The Program:

Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Pergolesi

The Boxwood Recorder Trio (Jane Udelson, Mark McDowell and Bruce Crane)

Joyce Bouvier and Rosemarie Houghton, sopranos

Gwyn Jones and Heidi Schuller, flute

Harold Yaffe, clarinet

Nancy Sulfridge, basset horn

Tom Blackburn, cello

David Ehrlich, piano

---

---

The One Hundred Forty-Fourth Concert

Friday, May 1, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Admission: $20 (this concert only!)

Featuring:

The Program:

Trio in G Major, op. 119 by Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832)

1. Allegro moderato - 2. Adagio patetico - 3. Allegro

Trio in E-flat Major, op. 44 Louise Farrenc (1804-75)

1. Andante. Allegro moderato - 2. Adagio - 3. Minuetto: Allegro - 4. Allegro

INTERMISSION

Trio in G Major (1880) by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

1. Andantino con molto allegro - 2. Scherzo: Moderato con allegro - 3. Andante espressivo - 4. Finale: Appassionato

---

About Us

Visnja Kosanovic brings us her flute from Serbia, where she earned degrees at the Academy of Art in Novi Sad before being invited to study with Peter-Louis Graf at the Summer Mozarteum in Salzburg.  Since coming to this country, she’s appeared frequently with us and, occasionally, the National Gallery Orchestra. But mostly, Visnja concentrates on her twin interests: teaching flute, which she does at Levine and the International School, and yoga.

Twelve-year Southwest resident Gwyn Jones enjoys being part of the Southwest Chamber Players. She takes time from her day job as communications director for the U.S. Green Building Council to perform with a range of  ensembles: her own Zephyr Quintet, the Capital Wind and American University symphonies, and Columbia Flute Choir. Gwyn holds a master’s from Florida State and was a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas. She studies with Keith Bryan.

Harold Yaffe retired from a career in environmental management consulting to pursue a lifelong love of the clarinet.  His early music activities the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra and MIT concert band. He currently plays with the Capital Wind Symphony and Fairfax Symphony’s summer band. His teacher in Philadelphia was Karen DiSanto; here he works at Levine with Sidney Forrest.

SWCP stalwart Jerry Schwarz began his musical studies in Los Angeles at age ten and was U.C. Berkeley’s principal clarinet. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and taught English at American University. An avid chamber musician Jerry’s appeared on nearly half of our SWCP programs since 1997 and founded two groups of his own.

California girl Peggy Orchowski has played in violins since she and her twin sister made 2/3 of a trio with one of her mother’s students at the age of seven. Since rediscovering the joy of making chamber music some twenty years ago, she has taken it to exotic places like Prague and Corfu.

Cellist Judith McDaniel has taught homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria for twenty years.  Prior to that, she served parishes in western Washington state.  Starting on the violin, she moved to cello six years ago.

SWCP founder/director David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father Richard in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since realizing (at 7) that he wasn’t going to be the next Horowitz, he’s spent a lifetime as an amateur playing in such varied venues as Eugene, Oregon; Tiburon, Calif.; New York City; Milton, Mass., and Nagydorog, Hungary. He enjoys turning handsprings for his wonderful teacher Naoko Takao.

---

Notes on the Program

Kuhlau lived much of his life in Copenhagen, where he worked as theater composer and court musician. Though a pianist by trade, his compositions mostly involved the flute, and it is for tonight’s trio that he is chiefly known.

It was Louise Farrenc’s misfortune (as least as far as posterity is concerned) to have been born a woman in early nineteenth-century France who did not compose opera. While her instruction was in the finest Viennese tradition (see how much of Beethoven and Schubert you can hear!), she was French to the core. She was however, most fortunate of  all  in her choice of husband – her man was among Paris’s foremost music publishers, and he made sure that every note she wrote got into print just as she wrote it.

Debussy, tonight’s only truly familiar name, was evidently an audacious enfant terrible when he was invited at the age of eighteen to be music instructor to Nadezhda con Meck, who was Tchaikowsky’s benefactor. This glorious trio, lush with the newly fashionable form of impressionism, was written in her service and not performed for many years afterward.

---

The Program:

Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

---

The Program:

Love Songs of Four Centuries

---

The Program:

Our traditional potpourri: Bach, Christmas carols and Potomac Mandolins and...six clarinets!

---

The Program:

An evening of men's close harmony a cappella music featuring some arrangements of Fritz Kinzel, the 1958 Yale Whiffenpoofs' legendary leader. Performing will be singers from The Augmented Eight and Top of the Seventh, both of which boast a high proportion of old Yalies, whose program will be part their own, part Yale Songbook.

Trio in E flat by Louise Farrenc

---

The Program:

Arias of Mozart (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Ah vous dirai-je maman)

Songs of Bizet, Faure and Roussel

Der Hirt aus dem Felsen by Franz Schubert

Works for clarinet and piano by Franz Liszt and Barmann

Works for flute and piano by Ganne and Brun

---

The Program:

Travel Songs (texts of Robert Louis Stevenson) by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Madrigal by Philippe Gaubert

Works of Debussy, Liszt, and Schumann for clarinet and piano

---

The Program:

Dover Beach by Samuel Barber

Quartets of Mozart and Shostakovich

---

The One Hundred Eighth Concert

Tuesday, January 10, 2006, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Tuesday, December 20, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The One Hundred Sixth Concert

Thursday, November 17, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The One Hundred Fifth Concert

Sunday, October 16, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The One Hundred Fourth Concert

Thursday, September 15, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The One Hundred Third Concert

Thursday, August 18, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

---

The One Hundred Second Concert

Thursday, July 21, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

---

The One Hundred First Concert

Thursday, June 16, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

About Our Artists

Tom Blackburn studied with Carl Werner, Joseph Tonaur, and Pasquale ci Conto, but his principal teachers have been cellos made by unknown masters who posted other people's names in them. A member of the Geological Society of Washington and Hunt String Quartet, he’s been a frequent and welcome member of SWCP.

Graham Down, a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, and Christchurch, Oxford, is an associate of the Royal College of Music in organ performance. A past master of both math (Lawrenceville School), and fund-raising, he's currently master of music at Epiphany Church in Georgetown.

Elizabeth Dyson embarked on a second career as a chamber musician after 30 years of practicing law. She has accompanied classes at the Maryland Youth Ballet, Washington School of Ballet, and Dance Institute of Washington and taught ballet accompaniment at the Levine School.

Kathy Ferger, a long-time D.C. resident and commu-nity activist, grew up in upstate N.Y. She developed a love of chamber music at Kinhaven music camp and studied viola at Oberlin while majoring in political science. She played six years with the Washington Civic Symphony; currently she devotes her musical efforts to the Hunt Quartet and programs organized by Levine.

Carol Hall graduated from Kansas State and the University of New Hampshire. A former faculty member of Phillips Exeter, UNH, and Vanderhoof in Chicago, she conducted youth orchestras in Winnetka. During a 12-year hitch in Brussels, she was a founding member of the International Chamber Players.

Attention to detail and joy in making music are two things Elizabeth Lawrence used to share with students in her capacity as director of Madrigals at Madeira School. Veteran performer Beth holds a DMA from Peabody and masters from Illinois-Champaign. Among her special passions are Mozart symphonies, Jane Austen novels, and her dog Princess Sniffy.

Clarinetist and impresario extraordinary Jerry Schwarz began his musical studies in Los Angeles at age ten and was UC-Berkeley Symphony's principal clarinet. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and taught English at American University, broken by a year's Fulbright in Florence and Barcelona. An avid chamber musician (and father of two more), Jerry's appeared on nearly half of our SWCP programs since 1997 as well as founding the woodwind Trio con Brio and Focus Trio.

---

Notes on the Program

Arthur Bliss wrote this little piece, a genteel battle between the keys of C and D during military service in World War I.

William Hurlstone was a pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford, who wrote a wonderful clarinet sonata we did a few years ago. Alas, the poor fellow was dogged by poor health and died at 30. This short suite for clarinet has been compared to the late work of Brahms.

Louis Spohr appears to have been no one’s favorite. It seems this man who produced a vast and wide-ranging output for various forces was temperamentally unable to work with anyone. Yet the extraordinary beauty of these six songs has lingered far longer.

We have often performed the Bruch pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano, finding them more enjoyable with each reading. Though ethnic and gypsy-like in feeling, they were actually written by a Lutheran university professor who wished to leave behind some music for his young clarinet-playing son.

Françaix’s string trio dates from 1933, the last year until this one in which a Washington baseball team was in first place as late as June. Like the Nats, this composition achieves a great deal with limited material. First, a string trio is one of the lightest scores a composer can choose, and this one rarely uses the full force of massed double-stops, achieving instead the compositional equivalent of a series of one-run victories: neoclassical clarity, control, humor, and originality.

---

The One Hundredth Concert

Tuesday, May 24, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Ninth Concert

Thursday, April 28, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

About Our Artists

Edita Vinnitskaya comes to us with extraordinary credentials. Beginning as a gifted child in her native Armenia, she has won prizes galore, both in Russia and, since 1995, here. Her U.S. studies were under Santiago Rodriguez at the University of Maryland and Leon Fleisher at Peabody, and she’s been heard on stage in eight states.

Joyce Bouvier, who studied classical piano as a child and trained late in life in the classical vocal repertoire, is equally at home with the Great American Songbook. She is director of music at Saint Augustine’s.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Matthew van Hoose and playing for friends in Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Jerry Schwarz, clarinetist, impresario, and occasional song ‘n’ dance man, began his musical studies in Los Angeles at age ten and hasn’t stopped since. An avid chamber musician (and father of two more), Jerry's founded two woodwind trios and appeared on nearly half of our SWCP programs since 1997.

The bearer of an illustrious Hungarian name, Anna Rákoczy followed the steps of maany famous countrymen to the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, receiving the highest musical scholarship in the land. Since moving here in 2002 with a Fulbright at Peabody, she has continued to win honors. In her spare time, Anna is also a gifted painter and tapestrymaker.

