Essentially French

january 27, 2025

Gillian Benet Sella, harp

Randolph Bowman, flute

Christopher Pell, clarinet

ARIEL STRING QUARTET

Alexandra Kazovsky, violin

Gershon Gerchikov, violin

Jan Grüning, viola

Amit Even-Tov, cello

This program features principal musicians of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Ariel String Quartet, Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at UC’s College Conservatory of Music. Audiences will experience colorful French works for harp, flute, clarinet, and strings and discover musical gems mysteriously left unfinished by Schubert and Mozart.

The length of this concert is just under 1.75 hours, including intermission.

Program Notes

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, D. 703, “Quartettsatz”

Schubert began composing his 12th string quartet in December of 1820, and he completed the first movement and 40 measures of the second movement before ultimately abandoning the work. The completed first movement was published as “Quartettsatz” and has become an important chamber work in its own right. Although Schubert was in his early 20s at the time of its composition, the Quartettsatz is often considered part of his “mature” repertoire as one of the earliest indicators of the composer’s skill with the quartet form.

Musically, the Quartettsatz follows a sonata form, but with a modified recapitulation that returns to the second theme before the first. The first violin establishes the opening theme with an oscillating semitone motif that is quickly taken up in imitation by the rest of the ensemble. As the triplet rhythm of the opening theme continues, the lyrical second theme emerges, before the opening tremolos announce the return of the opening theme set against a new countermelody. The opening motif then forms the basis for the development section before entering the modified recapitulation and ultimately concluding on a brief coda built on the opening bars of the movement set against dramatic, full-voiced chords.

Jean Cras (1879–1932)
Quintet for Flute, Harp and String Trio

A naval officer from age 17, Jean Cras still managed to foster his talents as a composer throughout his career. As he was promoted to higher ranks, the composer even managed to bring a piano into this cabin when deployed, which resulted in many of his works being composed at sea and bearing notes such as that listed on his Quintet for Flute, Harp, and String Trio: “à bord de la Provence–Toulon” (completed aboard the ship called La Provence). Cras’ music often reflects his passion for the sea, and the travel afforded by his naval service introduced him to musica from Africa and North America, which he incorporated into his own works. In his brief program notes for the quintet, Cras outlines the work: the first movement evokes the ocean air at the start of a voyage, the second and third movements represent impressions of time spent in an unspecified North African city, and the finale is the triumphal voyage home.

Three of the quintet’s four movements are marked animé. The opening movement sets a lyrical flute melody over waves of rippling harp figurations before transitioning to a jaunty dance of a second theme. The second movement shifts to a noticeably darker mood as Cras alternates between calm moments and energetic tempo changes. This relative tumult gives way to the calmer third movement, as the harp provides the effect of sunlight dancing on water while the rest of the ensemble evokes a peaceful seascape. The quintet ends with a playful Très animé as the flute and viola trade lyrical moments set against tumbling scalar passages. A final flourish from the harp helps draw Cras’s musical voyage to a fitting end.

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Sacred and Profane Dances for Harp and Strings

Debussy composed the Sacred and Profane Dances in 1904 on commission from the Paris piano firm Pleyel. Pleyel had hoped to extend the repertoire for their newly created chromatic harp and believed that the unique tonality of Debussy’s impressionist style would make for an ideal competition piece for the inaugural class in chromatic harp at the Brussels Conservatory. Despite the work’s origin as a commercial commission, it is nonetheless a piece by Debussy at the height of his stylistic powers, and as such has earned a place as a staple of the repertoire. 

While the use of “profane” in the title is evocative to modern readers, in its time the title could most closely be translated as “secular.” In his single-movement work, Debussy thus set a pair of contrasting dances—one based on the somber melodies of ecclesiastical chant, and one based on a secular style reminiscent of a waltz. The strings present the chant-like melodies of the sacred dance under glistening figurations in the harp. By contrast, the profane dance explores the secular and sensual through a lilting waltz that nods to a Spanish influence.

Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756–1791)
Clarinet Quintet fragment in B-flat Major, K. 516c

Composed in 1787, the B-flat Clarinet Quintet fragment predates Mozart’s K. 581 Clarinet Quintet by two years. The existing 93 measures of the piece indicate a completed movement—all instrumental parts are written, rests are filled in, and ties on the last system of the final page seem to indicate that additional pages should exist—yet the existing manuscript abruptly ends at the bottom of the fourth page.

While Mozart seemingly abandoned this quintet mid-composition, he did complete it after a fashion. The fragment heard here forms the basis of his later K. 589 string quartet. While the primary themes have undergone some transformation between the two works, Mozart’s musical ideas reappear in the same order in the later work, giving an indication of what might be missing from the fragment heard today.

Joseph Bologne (1745–1799)
Sonata No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 1a for Flute and Harp

Joseph Bologne was born in the French colony of Guadalupe in 1745. The son of wealthy French painter George Bologne and the Senegalese handmaid of George’s wife, Joseph was educated in Paris from age seven. Upon his graduation, Joseph was knighted, earning the title by which he has become best known—Chevalier de Saint Georges. In addition to being one of the first known classical composers of African descent, Bologne was a renowned dancer, boxer, runner, swimmer, marksman, fencer, violinist and harpsichordist. Despite facing challenges of racism throughout his career, Bologne became incredibly popular during his lifetime, building such a reputation that President John Adams referred to him as “The Most Accomplished Man in Europe.”

Stylistically, Bologne was a true classicist, adhering to the styles of the time. Yet the B flat Major sonata is a rarity for its time, as it presents a true duo sonata with both performers carrying equal weight melodically. Originally composed for violin and keyboard, the work has become a favorite of flutists and popular repertoire for the flute and harp pairing. The work opens with a sunny first movement Andante that leads to an elegant minuet and rondo.

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Introduction and Allegro

Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro is the result of the same professional rivalry between harp manufacturers that led to the Debussy dances on today’s program. While Pleyel recruited Debussy to promote their double-strung chromatic harp, Ravel was commissioned by Érard to highlight the potential of their chromatic pedal system. Ravel completed the work in 1905 in a blisteringly fast eight days. Even so, the work aptly highlights the potential of the harp’s pedal system and has earned its place as a standard in the repertoire.

Despite its relatively small instrumentation, the piece serves as a mini harp concerto with the possibilities of the new instrument taking center stage. The Introduction is built on a theme in thirds introduced by the flute and clarinet before being embellished by the harp. The ensemble follows this pattern with the second theme introduced by the cello before the harp takes over the melody and commences a series of harmonically dazzling exchanges between it and the rest of the ensemble. The Allegro section is marked by a harp solo that leads directly to the development before opening into a dramatic harp cadenza filled with glissandi, arpeggios and harmonics. Here, the full range of color possibilities of the harp are put on display, ultimately creating a concert piece that both features the harp and serves as a true ensemble work full of Ravel’s distinctive color and orchestration.