the agitato of storm sections with a quite unforgettable melodic idea.
The Schumann has a similar charisma in many of its lyrical ideas and also makes use of an almost orchestral sense of rhythmic sound in the second and fourth movement. The third movement is a truly moving slow movement which seems to take inspiration from the slow movement of the Beethoven 9th Symphony. Sometimes people raise questions about the details of Schumann’s writing for the string quartet, but I think there is no question that he captures an overall expression that makes a unique and beautiful contribution to the literature for string quartet.
There is no question in anyone’s mind about the brilliance of what Mendelssohn achieves in the Octet. The Mendelssohn, which will be played by the Borromeo and Excelsior Quartets together, is one of the most brilliant combinations of appealing fundamental ideas and bold and ingenious use of 8 independent string players. No part is underused. All eight musicians are asked to play a crucial role in the interweaving of this music, but the whole is yet one level more astonishing than the parts. The music has a sweep and and audacity which makes it invigorating no matter how many times we hear it. And to think that Mendelssohn achieved all this at the tender age of 16!
Enjoying this musical balance is I think a fitting way to celebrate the end of the journey of these six concerts. The sixth concert is the final turn for our kaleidoscope that has allowed us to experience together an enormous amount of truly beautiful music. We are all blessed to have this tradition of music that we can explore, and it is a privilege to have this chance to share it together.