I’m doing my best to avoid going of on a cliché-ridden riff about ”where does the timer go?”, but really, where DOES the time go? We are already three-quarters of the way through 2013 and I’m still writing “2012” on my checks (yes, I still write checks; I know, how very twentieth century). Here it is, October 5; the concert season is in full swing and I have yet to post my lecture schedule for the season. With my first such appearance coming up tomorrow on Sunday the 6th I’ve realized that I. MUST. POST. THIS. INFORMATION. NOW. (I’ve always felt that putting a period after each word in a sentence makes it sound as if it were being barked by a zombie OR. WILLIAM. SHATNER. Still, as nouveau writing techniques go, I find it preferable to ending groups of words . . . with three-dot . . . ellipses . . . which creates . . . a literary effect [“affect”?] . . . not unlike . . . the gasping . . . of an emphysemac at a square dance.) (Obviously, I intend no offense towards those suffering from emphysema or a square-dance disorder.) Anyway, my current schedule, program descriptions, and appropriate website information is as follows. Further updates will follow in the next few days listing musical premieres (I have two of them coming up this season) and upcoming European opera/concert tours that I am presently scheduled to lead. “The String Quartets of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály”, with the Alexander String Quartet The Mondavi Center, University of California, Davis Béla Bartók’s six string quartets must be considered as one of the two most important sets composed during the twentieth century (the other being those of Dmitri Shostakovich). Along with Bartók’s extraordinary craft and imagination, his quartets feature an element of synthesis between the folk music of his native Central and Eastern Europe and his western European training that remains a model for composers to this day. Join us for an unforgettable survey of the complete string quartets of Béla Bartók and those of his friend and Hungarian compatriot (and folk-song collecting partner) Zoltán Kodály. October 6, 2013, 2PM: Kodály: String Quartet No. 1 Bartók: String Quartet No. 1 January 5, 2014, 2PM: Kodály: String Quartet No. 2 Bartók: String Quartet No. 2 February 23, 2014, 2PM Bartók: String Quartet No. 3 Bartók: String Quartet No. 4 March 16, 2014, 2PM Bartók: String Quartet No. 5 Bartók: String Quartet No. 6 More information at: mondaviarts.org/events/index.cfm?series_id=288&series_name=ASQ%20Series%201%20%20%3Cbr%3Ewith%20Robert%20Greenberg&sort_type=by%20series&season=2013 "The String Quartet in a Time of War: Benjamin Britten and His Contemporaries", with the Alexander String Quartet St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, California Produced by San Francisco Performances World War Two, which in Europe began in 1939 and ended in 1945, was the single most harrowing and devastating event of the twentieth century. Framed by the string quartets of Benjamin Britten, whose centennial has been celebrated in 2013, this series will explore works that reflect the broader European experience of the War years, as well as the period immediately before the War (Concert One) and after the War (Concert Four). Along with Britten’s superb quartets, the series will feature some of the most important string quartets composed during the twentieth century, including quartets by the Czech composer Pavel Haas (who perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944), Béla Bartók, William Walton, and Dmitri Shostakovich. December 7, 2013, 10PM: "The Gathering Storm" Benjamin Britten, Three Divertimenti for String Quartet (1933, rev. 1936) Pavel Haas, String Quartet No. 3 (1938) December 14, 2013, 10PM: "Their Finest Hour" Béla Bartók No. 6 (1939) Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 1 (1941) December 21, 2013, 10PM: "The Hinge of Fate" Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 2 (1945) William Walton, String Quartet in A Minor (1946) January 11, 2014, 10PM:"Triumph and Tragedy" Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 3 (1975) Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 (1960) More information under “Saturday Morning Series” at: sfperformances.org/performances/performancesbyseries1314.shtml “Mozart in Vienna, Season One”, with the Alexander String Quartet SFJAZZ Center, 201 Franklin Street, San Francisco, California Produced by San Francisco Performances In June of 1781, the 25 year-old Wolfgang Mozart moved to Vienna, there to freelance and make his fame and fortune in the capital city of German music. A few months later, he met and played in a pickup string quartet with Joseph Haydn. Inspired to his cockles by the Haydn quartets he had played, Mozart set out to compose a series of string quartets of his own, quartets that would earn Haydn’s respect. In this he succeeded entirely; Mozart’s six, so-called “Haydn” quartets did not just win Haydn’s praise but raised the string quartet bar to an altogether new level of artistry, virtuosity, and compositional complexity. This season will also feature Mozart’s two extraordinary Piano Quartets of 1785-1786, works that virtually created the genre of “piano quartet” Program 1: January 25, 10PM String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 387 String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421 Program 2: February 22, 10PM String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat Major, K. 428 String Quartet No. 17 in B flat Major ("Hunt"), K. 458 Program 3: March 22, 10PM String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464 String Quartet No. 19 in C Major ("Dissonance"), K. 465 Program 4: April 5, 10PM Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478 Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, K. 493 More information under “Saturday Morning Series” at: sfperformances.org/performances/performancesbyseries1314.shtml
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 19:30:02 +0000
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