Sunday, March  29, 2009 ~ 3:00pm 

Willy Sucre and Friends play Cello Quintets

violist Willy Sucre 

will be joined by

violinists Megan Holland & Kerri Lay and

Cellists  James Holland & Dana Winograd

by Aleksandr Glazunov

I. Allegro

II. Scherzo: Allegro moderato

III. Andante sostenuto

Aleksandr Konstantinovich Glazunov was born July 29, 1865 in St Petersburg into an amateur musical family- his mother was a good pianist and his father played the violin. As a young boy, he studied with Balakirev, who encouraged him into a musical career, suggesting that the boy should study composition with his mother's teacher - a young musician, called Rimsky-Korsakov. Glazunov became his favorite pupil; in his teacher's words he improved "not from day to day but from hour to hour."

His teachers encouraged the young Glazunov to compose and when, at just 16 years old, he produced his first symphony, they saw to it that it was performed. In Rimsky-Korsakov's words the work was a success, "The public was astounded when the composer came forwards in his high school uniform to acknowledge their applause." Glazunov was associated with the informal group of Russian nationalist composers and was nicknamed "The little Glinka."  This quintet was written in 1891 and 1892.  In 1899 he was appointed professor at the St Petersburg Conservatory. In 1905 he was elected director, a position he retained in name until 1930, although after 1928 he remained abroad, chiefly in Paris. He died on March 21, 1936.

Notes adapted  from  the BalletMet Columbus website.

I N T E R M IS S I O N 

by Franz Shubert 

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo: Presto; Trio: Andante sostenuto
IV. Allegretto

Schubert was born in Vienna on January 31, 1797.  Schubert composed this piece in August and September of 1828, completing it just weeks before his death on November 19 in Vienna of typhoid fever.  In a letter dated October 2, he offered it to a publisher, who refused. The premiere did not take place until 1850; publication had to wait three years beyond that. To many, Schubert’s cello quintet is the greatest work in the chamber music repertoire. In his book, Chamber Music, Homer Ulrich writes of the quintet, ‘In nobility of conception, beauty of melody, and variety of mood it is without equal.” William Mann’s article on Schubert’s chamber music describes it as “his masterpiece, and perhaps the greatest of all his works in range of emotion, quality of material and formal perfection.” Pianist Arthur Rubinstein asked that the slow movement be played at his funeral, and violinist Joseph Saunders had the second theme of the first movement engraved on his tombstone. Through the loftiness of its conception, the spiritual quality of its melodies, and the masterfulness of its technique, the quintet touches listeners in a very special and personal way.

Notes adapted  from Melvin Berger's Guide to Chamber Music.

Time, date, and program subject to change.