Program & Residency Schedule
Gryphon Trio Residency
Nov. 8, 20119:30 AM
Public presentation/demonstration
Music Room 116
The importance of music theory and ear training to professionnal musicians
2:30 PM-3:20
Piano master class
Haddock Performance Hall, Music Bldg.
Strings master class, University Auditorium
7:30 PM
Concert
PROGRAM
Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Allegro con brio
Andante cantabile con variazioni
Menuetoo: Quasi allegro
Finale: Prestiissimo
Trio for piano, violin, and cello
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979)
Movement I
Movement II
Movement III
Intermission
Trio in C minor, Op. 66
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Allegro energico e con fuoco
Andante espressivo
Molto allegro, quasi presto
Allegro appassionato
THE MUSICIANS
The ensemble-in-residence at Music Toronto for eight years, the Gryphon Trio tours extensively throughout North America and Europe. Strongly dedicated to pushing the boundaries of chamber music, the Trio has commissioned and premiered over fifty new works from established and emerging composers around the world, and has collaborated on special projects with clarinetist James Campbell, actor Colin Fox, choreographer David Earle, and a host of jazz luminaries at Lula Lounge, Toronto's leading venue for jazz and world music. Their most ambitious undertaking to date is a groundbreaking multimedia production of composer Christos Hatzis's epic work Constantinople, scored for mezzo-soprano, Middle Eastern singer, violin, cello, piano, and electronic audiovisual media, which they have brought to audiences across North America and at the Royal Opera House in London. The Trio's celebrated recordings on the Analekta label are an encyclopedia of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Lalo, Shostakovich, and Piazzolla, and their groundbreaking 2004 release Canadian Premieres, featuring new works by leading Canadian composers, was acknowledged with a coveted Juno Award from Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Their 2011 Beethoven recording also received a Juno Award, and was followed by the fall release of Broken Hearts and Madmen, a collaboration with soprano Patricia O'Callaghan featuring songs by Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and Laurie Anderson, alongside traditional melodies from Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. The Gryphons conduct masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories across North America, and are Artists-in-Residence at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music. The Trio's educational initiatives include a series of in-depth lecture performances with composer Gary Kulesha that examine the art of chamber music through the centuries, and the Young Composers Program at Toronto's Claude Watson Arts High School. Gryphon cellist Roman Borys is entering his fourth season as Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Society, where the Gryphons have been a mainstay since the Festival's inception in 1994. Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker serve as the OICMS's Artistic Advisors.PROGRAM NOTES
Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3 The key of C minor always had a special meaning for Beethoven; his "Pathetique" Sonata, Fifth Symphony, Third Piano Concerto, and Fourth String Quartet can be cited as evidence. His Third Piano Trio in C Minor also belongs in this group, since it is widely considered the most advanced of the Op. 1 trios and the first composition to bear the unmistakable stamp of his unique musical personality.A compact, highly dramatic theme opens the work, followed by a considerably lighter, tripping tune, which moves downward in direction. Beethoven expands both themes before introducing the second subject, a lyrical, singing melody that all three instruments share. The exposition ends with a reminder, starting in the cello, of the descending figure of the first subject. In a brilliant example of musical alchemy, the development starts with a transformation of the opening theme into a charming little waltz, but it soon gives way to an intense and stormy exploration of the theme. After a short working out of the second part of the first subject, Beethoven freely reviews the melodic material from the exposition and ends the movement with a short coda.
The utter simplicity of the second movement theme serves two purposes: it is easy to hold in memory, and it provides space for the increased complexity of the following five variations. Beethoven, though, goes beyond merely elaborating and ornamenting the original melody. By subjecting it to a series of expressive transformations, he exposes the wide rage of moods and emotions inherent in the theme itself.
The third movement is an unexpected return to traditional minuet form after the highly expressive first movement and the advanced theme and variations. The descending scale that starts the trio calls to mind the striking scales Beethoven introduced in the development section of the opening movement.
The brusque, commanding opening of the Finale is a Mannheim Rocket detonating between repeated chords. After being brought to an abrupt close, a subsidiary melody of beguiling charm emerges, simply stated first by the violin and then the piano. A calm second subject follows the extension of these two ideas and leads to the development. The recapitulation comes after an extended chromatic scale for the piano, but it starts with the lighter second part of the first theme, excluding the imperious outburst. In another departure from convention, instead of providing the more usual strong ending, Beethoven allows the music to disappear in a whisper.
Note adapted from Melvin Berger
Trio for piano, violin, and cello English composer and violist Rebecca Clarke was born in Harrow and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music in London, later becoming one of the first female members of a world-class orchestral players. Stranded in the United States at the outbreak of World War II, she settled permanently in New York City.
Although Clarke wrote little, due in part to her ideas about the role of a female composer, her work was recognized for its compositional skill. Most of her works have yet to be published (or have only recently been published), and were largely forgotten after she stopped composing. Scholarship and interest in her compositions revived in 1976. The Rebecca Clarke Society was established in 2000 to promote the study and performance of her music.
The Rebecca Clarke Piano Trio dates from 1921, and the influence of the World War I is evident throughout the work. The first movement begins with a clangorous passage followed by expressive melodies and anxious climaxes. One unifying motivic element is a lone bugle call, referring to the search for survivors, and the sorrow for fallen comrades.
The second movement is filled with quiet dreamy passages. The mood is reflective and wistful, with a couple of muted peaks. The third movement is full of energy, with moods of defiance, playfulness, and the triumphant return of thematic material from the first movement. A brilliant finish gives a sense of optimism for the future.
Note provided by Melvin Kaplan, Inc.
Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 66 Mendelssohn wrote two piano trios; the second, in C minor, was completed in 1845, with a dedication to the violinist and composer. Although less familiar than the first trio, in D minor, this trio is surely deserving of more performances than it currently receives. The piano opens the trio with the first motif of the principal theme, a flowing eighth-note figure that rises and falls in each measure. Another motif within the same theme is a sweeping melody for strings in the same arch shape, against which the piano scampers up and down the keyboard in sixteenth-note runs. After a brief recall of the opening motif, the violin sings out the magnificent second theme. The remainder of the movement is devoted to treating and transforming the melodic material in a variety of original and inventive ways and finally bringing it back for the recapitulation. The Andante espressivo is an extended song in three parts. It is followed by a movement that carries on the tradition of Mendelssohn's fairy-land scherzos, capturing all the delicacy and sparkling elan with which he invests these movements. A middle section that tends to the robust intrudes for a short interlude before a return of the opening. The first theme of the finale is somewhat paradoxical. It starts with an extended upward leap (a minor ninth), which is often associated with music of great passion, but continues lightly dancing down the scale, robbing it of the usual emotional connotation. Various motifs of charm and elegance follow. After briefly reviewing the principal theme, Mendelssohn introduces a solemn chorale, "Vor Deinen Thron". The climax of the movement combines the chorale with the principal theme in a passage that strains to the utmost the trio's resources and provides a most appropriate cap to the entire work.
Notes adapted from Guide to Chamber Music by Melvin Berger,
(C) 1985