---

Notes on the Program

These charming miniatures are classic Schubert. Wonderfully melodious yet surprisingly tricky technically, they have challenged young pianists for 200 years. We can have little doubt that the composer of "Guys and Dolls" had to play the last of the six as a child!

Actually written for oboe, the Schumann romances work on almost any instrument. Joyous and immensely musical, they come from one of the happiest times in the composer’s difficult life, and speak for a soul that loved and revered beauty though he found precious little in his life.

While the three arias we present this evening are quite familiar to opera lovers everywhere, the last one is of unusual interest because it was the constant leitmotif of the Hollywood movie Diva.

The words "Liszt, Hungarian, and Rhapsody" are nearly synonymous. The great pianist Liszt, though he made his living abroad, reached back to his homeland to pluck these magnificent Gypsy-like melodies.

Gabriel Fauré is a man we play often. The highly sophisticated harmonies and lush melodies for which this elegant Frenchman is justly adored are nowhere more evident than in this magnificent sonata originally written for violin. From the great upward rush of the line at the beginning through the tender Andante, it positively soars. Of particular note is the devilish scherzo, which leaves the flutist very little chance to breathe. And the 6/8 finale is a romp from beginning to end.

---

The Ninety-Eighth Concert

Thursday, March 31, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

OUR ANNUAL SALUTE TO THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Seventh Concert

Tuesday, February 22, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Sixth Concert

Thursday, February 3, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Fifth Concert

Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Fourth Concert

Thursday, November 11, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Third Concert

Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-Second Concert

Thursday, August 26, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninety-First Concert

Tuesday, July 20, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Ninetieth Concert

Thursday, June 17, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

The Eighty-Ninth Concert

Thursday, May 20, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-Eighth Concert

Thursday, April 22, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-Seventh Concert

Thursday, April 1, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

April Fools and Cherry Blossoms

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-Sixth Concert

Tuesday, February 24, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-Fifth Concert

Thursday, January 15, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-Fourth Concert

Thursday, December 18, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-Third Concert

Tuesday, November 11, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

The Eighty-First and Eighty-Second Concerts

Friday, October 31, 2003, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 2, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

About the Artists

The ensemble CONTRASTS consists of four members of the faculty of the Royal Conservatories of Belgium. They have performed together throughout Europe for more than 20 years, participating in major festivals in Paris, Flanders, and Romania. The group's unusual instrumental combination affords an opportunity to explore and adapt a range of trios and quartets from the standard repertoire, which has led a number of contemporary composers to write for them.

Their initial American connection, which dates back almost 15 years, was with the University of North Carolina, at whose summer workshops in both Chapel Hill and Morges, Switzerland, they have comprised the core of the teaching faculty. More recently, they have made three concert tours of the United States, appearing from Boston to Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Kati Sebestyin studied in Budapest at the Franz Liszt Academy and later at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels before completing her studies at the prestigious Capel Musicale Reins Elizabeth. Today, she is head of the string section in Brussels, where she teaches privately as well as sitting regularly on juries and master classes. She is also a member of the Haydn String Quartet, concert mistress of the European Philharmonic, with whom she recently toured Spain and Germany as soloist, and founder and leader of the Sebastian Strings Chamber Orchestra in Antwerp, with all of whom she has recorded extensively.

Among Europe's leading violists, pedagogues, and chamber coaches, Erwin Schiffer is a native of Hungary, where one of his teachers at the Franz Liszt Academy was Zoltan Kodaly. In addition to joining Ms. Sebestyin in the Haydn Quartet and Contrasts, he is a member of the Trio Viotti. As such, he performs regularly throughout Europe - from Stockholm to Cadiz -and also in Turkey, Israel, Japan, and South Africa. He has led master classes in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States, and recorded on major labels, including DGG, Turnabout, and Vox.

Belgian-born Freddy Arteel's clarinet has been heard widely throughout Europe and North America, in both solo and chamber work. Mr. Arteel studied in Brussels, Paris, and Geneva; today, his teaching positions include Ghent, Aberystwyth (Wales), and the University of North Carolina. For 20 years he was the principal clarinet of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Antwerp. He has performed their own works for such luminaries as Khatchaturian, Copland, and Kabalevsky.

Dana Protopopescu's musical career began at a tender age in Bucharest, Romania, where she made her debut as soloist at 14. Moving to Brussels and Hannover, she worked under Eduardo del Pueyo and Karl Engel. She has traveled Russia extensively and performed as soloist with several major European orchestras. In Brussels, where she is professor of music at the Royal Conservatory, she has recorded frequently for radio and television and made several CDs including Mendelssohn's complete piano works and concerti of Weber, Schumann, and Hummel.

---

Notes on the Program

We're indebted to our good friend Phil Uhlmann who discovered that this familiar piece was the one of two pieces that Rimsky-Korsakov wrote for a competition and the one that won nothing. The second one, which won a prize, is never heard today. The original instrumentation is for flute, clarinet, horn, and bassoon with piano, which our friends have transcribed for their own use. The sprightly first movement is the only part ever heard. The contemplative second and peasant-dance third, with its brutally difficult piano part, are delightful additions to tonight's program.

The contemporary Flemish composer Bernard Baert has contributed a delightful divertimento (meant to divert!), an eighteenth-century Italian form. As we haven't heard it yet, we can only note that M. Baert finished his professional studies at the conser-vatory of Ghent with diplomas for piano and composition and studied composition with professor Roland Coryn. He obtained several prizes with compositions for chamber music (a piano trio and woodwind quintet). His output includes some forty more. In the beginning, composition was for Baert a "written-improvisation." During his studies his musical language crossed tonal and metric borders (but not too far!). After he finished te composition of his clarinet quartet (1996) he decided to simplify his way of composition. Crucial is the instant joy of making music. From 2000 on, with the composition of his "Piu meno" (More or Less) symphony he has added a spiritiual layer to his music.

As much as we know of Mozart's last works, little is known of the circumstances of the composition of this little-known gem. The two-movement structure, a form often used in Mozart's time, is simple and straightforward, and the melodies are the unmistakable combination of joy and sadness that permeate all his work.

Dvorak wrote two piano quartets of which this is by far the least often played. Contrasts' brilliance in recognizing the possibilities of adding the clarinet, an instrument Dvorak very rarely used, is an excellent way to bring it out of the obscurity in which it has languished ever since he wrote it.

The Haydn piano duet is our affectionate homage to our Chapel Hill teachers. Billed also as a sonata, it's a piece to be cheerfully botched in grand fashion. Notice that when the maestro is satisfied that his pupils are ready, he allows them to join him in the minuet.

Mendelssohn and the dumplings, or: The way to a composer's heart is through his stomach Mendelssohn was 20 when he paid his first visit to the father and son clarinetists Heinrich and Carl Bdrmann, "the most delightful day I ever spent... If all goes well, next time we shall] eat dumplings and play the A-flat major sonata." He may have grown fond of the Bdrmann's playing, but it seems he developed a weakness: for sweet dumplings and cheese strudel. So when the pair were next in Berlin, he asked them to prepare his favorite dishes, for which the quick-witted Bdrmanns requested as payment a duet for clarinet and basset horn with piano.

According to Carl, "When I showed up at the appointed time, Mendelssohn put a chef's hat on my head, drew an apron around my waist, and stuck a cooking spoon into the waistband. He did the same himself, except that instead of a spoon, he stuck a pen behind his ear and led me into the kitchen... He returned to his room where, as he said, he would "stir and knead the tones, add salt and pepper, sweeten, them and make a spicy sauce before cooking everything over a good hot fire...

"My heart skipped a beat, and I hoped the dumplings had risen properly. To my great relief, they had, and the cheese strudel was bubbling away melodiously in the pan. I then brought my offerings in covered dishes to the table. Mendelssohn had two duets in a covered dish. We rehearsed them after the dumplings, and Father and I were still more delighted with the charming piece than he was with the dumplings and strudel - though he kept saying my composition was more brilliant than his. One bears the title: 'The Battle near Prague, Grand Duet for Sweet Dumplings and Cheese Strudel or Clarinet and Basset Horn, composed and humbly dedicated to Bdrmann Senior and Junior by their very devoted Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy."

Cecile Chaminade was a French woman composer at a time when the idea of French women writing music was considered "barely acceptable," and her work was sniffed at by the French musical establishment of her day. Though it's true that many of her 400 pieces. mostly for piano solo, might be put down as purely salon (e.g., "lite"), more of it should be heard. And a lot more frequently. Embracing music as her lifelong obsession at the early age of eight, she wrote and taught in relative obscurity, served as the head of the French Office of Public Instruction, only occasionally emerging to give recitals of her own work, and travel to England to perform. What makes this charming little piece, which belongs in every self-respecting flutist's repertoire, is her thorough understanding of how to make the piano an intelligible accompanist to the showiness of the flute.

Beethoven penned this trio in Vienna in 1798. It begins with a bright allegro con brio, which is followed by one of the most majestic slow movements in the literature. A tale hangs on the last movement, a set of variations on a song from a long-forgotten comic opera, Amor Marinaro, by Joseph Weigl. Beethoven was then, if not yet a renowned composer in town, certainly the reigning pianist. A far lesser light named Daniel Steibelt sought to challenge him at a musical social by daring to embellish these variations with some of his own. Beethoven characteristically retaliated by playing the score of Steibelt's latest composition upside down, annihilating his would-be rival.

Both the Rachmaninoff and Fauri are transcriptions of music for the voice, one no more than "oh" and "ah"; the other a real song. Don't they sound marvelous on the mellow cello!

Weber is known primarily for his operas, and this charming trio is redolent of Der Freisch|tz. The sylvan first movement echoes the mysteries of the Wolf's Glen; the other three - the robust scherzo, shepherd's lament (presumably for an absent or lost love) inspired by a poem of Goethe, and gay, somewhat naive peasant procession of the finale evoke the joy of the dwellers of the Black Forest as they greet the return of spring.

