Maria Bachmann, violin
Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello
jon Klibonoff, piano
Celebrating their 10th anniversary in the 2011-2012 season, Trio Solisti has earned a reputation for soulful and passionate performances marked by soloistic virtuosity, electric energy, seamless ensemble playing, and thrilling abandon. Their versatility extends to new music, most notably to the work of Paul Moravec, who composed his 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Tempest Fantasy, for Trio Solisti. The ensemble performs at many festivals both as a trio and as individual guest artists including Bravo! in Vail, CO, The Caramoor Festival, Maverick Concerts and Skaneateles Festival in New York State, Philip Glass' Days and Nights Festival in Carmel and The Laguna Beach Festival in CA, The Amelia Island and Sanibel Island Festivals in FL, The Moab Festival in Utah, and Cape Cod Festival in MA. The Trio is the founding ensemble of Telluride MusicFest in Telluride, CO, an annual chamber music festival that celebrates its tenth season in 2012. Trio Solisti has appeared on the nationally broadcast radio show “St. Paul Sunday” and has been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today.” They have been presented in multi-concert series at the famed Morgan Library in New York and by the St. Louis Museum of Art. For more information, see their Web site at http://www.triosolisti.com.
Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
Violist Hsin-Yun Huang, recognized as one of the leading violists of her generation, came to international prominence in 1993 when she was winner of the top prize of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award. In 1988, Ms. Huang was the youngest-ever Gold Medalist of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition on the Isle of Man. Ms. Huang was a member of the Borromeo String Quartet from 1994-2000. In 1998 the Borromeo String Quartet was awarded the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, chosen by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be members of Chamber Music Society Two, and featured in a Live from Lincoln Center telecast. Hsin-Yun Huang came to England at the age of fourteen to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with David Takeno. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute with Michael Tree, and at the Juilliard School with Samuel Rhodes. Currently residing in New York City, she is a dedicated teacher, serving on the faculties of The Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music. Ms. Huang has previously appeared under the auspices of Chamber Music Columbus as the violist of the Borromeo String Quartet on October 23, 1999. For more information see her Web site at http://hsinyun.com/.
Trio Solisti appears through special arrangement with Bill Capone, Arts Management Group, Inc., 37 West 26th Street, Suite 403, New York New York 10010-1006.
Hsin-Yun Huang is represented in America and Europe by BesenArts LLC, 508 First Street, Suite 4W, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030-7823.
Robert Schumann (born Zwickau, Saxony, June 8, 1810; died Endenich, near Bonn, July 29, 1856)
Fantasiestücke in A minor, for piano trio, op. 88 (composed 1842-1850)
Romanze: Nicht schnell, mit innigen
Ausdruck
Humoreske: Lebhaft
Duett: Langsam und mit Ausdruck
Finale: Im Marsch-Tempo
If 1840 was Schumann's "song year" and 1841 his "symphonic year," then
surely 1842 was his "chamber music year."
To console himself while his wife Clara was on a concert tour of
Europe early that year, Robert turned to the study of counterpoint and the
chamber works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Upon Clara’s return in April, Robert plunged into a almost non-stop
flood of works that, save for his three “String Quartets, op. 41,” feature
the piano in various settings:
the “Piano Quintet, op. 44;” the “Piano Quartet, op. 47;” and the present
“Fantasiestücke, op. 88,” for piano trio.
Or to be more precise, a “Piano Trio in A minor,” completed in
December 1842, that left him unsatisfied.
Returning to that material in 1850, he did additional work, gave it
the more fanciful title, and had it published.
Melancholy and mysterious, the “Romanze” is an unusually slow first
movement. Its main melody
resurfaces in a more spirited guise in the “Humoreske.”
Violin and cello share the “Duett,” while the piano softly
accompanies. In the “Finale,”
the march rhythms that introduced the “Humoreske” return, but they yield to
some playful counterpoint followed by a coda with surprises of its own.
Johannes Brahms (born Hamburg, May 7, 1833; died Vienna, April 3, 1897)
Trio no. 1 in B major, op. 8 (composed 1853-1854; revised 1889)
Allegro con brio
Scherzo: Allegro molto; Meno allegro
Adagio
Allegro
While vacationing on the Rhine in the summer of 1853, Johannes Brahms made
the initial sketches for what would turn out to be his very first published
chamber work, the “Trio no. 1 in B major, op. 8.”
Not long thereafter, Brahms met Clara and Robert Schumann.
Within weeks of their meeting, Robert Schumann would pen his famous
essay "Neue Bahnen" ("New Paths") for the October 28, 1853, issue of the
“Neue Zeitschrift für Musik,” heralding Brahms as the future of German
music. As daunted as he was
proud, the twenty-year-old composer wrote to thank Schumann and to assure
him that the praise bestowed responsibility:
“It will compel me to exercise the greatest caution in my choice of
pieces for publication.”
In the event, Brahms continued working on this B major Trio through January
of 1854, then submitted it for publication as his Opus 8.
Not six months later, he expressed regret that he hadn't continued to
revise it. Some 35 years later,
he got that chance, thoroughly refurbishing the piano trio, even joking
about upping the opus number from 8 to 108.
The new edition, with only the “Scherzo” relatively untouched,
appeared in 1891, though the original version continued to be available.
The sustained cello theme with piano accompaniment that opens the “Allegro con brio” never resurfaces fully, even in the recap. A diabolical dance built on tiny string figurations and running piano arpeggios constitutes the “Scherzo;” its trio, designated “Meno allegro,” is a friendlier waltz. The meditative “Adagio” begins with descending piano chords and ascending strings, leading to a cello song. Piano triplets under the cello open the finale, “Allegro.” The violin joins in later against continuing triplets and cello pizzicati.
Antonín Dvorák (born Nelahozeves, Bohemia, September 8, 1841; died Prague, May 1, 1904)
Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 87 (B. 162; S. 108) (composed 1889)
Allegro con fuoco
Lento
Allegro moderato, grazioso
Allegro, ma non troppo
Berlin publisher Fritz Simrock spent five years bugging Antonín Dvorák to
write a second piano quartet as a follow up to the “Quartet in D major, op.
23,” of 1875. "If you only
started working on a piano quartet as you have been promising me for such a
long time," Simrock urged in early 1887.
He was referring to a pledge the composer had made in 1885 but
intended to fulfill on his own schedule, after completeing a number of
large-scale works. Simrock’s
persistence finally paid off when Dvorák devoted the summer of 1889 to
writing the “Quartet in E-flat major, op. 87.”
--
Program notes by Jay Weitz, Senior Consulting Database Specialist for music,
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Dublin, Ohio.
He is a contributing performing arts critic for the weekly
alternative newspaper Columbus Alive
(http://www.columbusalive.com).
