Australian String Quartet

Friday, 19 March at 8pm

Sophie Rowell (violin), Anne Horton (violin), Sally Boud (viola),
Rachel Johnston(‘cello)

with guest artist Lucinda Collins (piano)

Revised Programme

(due to unfortunate unavailability of Catherine McCorkill)

MOZART – Divertimento in D, K 136

BACH, JS – Ciaconna from Partita in D minor, BWV 1004                                     Performer: Sophie Rowell

HAYDN – Quartet in C major, op 33, no 3, Hob III:39, The Bird

BRAHMS – Quintet in F minor for two violins, viola, ‘cello and piano, op 34

About the artists

In 2001, as the Tankstream Quartet, they won the Second Melbourne National Chamber Music Competition and, in 2002, the Fourth Osaka International Chamber Competition, String Quartet Division. In 2005, again as the Tankstream Quartet, they came second in the First Borciani Quartet Competition, in Italy, and won the Eighth International String Quartet Competition in Cremona.

Guest artist, Adelaide-born pianist Lucinda Collins studied at the Elder Conservatorium of Music with Noreen Stokes and Stefan Ammer. In 1984 she was awarded the prestigious Elder Overseas Scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music in London, where she undertook post-graduate studies with Peter Wallfisch. In 1985, she was awarded the Vivien Hamilton Chopin Prize. She has been the winner of numerous scholarships and other prizes, including the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Scholarship.

Lucinda has performed extensively throughout Australia and has also given concerts in the UK and Korea. In 2001, Lucinda was invited to Kuala Lumpur to adjudicate at the Malaysian National Piano Festival. Her performances with the Australian String Quartet have included the piano quintets of Schubert, Schnittke, Shostakovich and Schumann.

In 2006, Lucinda joined with violinist Sophie Rowell and ‘cellist Janis Laurs to form the Elder Trio. She teaches full-time at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, where she is Head of Keyboard and co-ordinator of the Chamber Music Program.

Programme Notes

MOZART – Divertimento in D, K 136

Allegro / Andante / Presto

Mozart wrote his three so-called Salzburg Symphonies in 1772.   All are short and have three movements.  Mozart labelled each of these works "Divertimento",  and the parts for the lower voices he labelled voile (violas) and basso, suggesting that the music is for a string orchestra.  The style of writing, however, is compatible with string-quartet performance.   Although it has been suggested that this is a problem – Alfred Einstein, for example, says that "a divertimento should have two minuets, and these three works have no minuet at all" - the resolution has turned out to be that these cheerful works are customarily played by string orchestras or by string quartets.
 
In the first divertimento of the set, in D major, most of the interest is in the violins, suggesting that, by this stage, Mozart had not yet developed his skill in writing in this medium.  The first violin takes on a "prima-donna -like" role in the first movement, the other instruments being used mainly for accompaniment.  The second movement is charming in a tender, Italianate way.  The short presto which makes up the final movement does, however, display interest in other instruments in the contrapuntal development section.

BACH, JS – Ciaconna from Partita in D minor, BWV 1004

Bach’s Partita in D minor for solo violin was written between 1717 and 1723. The work has five movements, the fifth and final of which is the Ciaccona (chaconne). While the first four movements follow the style of the standard German baroque dance suite, the monumental ciaccona (which takes about fifteen minutes to perform) enhances the overall dark character of the work.

The theme of this movement is presented in the first four bars and has a typical chaconne rhythm with a chord progression based on a repeated bass-note pattern introduces the rest of the movement which includes a series of variations. The ciaccona has three sections, the middle one being written in D major. Thus, we have an obvious contrast, with the central major-mode section sandwiched between the outer minor-mode sections.

The ciaccona is among the most difficult pieces for the violin, and is considered a pinnacle of the solo violin repertoire. It covers every aspect of violin-playing known during Bach's time.

HAYDN – Quartet in C major, op 33, no 3, Hob III:39, The Bird

Allegro moderato / Scherzando: Allegretto / Adagio / Rondo: Presto

Haydn’s six string quartets, op 33 - the so-called "Russian Quartets", known also as the Jungfernquartette (‘coy’ quartets) - were written in 1781. Violinist Ken Pope, writing in Stringendo, considers that the works rely less on the older, formal, musical structures and says that "elements of humour and surprise make the music more interesting to listen to" and that there is "greater emphasis on the development of the music from simple, and sometimes short, motifs".

They may be divided into two distinct groups: those in B minor, E flat, C (the present one) and E flat and those in E and G. The first four start with an allegro moderato in common time, followed by a dance-like movement, which is followed by a slow movement in triple time; they all close with a finale. In the second group, the dance-like, scherzo, movement switches places with the slow movement, which is now in common time; the opening movement is a vivace assai and the finale starts with an allegretto. As you can see from the tempo instructions printed under the title above, op 33, no 3 certainly does fit the pattern of the first group.

The opening movement starts with a rhythm that one could imagine to be clucking and, some bars later on, a ‘chirp, chirp’ effect rendered by the use of grace notes. This movement illustrates the happier, more humorous nature of the op 33 quartets compared with those of op 20, written only six years earlier. The second, shorter, dance-like, movement, which Haydn labels scherzando, is quieter – even sombre – and pitched mainly in a lower register. This mood is contrasted by the central, lighter, trio section in which the twittering effect of the grace notes and trills on the violins has led to the name given to the quartet.

The rather mellow adagio is an innovative mix of structural forms laden with some beautiful harmonies. The energetic finale is a rondo that evokes Gypsy dances and includes some interesting bird-like episodes.

BRAHMS – Quintet in F minor for two violins, viola, ‘cello and piano, op 34

Allegro non troppo / Andante, un poco adagio / Scherzo: Allegro /
Finale: Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto, non troppo

Brahms’s piano quintet in F minor, op 34, was completed during the summer of 1864. The work was dedicated to Her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Hesse.

This piano quintet has a chequered history. It began life as a two-cello string quintet which was completed in 1862. Brahms sent the first three movements to the violinist Joseph Joachim, who said it lacked charm. Brahms then transcribed the quintet into a two-piano sonata (op 34 bis) but, apparently, this was not successful. Clara Schumann, however, had expressed some liking for the musical substance of original string quintet and now suggested that he remodel it once more. Brahms responded by transforming the work into its present form. The piano is in no way an adjunct to the strings, both playing equally important roles throughout the work.

The tempestuous, tragic, first movement, written in sonata form, opens with a unison theme played first by violin, ‘cello and piano and then by all instruments. The lyrical second subject is underscored by a recurrent triplet motif.

The calm second movement is in three-part form (A–B–A). The second theme (as in the first movement) is written a major third down from the first theme.

The third movement is again in ternary form (A–B–A) but, this time, A is an electrifying scherzo and B is a rather jerky trio. The structure of the contrapuntal scherzo section is interesting: X–Y–Z–X–Y–F–Z–Y–Z–X–Y, where X is characterized by a rising theme, Y is a dotted-rhythm theme, Z is a march-like theme with full chordal harmony and F is a 32-bar fugue; the final Y section is extended into a coda. The trio section is also in ternary, C–D–C, form.

The final movement starts with a melancholy slow introduction which is later contrasted by an allegro with a slightly Gypsy flavour and, still later, by a presto.