---

The Eightieth Concert

Tuesday, September 16, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Program:

---

Our Artists

Laura Bachmann delighted a Carnegie Hall audience with her solo rendition of Pierni's Children's Crusade (with the National Symphony), not to mention ours with an imitation of a cat. Otherwise, she sings regularly around town, especially with the Bach Consort and Washington Chorus.

Charles "Chip" Bachmann joins his wife Laura in singing in the Washington Chorus and Bach Consort in between soloing at area churches and cameo roles with the American Music Stage in Annandale. Both Chip and Laura did our 1991 Liebeslieder performance.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) that he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to being a musical amateur, studying with Matthew van Hoose, playing in such venues as Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City, and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Visnja Kosanovic brings us her flute from Serbia, where she studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum and earned degrees at the Academy of Art in Novi Sad. Here, she's played with the National Gallery Orchestra and SWCP while honing her flute teaching and yoga skills.

Robert Rosen began piano studies at age 7, not too long before realizing that one must eat to live. Retired now from a career as attorney and CPA with Ernst & Young, Bob devotes his life to music. In addition to coordinating Laropa and conducting the Montrose Ensemble, he is director of public relations for the Friday Club and studies with Nancy Hallsted.

Carl Tretter enjoys his ca. 1760 Landolfi fiddle in local chamber groups and at the Bennington summer chamber workshop. Beginning violin studies at 6 at Interlochen, lawyer/businessman Carl now specializes in real estate investments.

Jonathan Ward proves the power of audacity over talent. President of the GRAMMY-winning Washington Chorus, soloist at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac, and 5-string banjo with local bluegrass group Don't Tell Bob. Jonathan heads the Global Effectiveness Group, an international human resources consulting consortium.

Carol Warden began studying cello at age 10,. continued at the University of Michigan and beyond, and now plays in various chamber music groups. As CEO of Dale Music in Silver Spring, she continues expanding her love of music to benefit the local arts community.

Carolyn Zolbe, lifetime musician. Singing at two, then whistling, playing popular songs on the piano for teenager sing-alongs, school band and orchestra in the trombone section, community theater musicals, singing in (and in Savannah directing) Catholic church choirs, singing daily with her elementary school students, and privileged to sing for years for Paul Hill, as a chorister and soloist.

---

The Seventy-Ninth Concert

August 21, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Taka Ariga, cello

Program:

The Seventy-Eighth Concert

June 12, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

and friends Carol Hall, violin

Tom Blackburn, cello

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano

Elizabeth Dyson and Graham Down, piano

Program:

---

Our Artists:

Clarinetist and annual impresario Jerry Schwarz began his musical studies in Los Angeles at age ten and was UC-Berkeley Symphony's principal clarinet. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and taught English at American University, broken by a year's Fulbright in Florence and Barcelona. An avid chamber music (and father of two more!), Jerry has appeared on nearly half of our SWCP programs since 1997 as well as founding the woodwind Trio Con Brio and Focus Trio.

Tom Blackburn studied with Carl Werner, Joseph, Tonaur, and Pasquale di Conto, but his principal teachers have been cellos made by unknown masters who posted other people's names in them. A member of the Geological Society of Washington and Hunt String Quartet, he's been a frequent and welcome member of SWCP.

Rosemarie Ruiz Houghton hails from Pittsburgh, where she sang with its Opera. Since moving here, she's sung with the National Symphony and appears with Coral Cantigas, a Latin American chamber choir, and teaches voice at Catholic and NVCC.

Carol Hall graduated from Kansas State and the University of New Hampshire. A former faculty member of Phillips Exeter, UNH, and VanderCook in Chicago, she conducted youth orchestras in Winnetka, Illinois. During a 12-year hitch in Brussels, she was a founding member of the International Chamber Players.

Elizabeth Dyson embarked on a second career as a chamber musician after 30 years of practicing law. Currently a pianist at the Washington School of Ballet, she has accompanied the Odyssey Opera Theater and also taught ballet accompaniment at the Levine School.

Graham Down, a graduate of Kings College, Cambridge, and Christchurch, Oxford, is an associate of the Royal College of Music in organ performance. A past master of math and fund-raising, he's currently master of music at Epiphany Church in Georgetown.

---

Notes on the Program:

Beethoven penned this trio in Vienna in 1798. It begins with a bright allegro con brio, which is followed one of the most majestic slow movements in the literature. A tale hangs on the last movement, a set of variations on a song from a long-forgotten comic opera, Amor Marinaro, by Joseph Weigl. Beethoven was then, if not yet a renowned composer in town, certainly the reigning pianist. A far lesser light named Daniel Steibelt sought to challenge him at a musical social by daring to embellish these variations (just published) with some of his own. Beethoven characteristically retaliated by playing the score of Steibelt's latest composition upside down, annihilating his would-be rival.

Sometimes dubbed the English Brahms for his late romantic (perhaps Victorian is a better word), Stanford was actually an Irishman,. though one who spent most of his life in London. Entering Cambridge in 1870, he soon became conductor of the university orchestra. His first love, compositions based on Irish folksongs, won a number of prizes. Indeed tonight's splendid sonata is filled with such mournful tunes. Worthy of special attention is the deeply unsettling second-movement dirge "Caoine" (pronounced "keen"), the uniquely Irish version of the wail of despair of widows everywhere.

Not much is known of Mr. Hermann, but Englishman Cooke, who also wrote a marvelous clarinet sonata we did three years ago, studied composition in Berlin during the 1920s. The texts are by mystic English poet William Blake (1757-1827).

The Milhaud trio exemplifies the playful aspect of much of the music turned out by an early 20th-century group called "Les Cinq," who tired of the impressionism of Debussy and wanted a lot more satiric bite in their work. Witty, irreverent, and fun, this delightful five-part work explores combining instruments considered uncombinable. Be sure to listen for snatches of the contemporary "Lullaby of Broadway!"

---

The Seventy-Seventh Concert

Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Mark Furth, violin

Take Aria, cello

David Ehrlich, piano

Beth Lawrence and Joyce Bouvier, soprano

Program:

---

---

The Seventy-Sixth Concert

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The Living Water

an a cappella sacred music service choir

Ron Duquette, Director

Program:

Lenten and post-Lenten music

---

The Seventy-Fifth Concert

Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.

Part of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival

Featuring:

Mark Furth, violin

Carl Tretter, violin

Peggy Orchowski, violin

Peter Skopek, violin

Jaap van Wesel, viola

Taka Ariga, cello

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

David Ehrlich, piano

Beth Lawrence, soprano

Joyce Bouvier, soprano

Program:

The Seventy-Fourth Concert

Thursday, February 27, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.
(this concert was canceled due to inclement weather)

Featuring:

John Kaboff, cello

Alfred Clark, piano

Program:

The Seventy-Third Concert

Thursday, February 6, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Charles Beek, violin

Gennifer Sussman, viola

Taka Ariga, cello

David Ehrlich, piano

Elizabeth Lawrence, soprano

Program:

---

The Seventy-Second Concert

Thursday, January 9, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

LAROPA

Paul Balabanis, horn

Robin Barr, oboe

Paul Chassy, bassoon

Laura Langbein, clarinet

Jackie Miller, flute

Robert Rosen, piano

Program:

---

The Seventy-First Concert

Thursday, December 19, 2002, at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Catherine Justice, soprano

Tom Blackburn, cello

Wendy Caudle, oboe

David Ehrlich, piano

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano

Visnja Kosanovic, flute

Robert Londis, bass

Jose Luis Sanchez, tenor

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

.

The Potomac Mandolin Ensemble:

Lynn Falk, mandolin, octave mandola

Annette Henzke, mandolin, guitar

Pat Kibler, mandola

Hoang Le, guitar

Edith Pötzschke, mandolin

Program:

The Seventieth Concert

Tuesday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Peggy Orchowski, violin

Take Ariga, violoncello

Visnja Kosanovic, flute

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Joyce Bouvier, soprano

David Ehrlich, piano

Program:

---

The Sixty-Ninth Concert

Tuesday, October 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Visnya Kosanovic, flute

Jason Koczur, horn

Elizabeth Lawrence and Barbara Carnes, soprano

Jose Luis Sanchez, tenor

David Ehrlich, piano

Program:

---

About Our Artists:

Visnya Kosanovic brings the sounds of her flute from Serbia, where she earned degrees at the Academy of Art in Novi Sadbefore being invited to study with Peter-Lukas Graf at the Summer Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Since coming to the U.S., she's appeared frequently with the National Gallery Orchestra.

Jason Koczur is a Northern Virginian newly returned from seven years studying horn, five in Boston with Eric Ruske and Richard Menaul and two in London with Michael Thompson and Richard Watkins. Currently he's free-lancing and studying with Edwin Thayer of the NSO.

Attention to detail and joy in making music are two things Elizabeth Lawrence shares with students in her capacity as director of the Dramatic Arts program at Madeira School. A veteran performer, Beth holds a DMA from Peabody and masters from Illinois-Champaign. Among her special passions are Mozart symphonies and her dog Princess Sniffy.

Barbara Carnes sang for some years with the Oratorio Society of Washington.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jose Luis Sanchez is a singer of melodies drawn from the art song, opera, oratorio, and zarzuela repertoire. He's appeared in San Juan, New York, Freiburg, and here, where Robert Londis coaches his transition from baritone to tenor. Jose says, "When I work, God respects me, but when I sing He loves me."

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, beginning at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Matthew van Hoose and playing for friends in venues like Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

---

Notes on the Program:

Corelli's music appears on our program for the first time tonight. Known to novel and movie buffs primarily for his mandolin, he was a major performer and composer for the violin at Rome, enjoying the favor of the highest church circles. His oeuvre has been transcribed for many other instruments; we love the way this brief sonata works on the horn.

What can be said about Bach that hasn't been said better by others? That he enjoyed writing for the flute is obvious, but that the flute for which he wrote was often not silver and was far harder to play, and that the cembalo accompanying the flute was smaller, could not rise in volume, and had no pedals.

