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Johannes Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, Opus 34

The American String Quartet Lydia Artymiw, piano

 

A relentlessly self-critical composer, Brahms encouraged his musician friends to express opinions of his works with the utmost frankness. In1862 he scored his F Minor Quintet for strings alone, adding a second cello t the standard quartet combination. He showed this work to the violinist Joachim, who complained. Brahms subsequently destroyed this version and rearranged the work for two pianos. This version was shared with his virtuoso pianist friend Clara Schumann. She, too, found fault.

Although he retained this version, he did achieve a compromise by re-scoring the work for a piano quintet, a combination blending the string sonorities he desired with the dramatic impact of the piano. He allowed this version to be published in 1865. It is now considered to be his most epic chamber work.

 The powerful first movement encompasses only 300 measures, but it develops five motivic figures combined and expanded to heroic proportions. At the coda, these motifs appear initially in a sustained tempo and then accelerate to recall the passionate mood of the beginning. The second movement presents a quiet song recalling the lyrical spirit of Franz Schubert. A more animated middle section is followed by a return to the opening material. Heard now with subtle variations. The rugged C Minor Scherzo, made ominous by a relentless pizzicato in the cello, offers a theme transformed from a quick, nervous statement to a string chorale, and finally into a fugue. A brief trio relieves the drama, which returns as the material is repeated. The intensely lyrical rondo finale features both the unusual key relationships and Brahm's characteristically inventive counterpoint. The work concludes with a joyous coda. (Performed Friday March 10, 1995)

Ned Rorem The Santa Fe Songs: 12 Poems of Witter Bynner Set for Medium Voice, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano

Kurt Ollman, baritone Sheryl Staples, violin Heiichiro Ohyama, viola Peter Rejto, cello Lydia Artymiw, piano

For its 1980 season, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival commissioned Ned Rorem to write settings for poet Witter Bynner's "12 Santa Fe Poems." Bynner (1881-1969), who also wrote under the name Emanuel Morgan, traveled west after his graduation from Harvard and studied the American Indian. The sensibility of his "Santa Fe" poems suggests a western Robert Frost. Each of Bynner's poems presents a specific mood of human experience, often tied to the western landscape: aspiration, vision, nostalgia, and a sense of the passage of time, the bafflement of loss. These formally diverse vignettes, initially linked by the eye and mellow meditative mind of the poet, are conclusively united by the music. Rorem, an American composer with strong literary interests, has created a fluid score that moves freely with the varied rhythms of Bynner's verse and mirror the nuances of its subtle emotions through his sensitively colorist harmonic language.

Featured Musicians

Peter Rejto, Artistic Director and Cellist, has been acclaimed throughout the U.S. and abroad as one of this country's leading artists since winning the 1972 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. A popular soloist, he has performed hundreds of recitals and concerto performances with groups such as the Dallas and St. Louis Symphonies. Additionally, he appears regularly with The Los Angeles Piano Quartet, of which he is a founding member. Mr. Rejto has toured with "Music from Marlboro" and has performed at the festivals of Santa Fe, Aspen, La Jolla, Round Top, and "Bravo," Colorado.

The American String Quartet has enjoyed worldwide acclaim during its 20-year existence. The Quartet made its debut in New York in 1974 and won the Walter W. Naumberg Chamber Music Award and the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in the same season. They were the first ensemble to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in recognition for their efforts to broaden public awareness of chamber music, and they continue to offer seminars and classes in conjunction with their concerts. In the 1993-1994 season they accepted an invitation to become the resident quartet at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. They continue as Quartet-in-Residence at the Manhattan School of Music, Taos, and Aspen Festivals, where they perform annually.

Lydia Artymiw, Piano, made her professional debut at age 8 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her major study was with Gary Graffman at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. A recipient of numerous awards, including the 1987 Aver Fisher Career Grant, she also garnered top prizes in major competitions, such as the 1976 Leventritt. She has appeared with more than 85 orchestras throughout the U.S., Europe, and the Far East and has collaborated frequently with the Guarneri and Vermeer Quartets, Ms. Artymiw's seven solo albums on the Chandos label have won such accolades as "Best of the Year" and "Critic's Choice" awards by Gramophone Magazine.

Heiichiro Ohyama, Viola, was born in Kyoto and studied at the Toho Music School in Japan, the Guildhall School in London, and Indiana University. In 1979 he was named Principal Violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Carlo Maria Giulini, a position he held through the 1990-91 season. In 1990 Mr. Ohyama made his European conducting debut at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and since then has conducted numerous distinguished groups, including the San Diego Symphony and the Japan American Symphony Orchestra on its tour of Japan. Mr. Ohyama has performed at numerous festivals including Casals and Marlboro, and is the artistic director of the La Jolla and Santa Fe Festivals.

Kurt Ollmann, Baritone, has established a wide-ranging career on the stage and in opera, with a musical theatre repertoire extending from Monteverde to Kurt Weill and Stravinsky. Whether appearing in opera or concert, Mr. Ollmann's performances have been critically acclaimed as both graceful and commanding. He has appeared with opera companies throughout the world, including La Scala and the Vienna Staatoper, and has performed extensively as a recitalist in Europe and the U.S. His orchestral engagements have included the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Sheryl Staples, Violin, has emerged as one of this country's leading violinists. Critically acclaimed for her "bravura Flair" by Strad Magazine, she has performed extensively in solo recitals and as soloist with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Diego Symphony. An active chamber musician, Ms. Staples has participated in the La Jolla Summerfest Chamber Music Festival, the Santa Fe Festival, the Southwest Chamber Music Society, and has collaborated with such artists as Peter Rejto, Gary Hoffman, and Young Uck Kim. Ms. Staples currently holds concertmaster positions with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Japan America Symphony. She has recently been appointed to the faculty of the University of Southern California.

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