Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Beethoven Archduke Trio

Marlboro Music B-Flat Bliss Mozart Beethoven

With heat index values of 105, there is nothing to be done but be flat – or B flat, as the case may be.

On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” I’ll make few demands on a sweltering listenership by offering works by Mozart and Beethoven, both in the key of B flat.

Beethoven’s Piano Trio, Op. 97, known as the “Archduke,” was one of 14 works the composer wrote for his friend and patron Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Rudolf, an amateur pianist, was the youngest child of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II.

Beethoven himself appeared at the keyboard at the work’s premiere in 1814. His encroaching deafness so diminished his former prowess as a performer that he retired from concertizing after a repeat performance a few weeks later. The violinist and composer Louis Spohr summed up the discomfort and pity felt by those in attendance, “I am deeply saddened by so hard a fate.”

The music remains unbowed. Today, the “Archduke” Trio is as noble and inspiring as ever.

We’ll hear it performed at the 2006 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist Mitsuko Uchida – Marlboro’s sole artistic director since 2013 (next year she’ll be joined by Jonathan Biss) – violinist Soovin Kim, and cellist David Soyer of the legendary Guarneri Quartet.

The hour will open with a delightful work by Mozart – his Sonata in B-flat for Bassoon and Cello, K. 292. The 1975 performance will feature bassoonist Alexander Heller and a 19 year-old cellist named Yo-Yo Ma.

The performances are unfailingly at pitch, even when we’re all flat. Join me for music in B flat on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

August 29, 2018
Mitsuko Uchida Birthday Broadcast

Happy birthday, Mitsuko Uchida!

In addition to being one the world’s most celebrated pianists, Uchida has served as artistic director of the Marlboro Music School and Festival since 2013. We’ll honor her on this week’s broadcast of “Music from Marlboro” with two of her performances, documented in live recordings from the festival she manages.

The highlight of the hour will be Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat, Op. 97, popularly known as the “Archduke.” Nicknamed for Beethoven’s patron and pupil, Archduke Rudolph of Austria, the trio is one of fourteen works Beethoven dedicated to Rudolph, who was the youngest child of Emperor Leopold II of Austria. We’ll hear a 2006 performance. Uchida will be joined by Soovin Kim, violin, and the venerable David Soyer, cello.

The hour will begin with music by Johannes Brahms. We’ll hear his “Zwei Gesänge” (Two Songs) for voice, viola and piano, Op. 91. The text of the first, “Gestillte Sehnsucht” (Longing at Rest), composed in 1884, is by Friedrich Rückert. That of the second, “Geistliches Wiegenlied” (Sacred Lullaby), composed in 1863, is by Emanuel Geibel, who in turn was inspired by Lope de Vega. The songs were published as a set in 1884.

The first, touched by nature and yearning, begins “Immersed in golden evening glow, how solemnly the woods stand!” Imagery of wind and birds whispering the world to slumber gradually metamorphose into a desire for wishes and longing to be hushed to slumber, as well. The song ends there, though in the original Rückert continues his poem for another stanza, acknowledging that these desires will only be silenced by death. So German…

The second song (written first) was composed for Brahms’ friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, and Joachim’s wife, Amalie. It was intended as a wedding present, but resubmitted a year later on the baptism of the couple’s son (named after Johannes). Joseph also played the viola, and Amalie was a contralto. The work is a cradle song sung by Mary, mother of Jesus, who addresses the holy angels, requesting that they silence the rustling palms because her Child is sleeping. The viola quotes the Christmas melody “Joseph, lieber Joseph mein,” a sly reference on the part of Brahms, who incorporates the carol’s text, in order to include Joachim’s given name.

The performance, from 2011, again features Mitsuko Uchida at the keyboard, with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and violist Hélène Clément.

That’s a cradle song for Baby Jesus by Johannes Brahms and music composed for Rudolph by Beethoven, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

PHOTO: Hélène Clément, Mitsuko Uchida, and Jennifer Johnson Cano

December 20, 2017
Marlboro Music Greats on the Radio

We’ll have performances by artistic directors current and founding this week on “Music from Marlboro.”

Mitsuko Uchida, who has led the Marlboro Music School and Festival since 2013, will join violinist Soovin Kim and cellist David Soyer (of the legendary Guarneri Quartet) for Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio.

The Philadelphia-born Soyer, who taught at Marlboro for over 35 years, could be notoriously ornery. In particular, he was known for snapping at pianists for playing too loudly.

According to Uchida, “I avoided him for years because he was known to be nasty to pianists and because for him every pianist was too loud. We joked about it, but one day, I thought, listen, it’s about time that I risked being shouted at by David – ‘you are too loud!’ So I plucked up my courage and we did the ‘Archduke’ together with this wonderful violinist Soovin Kim. I think David tolerated me for the first week because of his love for Soovin Kim. He told me all the time, ‘oh you are too loud, too loud.’ But then there was a moment when he realized that actually I was not too loud. From then on it was smooth sailing. I learned so much from David, from the way he played, from the way he could make the cello sound with such unbelievable accuracy, simplicity and honesty, and, of course, he played louder than anyone else. In the ‘Archduke,’ but also in the slow movement of the Schubert E-flat Trio, I think nobody ever played like that, apart from Pablo Casals. There was a quality of his that was so moving, every time, in rehearsal.”

We’ll hear Uchida, Kim and Soyer in the “Archduke,” in a performance captured in 2006.

Then founding director Rudolf Serkin will join Philadelphia-based soprano Benita Valente and hornist Myron Bloom for Franz Schubert’s “Auf dem Strom” (“On the River”), a work composed in tribute to Beethoven. The text, by Ludwig Rellstab, was originally intended for the older master. The song was first performed on the only concert devoted exclusively to Schubert’s music during Schubert’s lifetime, which took place on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death, March 26, 1828. Schubert himself would die only eight months later. The Marlboro performance dates from 1960.

I hope you’ll join me for music of Beethoven and Schubert played by Marlboro artistic directors, this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

PHOTO: A lighter moment (not too loud) with Soovin Kim, Mitsuko Uchida and David Soyer

September 6, 2017

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