Rarely was Mozart more eloquent than in this somber musing on his own mortality, though its composition predated his death by four years.

It may seem a long leap from Mozart to Brahms. Why do we perform so much Brahms? Simply because we find it a seemingly inexhaustible mine of riches. This set of four duets was written for the women's chorale that he led in his native Hamburg. Charming, harmonically ravishing, and full of his favorite rhythmic tricks, their material appears many times in different forms throughout his orchestral as well as his vocal and chamber works.

Liszt brought a measure of intensity to his work. Writing at the flood tide of 19th-century romanticism, he reveled in the passionate sonnets the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch wrote on his unrequited love for Laura, setting three of them both as piano solos and songs for tenor.

If you think that was a great leap, this one a lot bigger. This sonata, written for Jean Pierre Rampal and dedicated to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, is a different kind of ecstasy of two voices, but these aren't human. Although Poulenc wrote primarily for singers, he was fascinated by bird songs, incorporating them frequently into his music for winds, as in this sumptuously gorgeous work.

Tonight's program ends with a SWCP favorite, one that remains fresh and vibrant. Odd as it seems, Schubert's melancholy Auf dem Strom was once rearranged for performance by a tenor who could and did also play the horn. Fortunately for us all, that version was never recorded for posterity and doesn't seem to have survived otherwise.

---

The Sixty-Eighth Concert

Wednesday, September 11, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Miriam Albin Bradley, viola

Take Ariga, cello

Gerard Catus, reader

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Allegro moderato - Adagio - Allegretto

Allegro - Adagio - Andante grazioso - Allegro

Our Artists:

Miriam Albin Bradley began her formal musical studies in Cairo, Egypt, on the piano, continuing later on viola with the NSO's Murray Labman. At the University of Richmond, she earned degrees in math and music, studying with Honggang Li of the Shanghai Quartet. A performer in many venues, in her spare time, Miriam also researches folk songs.

Taka Ariga worked closely with Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory while pursuing engineering degrees. Also an avid pianist and conductor passionate about chamber music, Taka counts classical music as an integral part of his professional life as a consultant, collaborating frequently Herbert Greenberg, George Lucktenberg, and Jane Bastien.

Hardly a stranger to Southwesters, Gerard Catus is a brilliant newcomer to SWCP. He is the president of the SW Neighborhood Assembly.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Matthew van Hoose and playing for friends in venues like Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Notes on the Program:

Schubert's magical sonata for the six-stringed half-guitar, half-cello arpeggione is actually 100% of the literature for this odd contraption which was invented in 1823 in Vienna, and forgotten there in 1824. That said, however, this delicious bit of Viennese fluff which, ideally, is best listened to with a stein of frothy German beer in hand, makes a perfect showpiece for any number of instruments, including flute and clarinet, though most generally the cello, as we heard here in April or, as tonight, the viola.

The saga of Ashokan Farewell begins in the Catskill Mountains of Ashokan, N.Y., where fiddler Jay Ungar runs a summer fiddle and dance camp for adults (ashokan is an Indian word meaning a place to fish - in fact, it's a reservoir!) Feeling morose and abandoned when the camp closed after the 1982 season, Ungar sat down and composed a nineteenth-century Appalachian-style lament for his departed friends. In tears when his new work was finished, he decided to call it his "Ashokan Farewell."

The following year, he recorded it with his band. Not long after, Public Broadcasting's Ken Burns heard it and asked if he might use it for a documentary he was planning on the Civil War, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Linking this wispy, plaintive melody to Major Ballou's heart-rending letter was Burns's brilliant inspiration, and SWCP feels that the combination is highly appropriate to the solemn events that we remember tonight.

This is not the first time we've presented the fruits of Brahms's late-in-life collaboration with clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld - the aging, bearded man who said he was through with chamber music and the handsome young one he insisted on dubbing his Fraülein Klarinette. But we've never before substituted the astringent sound of a viola in place of a clarinet (it was published both ways) to realize this wonderfully imaginative trio.

In this unusually fresh work, Brahms anticipates the advent of jazz in experimenting with rhythm. Avoiding the traditionally strong downbeats of conventional music where possible, he syncopates the rhythmic flow - one instrument has sole responsibility for the first beat of each measure, which then challenges the others to find their way. The first movement, a mildly aggressive allegro, and slow, lyrical adagio are both full of delicious syncopations, followed by the interlude of a charming Viennese ländler. The crowning finale is a fiery rondo in which a 2/4 beat alternates with 6/8 or 9/8, adding more than a touch of Gypsy spice. This pure classic Brahms is among the most enjoyable works in the chamber canon.

---

The Sixty-Seventh Concert

Thursday, August 15, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Rosemarie Houghton and Joyce Bouvier, sopranos

Jose Luis Sanchez, tenor

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

THE FOUR SEASONS:

A potpourri of opera, lieder, and pop

in memory of Sue Goetz Ross

---

The Sixty-Sixth Concert

Thursday, July 11, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

THE WESTWOOD QUARTET:

Patricia Cochran and Cecilie Jones, violin

Robert Huesmann, viola

Jan Timbers, 'cello

The Program:

---

The Sixty-Fourth Concert

Tuesday, May 21, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Take Ariga, cello

Jason Koczur, horn

Elizabeth Lawrence, soprano

Allison Hughes, mezzo

Jose Luis Sanchez, tenor

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Delicamente e con espressione - Vivace, leggiero - Allegro con brio

Allegro ma non tanto - Scherzo. Allegro molto - Adagio cantabile - Allegro vivace

1. Ridente la calma, K. 249

2. Luise und seine Briefe, K. 281

3. Abendempfindung

1. Geheimnis, op. 71, #3

2. Von ewiger Liebe, op. 43, #1

3. Vergebliches Ständchen, op. 84, #4

Amor ti vieta (Fedora)

Come un bel di di maggio (Andrea Chénier)

About the Artists:

Taka Ariga worked closely with Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory while pursuing engineering degrees. Also an avid pianist and conductor, he counts classical music as a major part of his professional life as a consultant. Passionate about chamber music, Taka often collaborates with Kates, Herbert Greenberg, Geroge Lucktenberg, and Jane Bastien.

Jason Koczur is a Northern Virginian returned from 7 years of horn study, 5 in Boston with Eric Ruske and Richard Menaul and 2 in London with Michael Thompson and Richard Watkins. Currently he's working with Edwin Thayer of the NSO while free-lancing in Allentown and Palm Beach.

Attention to detail and joy in making music are two things Elizabeth Lawrence shares with students in her capacity as director of Madrigals at Madeira School. A veteran performer, she holds a DMA from Peabody and masters from Illinois-Champaign. Among Beth's special passions are Mozart symphonies, Jane Austen novels, and her dog Princess Sniffy.

Allison Hughes joins us for the second time tonight. Bachelor of Music from the University of Central Florida, she sings regularly with the Master Chorale and recently gave a most impressive recital at the Lyceum in Alexandria. Best of all, she simply adores Brahms! Jose Luis Sanchez is the self-propelled product of many voice teachers and coaches, workshops and master classes. With a repertoire including art songs, opera, oratorio, and zarzuela, he's sung in New York City and Freiburg, Germany. Of his art, he says, "When I work, God respects me, but when I sing He loves me."

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of 6. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to just being a musical amateur, studying with Matthew van Hoose and playing for friends in venues like Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Calif.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

---

The Sixty-Third Concert

Thursday, April 25, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

John Kaboff, violoncello

Alfred Clark, piano

The Program:

About the Artists:

John Kaboff studied cello at the Universities of Illinois and Indiana, and later in France, Germany, England, and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. A major prize winner in Germany, he's performed with the Concertgebouw and toured Australia. Using his splendid circa 1710 Stradivarius, he teaches a private class of young artists here.

Since receiving degrees from Catholic U., Alfred Clark has put them to good use in Germany, Italy, and the United States as a chamber pianist and vocal accompanist. Among his teachers have been Birgit Nilsson and Rudolf Firkusny. Currently, he accompanies the NSO Youth Fellowship program in recitals, master classes, and the Summer Music Institute.

---

The Sixty-Second Concert

part of the NATIONAL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL

Thursday, April 4, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Carl Tretter, violin

Miriam Albin Bradley and Alfred Regnery, viola

Taka Ariga, cello

Edward Skidmore, bass

David Ehrlich, piano

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano

The Program:

1. Allegro vivace - 2. Adagio - 3. Minuetto. Agitato - 4. Allegro vivace con fuoco

INTERMISSION

1. Allegro vivace - 2. Andante - 3. Scherzo: Presto - 4. Tema é variazioni: Andantino, Allegretto - 5. Tempo giusto

About the Artists:

Music lover and good SWCP friend Carl Tretter enjoys performing on his 1760 Landolfi fiddle in local orchestras and chamber groups and at the Bennington (Vermont) summer chamber workshop. Beginning violin studies at age six, he spent eight summers at the camp in Interlochen. Lawyer/ businessman Carl specializes in real estate and investments.

Miriam Albin (only recently Bradley) began her formal musical studies on the piano in Cairo, continuing later on viola with the NSO's Murray Labman. At the U. of Richmond, she earned degrees in mathematics and music, studying with Honggang Li of the Shanghai Quartet. A performed in many venues, in her spare time she also researches folk songs.

Alfred Regnery has played violin and viola for too many years (he says), currently chamber music in Alexandria and regular concerts in Madison County, Virginia. Daytimewise, lawyer/publisher Al specializes in what he likes to call "provocative nonfiction."

Taka Ariga worked closely with Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory while pursuing engineering degrees. Also an avid pianist and conductor, he counts classical music as an integral part of his professional life as a consultant. Passionate about chamber music, Taka frequently collaborates with musicians the stature of Herbert Greenberg, Stephen Kates, George Lucktenberg, and Jane Bastien.

