Sunday, November 20, 2005 7:00 p.m.
The Poulenc Trio
The Poulenc Trio
Vladimir Lande, oboe
Irina Lande, piano
Bryan Young, bassoon
Program
Johann Joachim QuantzTrio Sonata in G Major
Adagio
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Henri Brod
Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon, Op. 5
Allegro maestoso
Variations on a Spanish Theme. Andante
Bolero. Moderato
Jean Françaix
Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano
Adagio - Allegro moderato
Risolute
Andante
Finale
INTERMISSION
Ludwig van BeethovenTrio in B-flat Major, Op. 11
Allegro con brio
Adagio
Tema con variazioni. Allegretto.
Francis Poulenc
Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon
Presto: Lent - presto
Andante: Andante con moto
Rondo: Très vif
Program Notes
Johann Joachim Quantz 1697-1773Trio Sonata in G Major
Baroque music in the early 18th century began to feature wind instruments in chamber music, particularly the new "German" or transverse flute. Johann Joachim Quantz was its leading exponent; he was known across Europe as the greatest flute virtuoso, composer and theorist. In addition to his copious musical output, which included hundreds of sonatas, quartets and concerti, Quantz published the most important treatise on flute performance practice, Essay on Playing the Flute, in 1752. The essay was valued not only for its specific technical instruction, but also for its general guidance on musical style, taste and ornamentation. Quantz served for over 30 years as the royal court musician, composer and teacher to Frederick the Great of Prussia. The Trio Sonata, a composition for two or more solo instruments and continuo accompaniment, was the central form of Baroque chamber music, the most important ancestor of the classical string quartet.
Henri Brod 1799-1838Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon, op. 5
For the typical chamber music enthusiast, Henri Brod is apt to be an obscure if not completely unknown composer. But to a player or lover of the oboe, Brod is a figure of considerable historical importance, a key influence on the instrument, its technique and, by extension, its repertoire. Brod was born in 1799 in Paris where he remained for his short but extremely busy life leading some scholars to suggest that the brevity of his lifespan was due to ceaseless activities on multiple fronts. Brod was, first, a virtuoso oboist who studied, performed and taught at the Paris Conservatoire. Pushing the mechanical limits of the oboe of his day, Brod then turned to the study and craft of instrument making resulting in several improvements. Perhaps to exercise his innovations in both the instrument and performance technique, Brod finally turned to composition, producing numerous studies and sonatas that included the Trio, Op. 5 featured in this program. His scholarship ultimately produced an important work for the oboe, the Méthode Pour le Hautbois, for which is he chiefly remembered today. His music is well regarded, noteworthy for the virtuosity of the parts particularly compared to the standards of his time.
Jean Françaix 1912-1997Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano, 1994
Jean Françaix was a modern French composer very much in the Neo-Classical tradition of Poulenc: he eschewed the trends of atonality and the rejection of traditional form, choosing wit, color and a supple lightness in the service of producing musical "pleasure." Prolific throughout his life, Françaix was a piano virtuoso, an active performer, a skilled orchestrator and a composer in myriad forms and ensembles. As was characteristic of many great French composers, Françaix had a skillful penchant for the wind instruments. A relatively recent work, his Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano was commissioned by the International Double Reed Society for their 24th Festival in 1994.
The Trio is astonishing as "classical" chamber music for its modernity and its accessibility. In the tradition of Neo-Classicism, the music is simultaneously familiar from the past, yet new and different, undeniably of the present. But where the original Neo-classicists looked to the 18th century and earlier for their inspiration, Françaix, in this work, seems to look back within his own lifespan. In a new loop of Neo-Classical spirit, the music evokes the popular sounds of a young modernism in the early 20th century: syncopated urban rhythms, musical theatre, the exuberance and occasional plaintive nostalgia of contemporary man. The distinction between popular and classical vocabulary blurs such that one is tempted to prefer terms like "art music" or simply "quality music". What makes Françaix's music unmistakably "chamber music", besides the obvious nature of the ensemble, is the exquisite detail and complexity of his composition, the virtuosic demands placed on the performer, and the expert use of the idiomatic, natural qualities of highly evolved classical instruments.
