THIS PERFORMANCE IS SOLD-OUT. Please call (513) 381-6868 to find out if tickets become available.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience the artistry of one of the best cellists in the world perform in Linton’s intimate settings. Celebrated violinist Cho-Liang Lin and Cincinnati’s own Michael Chertock join Truls Mørk to perform Dvořák’s beloved Trio.
Linton is grateful to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for helping to make possible the appearance of Truls Mørk who performs with the CSO on November 24 & 25.
Please note, due to a rehearsal schedule complication, this program has been revised from what was originally announced.
PROGRAM NOTES
Due to the late program revision, notes for the Mozart and Schulhoff will be presented from the stage.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) – Sonata for Violin & Piano No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30, No. 3
At this point, it is almost cliché to say that Beethoven revolutionized any given musical form. Nevertheless, the impact he had on the violin sonata was nothing short of revolutionary. Nine of his ten sonatas for violin and piano were written before age 35. Falling so early in his career, these sonatas seem firmly planted in the Classical realm and even tame by the standards of listeners familiar with his later works. Yet there are aspects of his sonatas that truly set them apart from other works of their day. Beethoven expanded both the number of movements and length of the violin sonata. He wrote violin parts far too challenging for an amateur musician. Most importantly, Beethoven required an unprecedented collaboration between the two performers. While the original score for his Op. 30, No. 3, following older traditions, specified that it was a sonata for piano “with the accompaniment of a violin,” the two performers share the load in a way much more akin to a modern sonata.
Beethoven opens with a rollicking Allegro assai in 6/8 built on two sharply contrasting ideas. The lighthearted first theme eventually turns into a wave of triple-time 16th notes that give way to rapid runs, pronounced syncopations, and trills traded between the piano and violin. These musical fireworks are countered by the more relaxed eighth note melody that comprises the movement’s second theme.
The flowing melody of the opening movement’s second theme gives way to the second movement. While marked as a minuet, Beethoven seems to have intended this to indicate only the movement’s graceful lyricism rather than any connection to a dance. Taking on an A-B-A-B-A form, the movement frequently returns to its main melodic material while also exploring minor modes, unexpected rhythms, and new styles throughout the second movement.
Beethoven closes with a playful Allegro vivace. The movement is marked by a droning bass notes that set a much slower harmonic movement than one would expect from a Beethoven finale. Above this, Beethoven juggles a pair of short, march-like tunes interspersed with rippling wave patterns that echo the sonata’s opening movement. As the work draws to a close, both performers put on a display of ensemble gymnastics that showcase the full virtuosity required by Beethoven’s work.
Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904) – Trio for Piano & Strings in E Minor, No. 4, Op. 90, Dumky
Understanding the form of Dvořák’s Op. 90 requires first addressing the elephant in the room. Dumky is the plural form of dumka, a folk genre derived from the Ukraine that gained popularity in Poland and Bohemia. Dumka most closely translates to “a fleeting thought.” Dumky, then, here refers to six musical episodes Dvořák introduces throughout the work. Rather than following a classical style, division between movements in the trio is based on the harmonic relationships between Dvořák’s six dumky. The first three dumky are connected without interruption in harmonically complementary keys, giving the effect of one long, connected first movement. The final three dumky are presented in unrelated keys, making up the final three movements of the trio.
The first dumka (Lento maestoso) opens as if walking into a room where music was already playing. The cello begins its lament over sympathetic whimpers from the piano and is soon joined by the violin in an exchange of wide-arching melodic sixths. Contrast comes in the form of a delirious dance tune, set against the cello which continues unperturbed with its pattern of sixths. The second dumka (Poco adagio) opens slowly and sparsley until the piano begins a peaceful lullaby. This elegiac tone alternates with a sparkling tune bristling with mordent figures that builds into a freewheeling furioso. The following Andante of the third dumka begins with a soothing introduction of stationary chords that lead to an unusually spare statement by the piano: a single line in the right hand that softly sings out its delicate tune. This tune will generate all the transformations of mood in this moderately paced dumka.
A similar economy of motive is evident in the Andante moderato second movement that opens in a spirit of calm reflection with the cello set against ostinato figures in the piano and violin. Featuring a number of short sections, this fourth dumka, remains largely elegiac in tone throughout. The Allegro fifth dumka is the closest movement to a scherzo in the trio as a whole. Its relatively quick pace and the rhythmic interest is provided by its alternation between 6/8 duple and 3/4 triple metric patterning. Contrast comes from slower, more recitative-like passages. The central point of interest in the concluding dumka is how a childlike tune in rocking thirds and fourths gets transformed into so many different variants, from the mocking schoolyard taunt with which it begins to the vigorous stomping dance that ends the work on a note of defiant, muscular merriment.