Twice degreed from the University of Michigan, Ed Skidmore went on to do a short stint with the U.S. Air Force Band, followed by a much longer one (thirty-six years) with the National Symphony. His magnificent huge black instrument is a circa 1570 Amati.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Matthew van Hoose and playing for friends in venues like Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Our charming friend Rosemarie Houghton is from Pittsburgh, where she sang with its Opera. Locally, she often appears with Coral Cantigas, a Latin American chamber choir, and teaches voice at both Catholic and NVCC. Her latest triumph was as soloist in a presentation of the works of contemporary Mexican composer Marcela Rodriguez.

Notes on the Program:

Tonight's concert showcases the early talents of three prodigious young men. The Mozart aria, an ardent declaration of love, is from an rarely heard opera of the master's nineteenth year; the Mendelssohn sextet is the work of a precocious fifteen-year-old; and Schubert penned his fabled Trout at the ripe old age of twenty.

In tackling the Mendelssohn, our ensemble approaches orchestral stature, with the critical exception that there's no conductor. That being the case, the risk of things coming apart increases dramatically. So save for a few florid violin passages, the strings are reduced to simple ensemble playing, thereby allowing the pianist to have a very good time indeed. A caution, though: as the action on modern pianos is typically heavier than those of the early nineteenth century, the furious tempos indicated in the score are not always possible. However, we expect to try very hard!

Schubert's sparkling Trout is doubtless the most familiar piece in the chamber canon. Composed in 1819, it originated as music prepared for a casual evening among friends. The idea of setting his own song, written two years earlier on Schubart's poem of the same name, was suggested by his aristocratic friend Sylvester Paumgartner, an amateur cellist. In fact, the first performance was held at Steyr, Paumgartner's palatial estate outside Vienna. The song (see white sheet for text and translation) appears in the fourth movement as the theme for a set of variations.

Why is the Trout in five movements? We don't know -- it may be because there were five friends, and each of the five needed a movement to fully express himself! We do know that its unusual instrumentation (a double bass instead of a second violin) is at least part of what produces the deliciously cavernous tonal effect. In any event, due to the intricate writing and glittering filigree that give bravura opportunities to each of the five players, this charming bit of froth is often associated with such high-spirited celebrations as those honoring the magnificent Japanese cherry trees whose glorious blossoms grace our city for the ninetieth year.

We could say more, but it's a lot more fun to simply listen and ENJOY!

---

The Sixty-First Concert

Thursday, February 21, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Mary Josie Blanchard, flute

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Martha Strickland, soprano

David Ehrlich & Graham Down, piano

The Program:

---

The Sixtieth Concert

Thursday, January 22, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The Ironwood Recorders

Joyce Bouvier and Sue Goetz Ross

The Program:

---

The Fifty-Ninth Concert

Wednesday, December 20, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

The Program:

---

The Fifty-Eighth Concert

Wednesday, November 14, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Elise Baker, violin

Allison Hughes, contralto

David Reiner, oboe

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Alan Karnovitz, bassoon

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Elegie - Vivace - Deploration

INTERMISSION

Jocul cu bátá - Brául - Pe loc - Buciumeana - Poarcá románeascá - Manuntelul

Allegro - Scherzo. Presto - Larghetto - Allegro risoluto

About the Artists:

No stranger to the D.C. music scene, Elise Baker has tagged along after her violist mother and cellist father for a decade. Twelfth-grader Elise studies with Ronda Cole and Jody Gatwood, soloing with the McLean Orchestra, Fairfax and Arlington symphonies, Landon Symphonette, and Rock Creek Chamber Players. She last appeared with us in a memorable reading of the Brahms G major sonata.

Allison Hughes joins us for the first time tonight. A bachelor of music from the U. of Central Florida, she sings regularly with the Master Chorale and has just given a most impressive recital at the Lyceum in Alexandria.

David Reiner graduated from American University, where he majored in music and served as principal oboe in the AU orchestra. He plans to continue playing in the area and pursue further musical degrees. A Civil War renactor in season, Dave's happy at the moment just playing for food.

Southwest Chamber stalwart Jerry Schwarz began his musical studies at age 10 in Los Angeles. A teacher at American University and avid chamber musician, he's also appeared with the D.C. Community Orchestra and Rock Creek Woodwind Quintet.

Alan Karnovitz is an environmental consultant who, after a lengthy hiatus from playing music, returned to the bassoon eight years ago, studying with the NSO's Truman Harris and playing with the Pan-American and McLean symphonies.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at seven) that he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Marilyn Neeley and playing for friends in Eugene, Ore.; Milton, Mass.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Notes on the Program:

There's sadness in every work of Mozart, superficially joyful though it may seem. This lovely, highly evocative short piece, a mini-symphony of its own, moves easily from andante to adagio to presto before finally settling into a gentle allegretto.

Brahms's Rhapsody for Contralto, Men's Chorus, and Orchestra is a sublimely masterful melding of music and text that realized his own somber mood in the year 1869.

Much has often been made of the composer's relationship with Clara Schumann, the widow of his mentor Robert. However, considerably less is known of his infatuation with Clara's daughter Julie, whom he worshiped from afar. The lovely, fragile Julie, 17 years old at the time she so fascinated Brahms, was in fact a sickly child who did not live to the age of 23. Yet such was his delicacy (or inability to declare himself) that he never made her aware of his passion, so it was neither returned nor rejected.

To Brahms' horror, he had to learn from a third party while away from Vienna of her engagement to a minor nobleman whom he considered woefully unworthy of her. And this news threw him into a fit of depression which he could only assuage by finding an equally depressing text (from Goethe's Harzreise in Winter, culling its most heart-rending passages and setting them to the saddest music he could summon. He then swore his friends to silence, insisting that they never reveal his reason for writing it to either Clara or her daughter.

Slightly misnamed, this rhapsody is actually a meditation on misery, a marriage of music and text that is very little short of perfection. The gloomy heaths high in the Harz Mountains, picturesque enough in June (see painting above) but bleak and inhospitable in November, are the quintessential setting where this unhappy soul can indulge his bitter self-pity to his heart's content. "Balsam is poison, for he whom the hatred of men has driven from the fullness of love." The harsh, crashing tremolos of the opening, rather like the introit of a somber religious ceremony, give way to an eloquent, meditative aria that is the stuff of despair, filled with rising and falling cries of the utmost melancholy. Some resolution is possible in the third verse, in which the omniscient mother soloist (a frequent figure in Brahms's music) is normally accompanied by a four-part men's chorus, pleads to whatever powers might prevail to assuage the poor man's suffering, though such a happy conclusion appears unlikely.

Poulenc wrote extensively for voice; when he turns to the wind family, he's still writing for the voice. More elegy than sonata, this oboe piece is arguably the saddest piece in the literature. Though its dedication is to his contemporary Sergei Prokofiev, it can be considered a generic lament for the dead.

Bartók's six bumptious Romanian Dances are a pure tour de force for the violin - the piano is merely along for the ride. The somewhat bacchanalian tunes are folk melodies he collected in the Transylvanian region of Romania (part of Hungary prior to World War I) and used often throughout his musical output.

The oddly named Glinka trio (we find nothing pathetic about it!) was first done here by the ensemble Contrasts, with the bassoon part transcribed for the viola. Another oddity: though the composer is known as the father of Russian music, we find precious little about it that's Russian, either. An early work, it reflects his time spent as a young man amid the salons of Rome and Naples.

---

The Fifty-Seventh Concert

Wednesday, October 10, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Dawn Culbertson, lutenist

The Program:

---

The Fifty-Sixth Concert

Tuesday, September 25, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Laura Bachmann, soprano

Carolyn Zolbe, alto

Charles Bachmann, tenor

Paul Danaher, bass

Elizabeth Dyson and David Ehrlich, piano

John Kaboff, violoncello

Alfred Clark, piano

The Program:

1. Rede, Mädchen, all zu liebes

2. Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut

3. O die Frauen, wie als Wonne tauen

4. Wie des Abends schöne Röte

5. Die grüne Hopfen ranke

6. Ein kleine, hübsche Vögel

7. Wohl schön bewandt war es

8. Wenn so lind dein Auge mir

9. Am Donau Strande da steht ein Haus

10. O, wie sanft die Quelle sich

11. Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen

12. Schlösser, auf! und mache Schlosser

13. Vögelein, durschrauscht die Luft

14. Sieh, wie ist die Welle klar

15. Nachtigall, sie singt so schön

16. Ein dunkeler Schwach ist Liebe

17. Nicht wandle, mein Licht

18. Es bebet das Gesträuche

INTERMISSION

Allegro moderato e maestoso - Allegro non troppo

About the Artists:

Laura Bachmann delighted a Carnegie Hall audience with her solo rendition of Pierné's Children's Crusade (with the National Symphony), not to mention ours with an imitation of a cat. Otherwise, she sings regularly around town, especially with the Bach Consort and Washington Chorus.

Carolyn Zolbe: lifetime musician. First came singing, then whistling, piano lessons, school trombone, chorus, and 28 years as an elementary school teacher, singing daily with her students and mounting an annual slam-dunk musical. 27 years in the Paul Hill Chorale's professional core.

Charles "Chip" Bachmann also sings in the Washington Chorus and Bach Consort in between soloing at area churches and cameo roles with the American Music Stage in Annandale.

Born in England, Paul Danaher sang with the BBC radio chorus and later with the English National Opera. After two seasons at the Cantiere Internazionale di Montepulciano, he moved to Germany, where he recorded with Westdeutsche and Hessische Rundfunk before a 20-year hiatus doing narrations and voiceovers.

Elizabeth Dyson embarked on a second career as a chamber musician after 30 years of practicing law. Currently a pianist at the Washington School of Ballet, she has accompanied the Odyssey Opera Theater and also taught ballet accompaniment at the Levine School of Music.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn't destined to be the next Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Marilyn Neeley and playing for friends in venues like Eugene, Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

John Kaboff studied cello at the Universities of Illinois and Indiana, and later in France, Germany, England, and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. A major prize winner in Germany, he's performed with the Concertgebouw and toured Australia. Using his splendid circa 1710 Stradivarius, he teaches a private class of young artists here.