Françaix's thoughts are as refreshing as his music. His words are worth quoting at some length:
"It's difficult for a composer to talk about his own works. If he praises them, he is accused of boasting; if he disparages them, he is considered guilty of false modesty. If he dissects them into theme A, theme B, musicologists will applaud, but musicians will find him boring. If the work is of any value, it will need no explanation; if it is of no value, no esoteric commentary will render it any better . . . All I ask my listeners is to open their ears and be brave enough to decide whether they like my music or not. I don't want any intermediary between me and my listeners trying to sway their judgment one way or the other. They should remember they are free human beings, not obedient automata. I want them to crush snobbery, fashion and envy with the power of common sense and to enjoy my music if it gives them pleasure; which of course I hope it does . . ."
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11, 1798
After the string quartet, the most prominent ensemble in the chamber music repertoire is the piano trio comprising the intimate but powerful combination of piano, cello and violin. Haydn established the genre with numerous outstanding trios, inaugurating a tradition that has engaged nearly every notable composer from Mozart to such contemporaries as John Harbison and Bright Sheng. Never to be outdone, Beethoven wrote six major piano trios beginning with the set of three he deemed worthy enough to claim his first published opus number. Between the Op. 1 piano trios and the three masterpieces of his maturity, Beethoven wrote his charming piano trio, Op. 11, originally scored for clarinet, cello and piano but also published, with little modification, in a transcription for the typical ensemble featuring the violin as the treble instrument. Both versions enjoy the concert stage, but tonight, it appears in the novel permutation of piano, oboe and bassoon.
The trio is an early work, composed in 1798 just before Beethoven turned his attention to his first set of string quartets. Many have pointed out that the Op. 11 piano trio is atypical of Beethoven. Accurate descriptions employ adjectives that one does not necessarily associate with the most familiar of his music: gentle, lyrical, playful, even, "light". The reactions of his contemporaries range from describing the work as "easy" and "more melodious" to "difficult" and "unnaturally composed". Most now share the opinion that it is wonderful music, especially when it is allowed to speak for itself. Still, it provides a curious exercise for the listener: if you didn't know it was Beethoven, would you know it was Beethoven?
Francis Poulenc 1899-1963Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon, 1926
Francis Poulenc was a native Parisian who associated with the most creative and experimental figures of that legendary time in the 1920's that incubated the chief modernist trends of the early 20th century. He was part of the informal group of French composers known as "Les Six" whose agenda was to craft a new music separate from the dominance of Germanic Romanticism, the intellectualisms of Schoenberg and the pat associations with Impressionism. Embracing clarity, simplicity, wit and even parody, they refined a genre influenced by Stravinsky and Satie called Neo-classicism.
Poulenc was essentially self-taught and, contrary to the fervor of his contemporaries, comparatively conservative. Yet , he is widely prized as a composer for his innate and fertile talents best described as natural, spontaneous and superbly original. His music is colorful, lively, tuneful and engaging, unperturbed by excesses of drama, labored development or rigid form. Poulenc is especially celebrated for his lyricism and his gift for melody. Neo-classical in the best sense, Poulenc's music seems familiar yet fresh, evocative of 18th century classical style with a playful novelty that is purely 20th century. Poulenc excels in musical play; his music is, above all else, fun.
Poulenc had a great fondness for chamber music with winds. Color, pointillistic clarity and poise characterize several frequently featured compositions including his most well-known, the Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano. The first movement, patterned on a Haydn Allegro is a sparkling Presto, a compact caricature of contrasting sections, perfect execution juxtaposed with tongue in cheek pratfalls. The middle movement is a soft dream described by Poulenc himself as "sweet and melancholic." The final movement is another brisk sequence of tableaux, a Rondo whose refrain begins as a near perfect quote of a well-known Beethoven melody until it makes a surprising turn into the fresh vocabulary of Poulenc's own distinctive language. Poulenc hinted that he patterned this movement after a piano concerto by Saint-Saëns.
Kai Christiansen is a musicologist and a frequent writer and lecturer on chamber music.
© Kai Christiansen. All rights reserved.