Since receiving degrees from Catholic U., Alfred Clark has put them to good use in Germany, Italy, and the United States as a chamber pianist and vocal accompanist. Among his teachers have been Birgit Nilsson and Rudolf Firkusny. Currently, he accompanies the NSO Youth Fellowship program in recitals, master classes, and the Summer Music Institute.

Notes on the Program:

Brahms took years to write his first symphony. While he was an orchestra composer in waiting, he honed his musical skills by writing charming "hausmusik" pieces intended for home pleasure. Setting the sweet, sentimental texts of Daumer's Polydora verses to faintly Slavic melodies with a distinctly Viennese spin, he succeeded in reflecting the emotions of joy and anguish experienced by young lovers everywhere.

During his lifetime, he earned more from these little waltzes than anything else he ever wrote. In their day they were the equivalent of the popular ballads that enchanted lovers the world over until our own, when they've been so rudely supplanted by something called rock.

It's a bit sad that virtually all we know of Saint-Saens' music is the Carnival of the Animals and the Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. So much more of this elegant Frenchman's work is worth hearing. A case in point is this unknown second concerto for cello and orchestra whose solo part is so complex that much of it has to be written on two staves (or memorized by the performer).

The work has only two movements, the first of which is a sort of polonaise with a virtuoso sostenuto which is in effect a cadenza. The second is a more traditional scherzo, one loaded with double stops (two notes on two strings at once), which are both the bane and the road to glory for the soloist.

---

The Fifty-Fifth Concert

Wednesday, August 22, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Joyce Bouvier, Rosemarie Houghton, Sue Goetz Ross, Bruce Crane and Jose Luis Sanchez, singers

Linda Bryant, flute

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Loyd Newman, bass

David Ehrlich, piano

Pauline LeMarie, reader

The Program:

---

The Fifty-Third Concert

Thursday, May 24, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Elise Baker, violin

Jose Luis Sanchez, baritone

Wendy Hodge, oboe

David Ehrlich, piano

and John Kaboff's "Heavenly Bows" cello choir

The Program:

Vivace ma non troppo - Adagio - Allegro molto moderato

About the Artists:

Jose Luis Sanchez is the self-propelled product of many voice teachers and coaches, workshops and master classes. His wide repertoire of art songs, opera, oratorio, and zarzuela, has been heard in New York City, Freiburg, Germany, and in our town as well, with the National Men's Chorus. In his words, "When I work, God respects me ... but when I sing He loves me."

Elise Baker is 15 years old. She comes of a distinguished musical lineage: her father is a prominent cellist around Washington, and her recently deceased mother played violin and viola for the Bach Consort and others. She was first violin in last year's Christmas concert.

Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Wendy Hodge graduated from that university. Having played with the Huntsville and Tuscaloosa symphonies and Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra, she's now headed for a Master's at the U. of Maryland. Her greatest thrill to date was sharing a stage with William Warfield.

"Impresario" of this series, David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at seven) he wasn't destined to be Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur, studying with Marilyn Neeley and playing for friends in venues like Eugene, Oregon; Toba, Japan; Tiburon, California; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

John Kaboff studied cello at the Universities of Illinois and Indiana, and later in France, Germany, England, and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. A major prize winner in Germany, he's performed with such prominent European orchestras as the Concertgebouw and toured Australia. Using his splendid circa 1710 Stradivarius, he teaches the private class of young artists whom we hear tonight.

Program Notes:

Beginning actually before his 27-year tenure at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Bach was regularly called upon to produce church cantatas for each week of the year, using whatever instrumental and vocal forces might be at his disposal. Many of the texts, (better left untranslated!) have to do with the "joys" of death and dying, and #82 is no exception. Aria titles like "I have had enough," or "I rejoice at my impending death" belie the joyous melodies and lively contrapuntal accompaniments.

However, when it comes to Brahms's three violin sonatas (the last of which we performed last month), it is hard to have enough. A consummate craftsman, he constantly revised his work, destroying anything that did not meet his rigorous self-imposed standards, so we are hearing precisely what he intended us to hear.

Two songs, "Regenlied" (Rain) and "Nachklang" (Echo), define the sweetly somber mood of the impassioned outer movements; the graceful adagio between is a thoughtful elegy.

---

The Fifty-Second Concert

Thursday, April 26, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Legacy Brass

Maryland Brass Ensemble

The Program:

---

The Fifty-First Concert

A SALUTE TO THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS

(an official Cherry Blossom Festival event)

Thursday, April 5, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Jenny Cieplak, violin

Amanda Scheetz, viola

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

1. Allegro - 2. Adagio - 3. Scherzo: Un poco presto e con sentimento - 4. Presto agitato

Our Artists:

Jenny Cieplak, violin, is a student of Robert Gerle at Catholic University. Having played with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Mt. Vernon Chamber Orchestra, and Washington Pro Musica, Jenny plans to begin studying for a Master's in violin performance next year.

Coached by Lisa Ponton of the President's Own marine band, Amanda Scheetz is a busy woman: 1) working toward a B.A. in viola performance at NVCC; 2) playing with several local chamber groups; and 3) coaching her three children, Spencer, 11; Katherine, 8; and Alexander, 6, in music. This summer she plans a week of chamber study in Austria.

Rosemarie Ruiz Houghton hails from Pittsburgh, where she sang with its Opera. Since moving here, she's sung with the National Symphony. She also appears with Coral Cantigas, a Latin American chamber choir, and teaches voice at Catholic and NVCC.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Soon realizing he wasn't destined to be Horowitz, he's resigned himself to playing for charities and friends, in venues as diverse as Eugene, Oregon; Tiburon, California; N.Y. City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Notes on the Program:

Schubert was not noted for the orderliness of his life. This enigmatic trio was published posthumously under a title - not his - suggesting a slow, languorous piece suitable for the evening. But why? Perhaps he intended it to stand by itself; perhaps it is a fragment of a third four-movement trio which he never wrote. In any case, it's a great, alternately contemplative and majestic, joy-ride for the piano, with strings allowed to share in the ride.

Though untitled, Schumann's charming Fairy Tales are among the more delightful products of this brilliant but sadly flawed mind. The father of seven children and contemporary of the Grimm brothers, he loved to write music that was not necesarily for children that evoked elves, toy soldiers, river gods, and other similar denizens of the world of make-believe. We play three of a set of four, all set for the sonorities of clarinet, viola, and piano.

Brahms's glorious German Requiem is a choral piece. Written in part as a memorial to his mother, it is an eloquent statement of the affirmation of life. The soprano aria was actually composed a few months after the original work's premiere. Its consoling words include: "Ye are now sorrowful, but ye shall see me again. I will gladden your hearts and no man shall take away your joy. I will comfort you, as one whom his own mother comforts. Look upon me; ye know that for a little while labor and sorrow were mine, but I have found comfort at the last."

This splendid D minor violin sonata, the last of his three, is the product of a placid summer by a Swiss lake, far distant from the wild gypsy mood of its first and last movements. In turn capricious, brilliant, and tender, it is among the composer's most eloquent works, conceived in the grand manner for both instruments and intended to be performed with ... cautious abandon.

---

The Fifth Anniversary/Fiftieth Concert

Thursday, March 15, 2001, 7:30 p.m.

The Program:

David Ehrlich, piano

Paul Weiss, trumpet

John Kaboff, cello

Liz Dyson, piano; Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Carl Tretter, violin

Mary Josie Blanchard, Carl Blackwell, flutes

Wendy Hodge, oboe; Mark Noble, bassoon

Nayiri Poochikian, violin

Wendy Hodge

Amanda Scheetz, viola; Jerry Schwarz

Ironwood Recorders

Jose Luis Sanchez, baritone

Joyce Bouvier, soprano; Tom Blackburn, cello

Linda Bryant, flute

Jason Koczur, horn

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano; Jerry Schwarz

Program Notes:

It's astonishing how time passes, isn't it? Four years ago, in need of a Washington venue for a talented ensemble of European musicians, we turned to our friend Father John Talbott here at Saint Augustine's to ask if we might rent the church with its sensational acoustics and excellent piano. Not only did he accede graciously to our request, he said we could have it free as long as we did not charge admission. Thereby assured of a home but with no money, we set out to find an audience. Pulling in every possible chit, we gathered 125 curious presumably music-starved Southwesters and Post critic Joseph McClellan.

At the conclusion of that concert, we asked the audience if they'd be willing to support a series of monthly chamber music programs admittedly performed by amateurs. Receiving an enthusiastic affirmative answer, we did a shaky but whole-hearted Brahms Horn Trio the next month, and we were off. And now, four years later, you're all still with us. Bless you all for your support -- moral and financial!

In addition to our fifth anniversary, tonight's also marks our 50th consecutive performance. More than 70 singers and instrumentalists have performed with us, as well as a dozen outside groups. The list of works we've done (humbly posted outside), while far from encyclopedic, is one that any performing ensemble would be proud of, and though we can't individually say that every single performance was perfect (several weren't!), we are pleased to have brought a wide representation of the broad chamber music repertoire to our community.

We are all deeply grateful to our three partners without whose help none of this would be possible. The first is Joyce Bouvier, who's turned countless pages flawlessly, even on evenings in which she's been part of the performance; next is our talented recording engineer Paul Moon, who puts us regularly on disc; last and best is my wonderful wife, Barbara, who has graciously contributed refreshments and flowers for all 50 concerts.

---

The Forty-Seventh Concert

Wednesday, December 20, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano

Stephen Roberts, baritone

Sue Goetz Ross, mezzo-soprano

Paul Weiss, trumpet

Amanda Scheetz, viola

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

and the Southwest Chamber Music Players "Orchestra"

& John Kaboff's Bow Lightlys and the Potomac Mandoolin Ensemble

The Program:

Dona nobis pacem, German canon

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by J.S. Bach

Sheep may Safely Graze by J.S. Bach

Legend by P.I. Tschaikowsky

O come, Emanuel, 13th century plainsong

Jingle Bells, Traditional

Adagio - Allegro - Grave - Allegro

Adeste Fideles (arr. D. Wilcocks)

Silent Night (Gruber/Mohr)

Geistliches Wiegenlied (Brahms)

In the Bleak Midwinter (Traditional)

Hark the Herald Angels (Mendelssohn)

Cantique de Noel (Adolphe Adam)

---

Tuesday Concert Series

The Church of the Epiphany at 1317 G Street, NW

Tuesday, November 14, 2000, 12:10 p.m.

Featuring:

Jenny Cieplak, violin

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Wendy Hodge, oboe

Mark Noble, bassoon

Rosemary Houghton, soprano

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Ouverture - Divertissement - Jeux - Moderé - Vif

I. Lent. Presto - II. Andante con moto - III. Rondo. Très vif

Our Artists:

JENNY CIEPLAK is a violin student of Robert Gerle. Having performedwith the Washington Symphony, Mt. Vernon Chamber Orchestra, and WashingtonPro Musica, she plans to begin studying for a Master's in violin performancenext year.

JERRY SCHWARZ began his musical studies at age 10 in Los Angeles, wherehe was the principal clarinet of the UC-Berkeley Symphony. A teacher atAmerican University and avid chamber musician, he has appeared with the D.C. Community Orchestra and the Rock Creek Woodwind Quintet.

WENDY HODGE, born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, graduated fromthe University of Alabama, and cut her teeth with the Huntsville and Tuscaloosasymphonies and the Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra. Her greatest thrillto date (next to playing with SWCMP) was sharing a stage with William Warfield.

MARK NOBLE has two loves in his life. One is teaching chemistry, whichhe does every day of the school year at Georgetown Day School. The otheris playing his bassoon, which he's done almost every day since he was bigenough to hold one.

ROSEMARIE RUIZ HOUGHTON hails from Pittsburgh, where she sang with itsOpera. Since moving here, she's appeared with the National Symphony andCoral Cantigas, and teaches voice at Catholic University and Northen VirginiaCommunity College.

DAVID EHRLICH learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston,starting at the age of six. Since realizing he wasn't destined to be Horowitz,he has resigned himself to a life of musical amateurship, studying withEva Pierrou and Marilyn Neeley and performing gladly for charities andfriends, in venues as diverse as Eugene, Oregon; Tiburon, California; NewYork City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

---

The Forty-Sixth Concert

Thursday, November 9, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The Modern Brass Trio:

Lisa Emrich, horn; Kirsten Lies-Warfield, trombone; Blair Goins, tuba

Wendy Hodge, oboe

Mark Noble, bassoon

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

I - II - III - IV

I. Lent. Presto - II. Andante con moto - III. Rondo. Très vif

Grave - Allegro - Adagio - Allegro

Our Artists:

Lisa Emrich actively free-lances in the Washington area, performingwith, among others, the Fairfax and Prince William symphonies and the NationalGallery and Baltimore Opera orchestras. Playing a natural horn, she's alsoappeared with Washington Bach Consort and Kantorei. Before moving here,she played with prominent organizations in Owensboro (Ky) and Evansville and Bloomington (Ind.)

A native of Fargo, N.D., Kirsten Lies-Warfield has degrees fromthe Lawrence (Wisc.) University and Indiana, where she studied with M. Dee Stewart. Subsequent study in brass pedagogy was suspended when shejoined the U.S. Army Band as the unit's first woman trombonist.

Two years after Blair Goins completed his B.Music degree at theEastman School, he was commissioned by the U. of Vermont to compose a workfor full orchestra in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Since then,he's played with the Monumental Brass Quintet, Whitworth Brass Ensemble, and Takoma Park Symphony, as well as teaching musical theory at the DukeEllington School.

Wendy Hodge, born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, cut herteeth with the Huntsville and Tuscaloosa symphonies. Her greatest thrill to date (next to playing with SWCMP) was sharing a stage with William Warfield.

Mark Noble has two loves. One is teaching chemistry, which hedoes every day at Georgetown Day School; the other is playing bassoon,which he's done almost every day since he was big enough to hold one.

Impresario of this series since 1997, David Ehrlich learned thepiano from his father, Richard, at the age of six. Realizing he wasn't destined to be Horowitz, he now plays for charities and friends - fromWashington (D.C.) and Boston to California, Oregon, and Hungary.

Program Notes:

Blair Goins's Dances were written especially for the Modern Jazz Trio,and this performance represents its world premiere. Blair has this to sayabout his compositional style: "When I set out to compose any new work, I do not map out a formal structure or "sketch" of the piece before writing the specific notes. Instead, I create the first musical passage, and then proceed to compose, measure by measure, what follows. Where I land at any given moment is as much a surprise to me during the process as it is tothe first-time listener. I trust it will be a pleasant surprise!" Mostof the rest of the brass trio's program is familiar, or at least worksof familiar composers, and they will introduce their music briefly. However,we find the liner notes from the DGG recording of Poulenc's wonderfullyplayful trio so fascinating that we've reproduced them.

Chamber music embraces a wide range of styles, from the loftiest string quartet writing to character pieces and divertimenti whose primeaim is to entertain. In the chamber works of Francis Poulenc it is thelatter element that predominates, but as so often in his compositions,a facade of attractiveness can suddenly reveal unexpected pathos. His bestchamber works are always rooted in the character and colors of the instrumentsfor which they are scored. For this reason, winds heavily outweigh stringsin his choice of ensembles, their differentiated personalities fuelinghis imagination more potently than the more impersonal tone-quality ofstrings. Even more significantly, winds, because they are subject to thelimits of human lung capacity, speak in phrases naturally reminiscent ofthe rhythms of breathing, of language. For Poulenc, as for Igor Stravinsky,whom he greatly admired, this anthropomorphic aspect of their sound wasa source of deep fascination. In Poulenc's case, these overtones of thehuman voice had a special significance, as throughout his career he excelledas a composer of songs.

This trio accurately reflects his predilection for wind sonorities. Further, it was relatively early in his career (at age 27) that this medium featured most predominantly. It is against the background of the ballet LesBiches, which he wrote on commission from the famous Russian choreographer Diaghilev, that it might best be viewed. In that score, he did nothingto hide his passionate admiration for Stravinsky's earlier ballet Pulcinella (1920), in which music by 18th-century composers is treated to a tactfuldose of modernist dissonance and accidental displacement. But he broughtanother element to the Stravinsky cocktail, a sentimental expressivenesswhich periodically sweetens the Russian's more acerbic influence; thus,both the spry rhythms and harmonies of the neoclassical Stravinsky andhis own slightly indulgent moments of tenderness inform this work.

In the slow introduction to the first movement, itself a neoclassical allusion to the French overture, the tone is sober and formal. But in the subsequent Allegro, the effervescent charm of the piece is apparent, forexample, in the bravura rising scale in parallel tenths for the winds.With only the interruption of a cadenza-like passage introducing a morelyrical interlude, the entire movement consists of an engaging successionof catchily diatonic themes, perky rhythms, nimble articulation, and colorfulharmonic incidents. The second movement is cast in a more fragile, pensivemood, with a main theme just a tad too cloying for Mozart, but certainlyechoing Classical manners. And in a similar way, the gigue-like finalehas an 18th-century allusion, but the tone is more self-conscious thanthe model. As with the first movement, the delightful proliferation ofthematic material is enough in itself. We scarcely need the rather toocontrived harking back to one of the first-movement themes which Poulencinserted for the sake of structural unity.

- Jeremy Cox, for DGG

---

The Forty-Fifth Concert

Thursday, October 5, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Jenny Cieplak, violin

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Joyce Bouvier, soprano

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Allegro - Andante and variations - Rondo

Allegro moderato - "Caoine." Adagio - Allegretto

Ouverture - Divertissement - Jeu - Moderé - Vif

Our Artists:

Making her SWCP debut tonight, Jenny Cieplak is a student ofRobert Gerle. Having performed with the Washington Symphony, Mt. VernonChamber Orchestra, and Washington Pro Musica, she plans to begin studyingfor a Master's in violin performance next year.

SWCP regular Jerry Schwarz began his musical studies at ageten in Los Angeles. Currently a teacher at American University, avid chambermusician, and father of two more avid chamber musicians, he's also appearedwith the Rock Creek Woodwind Quintet.

Though trained in opera and art songs, Joyce Bouvier has since crossed over to popular music. In between her appearances with SWCMP, she now performs frequently for residents of retirement and nursing homes.

Impresario of this series since 1997, David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, at the age of six. Realizing he wasn'tdestined to be Horowitz, he now plays for charities and friends - fromWashington and Boston to California and Hungary.

Program Notes:

Beethoven came to Vienna in 1790 to study with Franz Joseph Haydn, the reigning musical genius of the day, and his earliest work there does notyet reflect the highly individual style that evolved with dramatic improvements in the piano, the violin, and the concert hall. Though this first of histen violin sonatas looks back more to Haydn than it does forward, the melodies are uniquely his.

Sometimes dubbed the English Brahms for his lush late romantic (perhaps Victorian) harmonies, Stanford was actually an Irishman. Entering to Cambridge in 1870, he soon became conductor of the university orchestra and rarelyvisited his homeland. His first love, compositions based on Irish folksongs,for which he won a number of prizes, includes tonight's splendid sonata,and is based on such mournful tunes. The title of the wonderful second-movementdirge means "keening," an uniquely Irish way to lament.

The operatic arias we've chosen tonight include two Puccini favorites, plus, since we're all Irish (or partly so) tonight, one in which both the subject and the composer are Hibernian in origin.

Milhaud exemplifies the playful aspect of some of the French music turned out by a group called "Les Cinq," who had tired of the impressionism ofDebussy. Witty, irreverent, and fun, this delightful five-part work explorescombining instruments considered uncombinable. Be sure to listen for snatchesof the "Lullaby of Broadway!"

---

The Forty-Fourth Concert

Wednesday, September 13, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Wendy Hodge, David Reiner, oboe

Betsy Reveal, Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Cliff Carter, Mark Noble, bassoon

Rosemarie Houghton, soprano

Barbara Showalter, horn

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

---

The Forty-Third Concert

Wednesday, August 16, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Rosemarie Ruiz Houghton, Sue Goetz Ross, Joyce Bouvier, Bruce Crane

Ironwood Recorder Ensemble

Loyd Newman, bass

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Our Artists:

Rosemarie Ruiz Houghton hails from Pittsburgh, where she sang with its Opera. Since moving here, she's sung with the National Symphony. She also appears with the Latin American chamber choir Coral Cantigas and teaches voice at Catholic and NVCC.

Dr. Sue Goetz Ross lends us her mellow alto again. A former flutist with a PhD from Columbia, she's performed in six European countries. Athome, she solos regularly, both on her own and with the Washington BachConsort, Carmina, Kantorei, Musica Antiqua, and other organizations specializingin early music.

Trained in opera and art songs, Joyce Bouvier has since crossed over to popular music and now performs regularly for residents of retirement and nursing homes.

Loyd Newman has jazzed things up at local clubs for years. Currently, you can hear him each Friday and Saturday night at the MarketInn.

David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, inBoston, starting at the age of six. Since discovering (at 7) he wasn'tdestined to be Horowitz, he's resigned himself to life as a musical amateur,studying with Marilyn Neeley and playing for friends in venues like Eugene,Ore.; Tiburon, Cal.; New York City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

The Ironwood Recorder Ensemble has been together for a number of years playing music of various styles, notably Baroque and Renaissance. It consists of Doug Martz, Frances Storey, Bruce Crane, and Dan Oliver.

---

The Forty-Second Concert

Thursday, July 20, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

The Hunt Quartet

Ray and Diane Cultrera, violins

Kathy Ferger, viola

Tom Blackburn, cello

Stephen Kline, piano

Christian Hummel, flute

The Program:

1. Early Song (1944) - 2. Dedication (1944) - 3. Composer's Holiday(1945)

1. Poco allegretto - 2. Adagio - 3. Andante; allegretto scherzando

Allegro ma non troppo - Dumka: Andante con moto - Furiant: Moltovivace - Finale: Allegro

Our Artists:

The Hunt String Quartet (Ray and Diane Cultrera, violins; Kathy Ferger, viola; and Tom Blackburn, cello) was formed in 1993 from membersof the Washington Symphony. They perform throughout the Washington area.

Stephen Kline holds degrees in performance from West Virginia and Catholic universities. He studies with Leander Bien.

Christian Hummel is an astronomer with the U.S. Naval Observatory. Born in Germany, he has studied the flute since age 10, most recently with Karen Johnson at the Levine School. He has performed pieces by Copland,Hindemith, Enesco, and Dutilleux as well as numerous solo and accompaniedworks for interested friends. He's also joined the Hexagon Orchestra atthe Duke Ellington School in its last several performances.

Notes on the Program:

Born Lukas Fuchs in Germany in 1922, Foss conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic for eight years during which he was known for innovative programming, much of it his own compositions. Leaving Buffalo for Brooklyn, and later Milwaukee, he continued to refine his fondness for the avant-garde.

Czech-born Martinu left his homeland to study in Paris with Albert Roussel. Although he was not Jewish, he incurred the Nazis' wrath, and was forcedto flee to New York in 1940 with barely the shirt on his back. Arrivinghere, he was befriended by Serge Koussevitzky, who installed him at theBoston Symphony's summer home in Tanglewood. Though he hoped to returnhome,he found Communism incompatible, and made his living here teaching at Princetonand Curtis, and writing prolifically, generally very difficult music. Tonight'strio, though, is remarkably accessible, with its dashes of Czech folk music,the chic Paris of the '30s, and the elegant neoclassicism of Stravinsky.

Dvorak's magnificent Quintet is a stunning example of chamber musicat its finest, combining a strict classic, almost symphonic, form withbits and snatches of delicious folk tunes from his native Bohemia. Themiddle two movements, the dumka and furiant, reflect, respectively, story-tellingaround a gypsy campfire and a joyous peasant dance. Notable are the splendidcello solo at the opening (later echoed by the violin), the rapidly changingrhythms of the dumka, the sweet bell-like trio of the furiant, and themany other small touches that give this wonderful piece its deserved placeamong the best-loved of the piano/string literature.

---

The Forty-First Concert

Wednesday, June 14, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Anna Schwarz, soprano

Miriam Schwarz, cello

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Nicholas Fobe, viola

Elizabeth Dyson, Graham Down, piano

The Program:

1. Zwiegesang(Dialogue) - 2. Wiegenlied (Cradle Song)

Allegro - Scherzando - Adagio ma non troppo - Molto vivace

1. Andante - 2. Allegro con moto - 5. Rumanische Melodie - 6. Nachtgesang

Our Artists:

Southwest Chamber regular Jerry Schwarz began his musical studies at age 10 in Los Angeles. A teacher at American University and avid chamber musician, he's also appeared with the D.C. Community Orchestra and RockCreek Woodwind Quintet.

Nicholas Fobe came to the U.S. in 1979 from Belgium to earn a Masters in Music at the Univ. of Indiana and stayed to complete a law degree at Georgetown. A practicing attorney, he enthusiastically blocks out time to play with friends and colleagues.

Anna Schwarz studied voice at the Levine School with CharlesWilliams. Equally comfortable in both cabaret and art songs, she's currentlya drama major at the Univ. of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Miriam Schwarz started cello at age five. Having studied with Martha Vance for the past eight years, she plays in a chamber trio withflute and violin at Levine coached by Karen Johnson.

Elizabeth Dyson embarked on a second career as a chamber musician after 30 years of practicing law. Currently a pianist at the Odyssey Opera Theater and Washington School of Ballet, she has also taught ballet accompaniment at Levine.

Graham Down, a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, and Christchurch, Oxford, is an associate of the Royal College of Music in organ performance. A past master of math and fund-raising, he's currently master of musicat Epiphany Church in Georgetown.

Notes on the Program:

Vaughan Williams, the English music laureate of the 20th century, adored traveling his native land in search of folk melodies that he determinedto be uniquely British, setting them in an unimaginable range of forms.This is the original instrumentation.

Spohr occupies an unusual place in musical history. A consummately skilled violinist, he isn't really "known" for anything he wrote, which is a pity. Most of his life he was Capellmeister in Cassel, which gave him freedomto compose prolifically and concertize regularly. From most accounts, hewas highly conceited and hard to get along with. These are a small samplingof his large output of songs, oratorios, and works for a broad varietyof instruments.

The famous Rachmaninoff vocalise reverses what we instrumentalists generally do - it makes instruments sound like voices.

Beethoven penned this trio, whose majestic slow movement is among his finest confections, in Vienna in 1798. While it's also written for violin, we think it much better with clarinet.

Arnold Cooke, an Englishman, studied composition in Berlin during the 1920s. This sonata, whose emotional core is the slow movement, was commissioned by London's Hampton Music Club in the mid-60s, makes great use of the clarinet's startling rising octaves.

Bruch was a professor at the University of Breslau. Originally these pieces were conceived for piano solo, but when his son showed promise onthe clarinet, he rescored it. The work of a 70-year-old Lutheran writingon the eve of the Jazz Age, they are a romantic throwback to the 19th century,evoking the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry.

---

The Fortieth Concert

Wednesday, May 10, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring:

Carl Tretter & Nayiri Poochikian, violin

Tom Blackburn, cello

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program:

Allegro risoluto - Larghetto - Scherzo. Molto vivace - Finale. Allegro

Allegro vivace con brio - Largo assai ed espressivo - Presto

Our Artists:

Carl Tretter makes his fifth appearance with SWCMP tonight. A great music lover, Carl enjoys performing on his 1760 Landolfi fiddle in local orchestras and chamber groups and at the Bennington (Vt.) summerchamber workshop. Beginning violin studies at age six, he spent eight summersat the camp in Interlochen. Lawyer/businessman Carl specializes in realestate and investments.

Born in Egypt of Armenian heritage, Nayiri Poochikian studied at the Cairo Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music in London withManoug Parikian, later finishing at Peabody and Catholic University withRobert Gerle. A SWCMP favorite, she's also performed as a recitalist inNew York's Carnegie Recital Hall and soloed with orchestras in Cairo andLondon.

Cellist Tom Blackburn has done time with the St. Louis Philharmonic and Washington Symphony, as well as his own Hunt Quartet, which did a spectacular show for us a year ago.

Your "impresario" David Ehrlich learned the piano from his father, Richard, in Boston, starting at the age of six. Since learning (at theage of seven) that he wasn't destined to be Horowitz, he's resigned himselfto a life of musical amateurship, studying with Marilyn Neeley and playingfor charities and friends, in venues as diverse as Eugene, Oregon; Tiburon,California; N.Y. City; and Nagydorog, Hungary.

Notes on the Program:

Both the two major works on tonight's program are nineteenth-century standards. Dvorak, a frequent visitor to the United States, was much taken with what he considered the New World. Not only the famous symphony ofthat name, but many other works, including this little sonatina which hewrote for his children, were the products of his roaming our world. Thefive-note melody of the second movement is said to be his rendering of"Minnehaha Falls" in Minnesota.

Beethoven's "Ghost" Trio is among the revered masterpieces of the repertoire. The sobriquet comes from the unmistakably ghostly quality of the middlemovement, with its soft, floating sotto voce passages interrupted by crashing footfalls. The rushing passagework of the two outer movements goes like the wind, one faster than the other, but the challenge to the performersis not just how fast they can play it, but how clearly, because the melodic content is so wonderful.

---

The Thirty-Ninth Concert

Wednesday, April 5, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Celebrating the Cherry Blossoms

Featuring:

Rosemarie Ruiz Houghton, soprano

Carl Blackwell, flute

Wendy Hodge, oboe

Jerry Schwarz, clarinet

Susan Wilson, bassoon

David Ehrlich, piano

The Program: