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Australian String

Quartet National Season 2017

Homeward

No 22 – 15 August

2427

-11

The Elder Conservatorium of Music is Australia’s oldest and most distinguished tertiary music school. For more than a century, staff at the Conservatorium have educated and inspired generations of performers, composers, teachers and leaders in the arts.

Home to the Australian String Quartet - our quartet in residence, the Conservatorium hosts a vibrant community of talented musicians and provides a supportive environment that encourages creativity, independence and excellence in music.

Staff and students of the Conservatorium are committed to the artistic, educational and community experience of music, and they share their passion and expression with the public through regular performances and concerts.

Visit our website to learn more about the program of events, and comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees available in a wide variety of specialisations.

music.adelaide.edu.au

Elder Conservatorium of Music

Delivering over 130 years of music excellence

WelcomeThe notion of ‘home’ holds deep meaning for us. Homecoming and going, travel, journey and immigration are words that give us a sense of belonging or alienation, hope or distress, curiosity or longing. In this program, we follow two composers’ works written at times of transition from their usual ‘home’ life, and a third composer’s imagined depiction of a very different type of homecoming.

Benjamin Britten had been living in North America for four years when he wrote his first String Quartet in D major. The composer had recently written of his homesickness for England despite his success abroad and this experimental work that followed is full of stark contrasts that conjure feelings of both longing and excitement.

Australian Paul Stanhope’s award-winning String Quartet no 2 explores the plight of displaced Europeans as a result of World War II. He takes the listener on a powerful journey from one world to another.

Exuding excitement from its buzzing opening right through to its extrovert and sunny last movement, Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet in G major is a work brimming with the sounds of the composer’s native Bohemia following his return home from several years abroad.

We look forward to performing these wonderful works across Australia ahead of the exciting launch of our 2018 season.

Dale, Francesca, Stephen & Sharon

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Program

DatesBritten String Quartet no 1 in D major op 25

Paul Stanhope String Quartet no 2

INTERVAL

Dvořák String Quartet no 13 in G major op 106

Don’t miss our next National Season tour

Beginnings 14 – 27 Nov 2017

Perth Wednesday 2 August 7pm Government House Ballroom

Canberra Sunday 6 August 2pm Gandel Hall National Gallery of Australia

Ballarat Monday 7 August 7.30pm Art Gallery of Ballarat

Melbourne Tuesday 8 August 7pm Melbourne Recital Centre

Brisbane Saturday 12 August 7pm Conservatorium Theatre

Sydney Monday 14 August 7pm City Recital Hall

Adelaide Tuesday 15 August 7pm Adelaide Town Hall

AustralianString Quartet

For over 30 years, the Australian String Quartet (ASQ) has created unforgettable chamber music experiences for national and international audiences. Dedicated to musical excellence with an Australian “accent”, the Quartet shares this excellence with audiences in intimate performances that create deep connections with its music.

From its home base at the University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, the ASQ reaches out across Australia and the world to engage people with an outstanding program of performances, workshops, commissions and education projects. In recent years the ASQ has appeared at international music festivals and toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand and Asia.

The Quartet members are Dale Barltrop (violin), Francesca Hiew (violin), Stephen King (viola) and Sharon Grigoryan (cello). The distinct sound of the Quartet is enhanced and unified by its matched set of 18th century Guadagnini instruments, handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743 and 1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy. They are on loan to the ASQ for their exclusive use through the generosity of Ulrike Klein and UKARIA.

The ASQ program for 2017 is one of the most exciting in its history, and includes: the inaugural morning series at UKARIA Cultural Centre; a year-long association with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; the world premiere of a new cello quintet by Australian composer, Gordon Kerry; the launch of an ASQ digital platform; and recording collaborations with Slava Grigoryan and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Among other highlights, 2017 welcomes performance collaborations with renowned Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey and Australian pianist Caroline Almonte for our flagship regional festivals in the Southern Grampians, Victoria and Western Australia’s Margaret River; international engagements in North America with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the University of Maryland; a tour of Italy and the United Kingdom; the continuation of our new Close Quarters series which will be delivered in tandem with our National Season and extensive regional touring programs.

Dale Barltrop plays a 1784 Guadagnini Violin, Turin.

Francesca Hiew plays a 1748–49 Guadagnini Violin, Piacenza.

Stephen King plays a 1783 Guadagnini Viola, Turin.

Sharon Grigoryan plays a c.1743 Guadagnini Violoncello, Piacenza, ‘Ngeringa’.L–R: Dale Barltrop, Stephen King, Sharon Grigoryan, Francesca Hiew

The members of the Australian String Quartet are privileged to have access to a matched set of Guadagnini instruments. Hand crafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743-1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy, these exquisite instruments were brought together through the vision of Ulrike Klein, founder of UKARIA, formerly known as Ngeringa Arts.

In order to secure the instruments for future generations, UKARIA has launched the Guadagnini Quartet Project. Its aim is to acquire all four instruments for future generations of Australian musicians and music lovers. Once complete it will be the only matched set of Guadagnini instruments in the world and UKARIA will hold it in perpetuity.

Already through the generosity of the Klein Family and other donors, UKARIA has acquired the viola and in 2015 it acquired the violin crafted in 1784 through the generosity of Allan J Myers AC, Maria J Myers AC and the Klein Family. In June 2016, UKARIA acquired the cello which was made possible by the generosity of the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation, Ulrike Klein and a group of committed donors.

The Board of UKARIA recognizes and thanks the following patrons who have each made a significant contribution to this project

Klein Family Foundation

Allan J Myers AC

Maria J Myers AC

James and Diana Ramsay Foundation

Diana McLaurin

Joan Lyons

Mrs F.T. MacLachlan OAM

Mr H.G. MacLachlan

Hartley Higgins

David and Pam McKee

Ian and Pamela Wall

Janet and Michael Hayes

Richard Harvey

Jill Russell

Lyndsey and Peter Hawkins

Jari and Bobbie Hryckow

Janet and Gary Tilsley

Mary Louise Simpson

Lang Foundation

Macquarie Foundation

Anonymous (1)

The second violin crafted in 1748/49 is the last instrument UKARIA must acquire to complete the set. History making endeavours like this are born from passion. To succeed, UKARIA needs the involvement of visionaries who understand the significant cultural value in a collection of this calibre. Please join UKARIA in building this extraordinary musical legacy. To donate go to www.ukaria.com

For more information contactAlison BeareChief Executive Officer, UKARIAP (08) 8227 1277E Alison@ukaria.com

Guadagnini Quartet Project

Benjamin Britten

In his teens and student years Britten had already composed six highly creditable works in the medium, but his ‘official’ first string quartet dates from 1941, when he was living in the United States. It was commissioned by philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (whom we also have to thank for major works by Stravinsky, Barber, Ravel and Bartók), who took Britten up as soon as he arrived in southern California. Having only three months before the scheduled premiere Britten described it as ‘short notice and a bit of a sweat, but I’ll do it as the cash will be useful’. The piece was composed in the garden shed of a hospitable couple of expatriate British pianists (though things got tense when Ethel Bartlett fell in love with Britten, and her husband, Rae Robertson, offered her to him as a ‘gift’). It was performed in September of that year, and despite Britten’s offhand attitude, the haste of its composition and his itinerant lifestyle he produced a masterpiece.

The quartet is in D major, a key associated with happiness in Britten’s work, and begins with one of his most inspired gestures, a consonant ‘cluster’ chord of D-E-F sharp in the high register of the violins and viola. This launches a slow introduction, but, as Beethoven does in works like the Sonate pathètique, Britten returns to this material as points of repose in the unfolding argument of the main allegro music that dominates the music; this alternation of andante and allegro material masks the movement’s traditional sonata design. The scherzo follows, marked Allegretto con slancio (‘rushing’), and has the something of the brittle irony of Shostakovich, whose music - notably the fateful Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - Britten had admired since college days. The Andante calmo, as is often remarked, prefigures the yearning, but calm seascape of the ‘Moonlight’ interlude from Peter Grimes (it was at this time that Britten happened upon an article about George Crabbe’s The Borough, which became the opera’s source). The Molto vivace is a precocious composer’s take on the sonata-rondo of Viennese classicism. As composer David Matthews has put it, by 1941 Britten had ‘acquired a prodigious technique and was still young enough to want to show it off’; he was later presented with the Coolidge Medal, by Mrs Coolidge (‘the old girl’ as Britten rudely referred to her), at the Library of Congress for services to chamber music.

© Gordon Kerry 2017

(1913-1976)

String Quartet no 1 in D major op 25 (1941)

Andante sostenuto – allegro vivoAllegretto con slancioAndante calmoMolto vivace

Paul Stanhope

Paul Stanhope’s music is performed throughout the world. Recent pieces include Jandamarra: Sing for the Country, a piccolo concerto, and a cello concerto Dawn and Darkness. Paul is Senior Lecturer in the Sydney Conservatorium and is the Artistic Chair of the Australia Ensemble.

Commissioned for Musica Viva Australia by Kim Williams for the Pavel Haas String Quartet, this work reflects on the fate of the Czech composer, murdered in the Nazi death camps of Auschwitz. It also contemplates those like scientist Sir Gustav Nossal, whose family fled Austria after the Nazi occupation, or Richard Goldner who established what has now become Musica Viva, who escaped persecution and tyranny in war-torn Europe, and made extraordinary contributions to their new country – Australia.

In the Prelude, a short Poco adagio introduces material (rising and falling tones separated by semitones) found throughout the work. We also hear a tremolo figure of a minor third and a sighing, descending glissando. These motifs refer to folk and traditional music from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The title of Flight refers to fleeing or escaping. Marked Allegro furioso, it is urgent and energetic. The opening figure is based on an inverted form of the motif heard in the first movement. Its insistent, tightly-controlled motivic cells propel the movement headlong until it finally succumbs to a panicked morass of semitone clusters.

Dirge (Variations) marking the untimely passing of Pavel Haas and has slow, sombre material introduced by solo cello; then one by one the other instruments are added. A dirge is by definition funereal, but the movement continues with increasingly playful variations over a theme that seems not completely remembered – like a distant and faulty recollection. Each variation finishes higher than the previous one begins which has the effect of the music rising from the very low range of the viola and cello up to a point where all the material is played in the upper reaches of the instruments, using high harmonics. And, like a tightly wound mechanism, the music then unravels quickly in a downward spiralling progression. The material becomes more elastic and exuberant until the instruments, one by one, take their leave until only the cello remains.

The final Scherzo is (mostly) light-hearted. The first violin plays a veiled (and considerably adapted) traditional Hebrew melody, against nebulous shimmering from the other instruments. Pizzicato ostinatos in groups of seven against five then appear, and after folk-fiddle-like strains and a series of rhythmically-driven episodes, the movement ends exuberantly, with the main thematic material stated in an ecstatic burst of bright string voicings that suggest unbridled optimism.

Abridged from a note © Paul Stanhope 2011

String Quartet no 2 (2009 – rev.2011)

Prelude Flight Dirge (Variations) Scherzo

Homesick for his native Bohemia, and annoyed at not receiving his agreed pay, Dvořák returned in 1895 to Europe from New York, where he had served as head of the National Conservatory of Music since 1892. The fruits of his American experience included the popular ‘New World’ Symphony, and the F major Quartet, op 96 (known by various – and variously politically incorrect –nicknames). Returning to his country house for the summer, Dvořák wrote to a friend ‘I am basking in God’s nature and I am contentedly idle, I am not doing anything, which will probably surprise you, but it’s true, it really is, I’m just lazing around and I haven’t touched my pen.’ He nevertheless completed his last two string quartets within a few short months of arriving home.

Dvořák had begun writing quartets with his self-confessedly Mendelssohnian op 2 in 1862, and followed that up with works that showed his interest in the music of Wagner and Liszt. Like Shakespeare and Haydn, Dvořák balanced increasing technical sophistication with increasing popularity as he matured, and believed that composers should

Antonín Dvořák be alive to whatever music they

heard around them. From 1870 his work is decidedly more ‘Czech’ in character, using elements rooted in folk song and dance, crossbred with the sophistication of the neoclassical manner of Brahms.

In op106 he begins with the kind of folky pentatonic themes that characterise the ‘American’ Quartet (op 96) whose short motifs keep the music at a high pitch of energy. While the harmony is at first, deceptively simple, Dvořák creates a sophisticated texture through the overlaying of triplets and syncopated rhythmic motifs. Composer and musicologist Jan Smaczny calls the following E-flat major Adagio ‘one of Dvořák’s greatest slow movements in any genre’ with its beautiful themes and wrenching harmonic movement that plays extensively with ambiguity between major and minor modes. The Scherzo in B minor is a cantering, folk-inspired dance that has a quiet, peaceful Trio (in A flat) at its centre. The finale opens with an odd moment of brooding quiet that is swept away by the main Allegro con fuoco. Here, at first, the focus is largely on the deployment of short, energy-packed motifs, often repeated or treated in sequence, rather than being developed on the classical sense. Some material refers to that of the opening movement. At the centre of the finale, too, is an introspective passage, allowing each of the instruments to speak.

© Gordon Kerry 2017

(1841-1904)

String Quartet no13 in G major op 106 (1895)

Allegro moderatoAdagio ma non troppoMolto vivaceFinale: Andante sostenuto - allegro con fuoco

Donors The Australian String Quartet would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the following donors for their ongoing support along with those donors whose very important contributions either remain anonymous or are less than $1000.

The following donations reflect cumulative donations made from 2012 onwards and the Australian String Quartet is extremely grateful for all the support received from its donors.

The ASQ is registered as a tax deductible recipient. Donations can be made by phoning the ASQ on 1800 040 444 or online at asq.com.au/support

Principals ($50,001+)Mr Philip BaconWright Burt FoundationNicholas Callinan AO & Libby CallinanClitheroe FoundationRichard Harvey AM & the late Tess HarveyLyndsey & Peter HawkinsHunt Family FoundationAndrew JohnstonKlein Family FoundationNorma LeslieMichael LishmanMacquarie Group FoundationDavid McKee AO & Pam McKeeAllan Myers AC & Maria Myers ACThe Ian Potter FoundationThyne Reid FoundationAnonymous (1)Champions ($25,001 - $50,000)John & Libby ClaytonJanet & Michael HayesLang FoundationJoan LyonsPeter & Pamela McKeeMrs Diana McLaurinPM MenzBrenda Shanahan Charitable FoundationAnonymous (1)Guardians ($10,001 - $25,000)Don & Veronica AldridgeJohn & Mary BarlowRobert Salzer FoundationGlenda & Greg LewinSkye McGregorMG Prichard & BE PanizzaLady Potter ACSusan M RenoufNigel Steele ScottIan Wallace & Kay FreedmanAnonymous (4)

Classic Partners ($5,001 - $10,000)Bernard & Jackie BarnwellBerg Family FoundationBrand Family FoundationByrne FamilyPerri Cutten & Jo DaniellMarshall-Hall TrustJosephine DundonMargaret FlatmanJohn Funder & Val DiamondMr Hartley HigginsKimberley & Angus HoldenKeith Holt & Anne FullerNeil & June JensMr Robert KenrickRod & Elizabeth KingSonia LaidlawMrs Frances MorrellPatricia H ReidAndrew SissonGary & Janet TilsleyLyn Williams AMAnonymous (3)Friends ($1,001 - $5,000)David & Liz AdamsPeter AllanMichael & Susan ArmitageProf Margaret ArstallJohn & Angela ArthurCharles & Catherine BagotPhilip BarronDianne Barron-DavisDavid & Caroline BartoloAlison BeareMs Baiba BerzinsBernard & Sharon BoothStephen & Caroline BrainThomas BreenTim & Lyndie CarracherJohn & Christine ChamberlainRic Chaney & Chris HairJohn & Libby ClappGeoff ClarkPeter Clemenger AO & Joan ClemengerCaroline & Robert ClementeDr Peter CliftonIan & Rosana Cochrane

David CookeColin & Robyn CowanMaurice & Tess CrottiMarie DalzielMr James Darling AM & Ms Lesley ForwoodGeoff & Anne DayRoss & Sue DillonAlan R Dodge AMMr Peter DorrianMichael J DrewBarry Jones & Rachel FaggetterPamela Fiala in memory of JiriRichard FrolichRoss & Jen GalleryH & M GannonFleur GibbsJohn & Carole GraceMrs Helen GreensladeGreat Southern Grammar SchoolPhilip Griffiths ArchitectsJean HadgesSusan & Daniel HainsNonie HallProfessor Keith HancockAnnette HarrisDr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan HerbertHilmer Family FoundationDr EH & Mrs A HirschJanet Holmes à Court ACJim & Freda IrenicBarbara JarryLynette & Gregory JaunayMr S JohnsBrian L Jones OAMKevin & Barbara KaneAndy & Jim KatsarosM & F Katz Family FoundationStephen & Kylie KingHon Diana Laidlaw AMDr David Leece PSM RFD EDThe Hon Christopher Legoe QC & Jenny LegoeKevin LongMegan LoweGrant LuxtonAnnette MaluishDr Robert MarinThe late Simon Marks-Isaacs

David & Anne MarshallDiane McCuskerElisabeth McDonaldHE & RJ McGlashanHelen & Phil MeddingsMrs Inese MedianikHugo & Brooke MichellSusan & Frank MorganDavid & Kerrell MorrisJo & Jock MuirVictor & Barbara MulderThe late Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBEJon Nicholson & Jennifer StaffordTerry & Pauline O’BrienPaul O’DonnellJohn O’HalloranTony & Margaret PagoneRosalind-Ruth M PhelpsJohn PhillipsAdam & Michele PlumridgeAnita Poddar & Peter HoffmannDr Rodney G CrewtherM ResekChris & Fran RobertsBronwyn Ross-Jones & Bruce CooperJill RussellTrish & Richard Ryan AOJeanette Sandford-Morgan OAMVahe SarmazianDrs Paul Schneider & Margarita SilvaChris and the late Michael ScobieDavid ScownDiana Sher OAM & Jeffrey Sher QCSimply for Strings - BrisbaneAntony & Mary Louise SimpsonDick and Caroline SimpsonPamela & Tony SlaterKeith & Dianne SmithSegue Financial ServicesMary & Ian SteeleElizabeth SymeHugh Taylor AC and Liz Taylor AMMr Eng Seng TohJenny & Mark TummelSue TweddellNicholas Warden

Ted & Robyn WatersJanet WorthAnnie & Philip YoungPamela YuleFay ZaikosAnonymous (13)

Australian String Quartet Richard Divall Australian Music FundRoslyn AllenBernard & Jackie BarnwellBrand Family FoundationNicholas Callinan AO & Libby CallinanJohn & Christine ChamberlainJohn & Libby ClaytonCaroline & Robert ClementePerri Cutten & Jo DaniellFleur GibbsTim & Irena HarringtonKeith Holt & Anne FullerRod & Elizabeth KingAngus LeitchGlenda & Greg LewinPM MenzJo & Jock MuirAllan Myers AC & Maria Myers ACTony & Margaret PagoneMG Prichard & BE PanizzaKarin PenttilaLady Potter ACSusan M RenoufDrs Paul Schneider & Margarita SilvaDiana Sher OAM & Jeffrey Sher QCRob & Jane SoutheyMary & Ian SteeleGary & Janet TilsleyAnnie & Philip YoungAnonymous (4)

16

OUT NOW

Migration

Slava Grigoryan and the

Australian String Quartet

Ralph Towner, MigrationWolfgang Muthspiel, Flexible Sky

Iain Grandage, Black Dogs

CD $25

asq.com.au

Australian String Quartet

National Season 2017

14 – 27 November

2017

Beginnings

abcclassics.com

ScarlattiSonata a Quattro no 4 in D minor

Bartók String Quartet no 1

BeethovenString Quartet in F major op 59 no 1

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National Season 2017 photography by Jacqui Way. Printed by Print Solutions SA.

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We thank all of our supporters whose donation has helped to

nurture a musical legacy.

As Australia’s string quartet, we proudly and continuously strive to cultivate a rich and inclusive musical culture in Australia.

Thank you for your support.

Quartet–in–Residence The University of Adelaide

SA 5005 Australia

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ASQ Board

Alexandra BurtNicholas Callinan AO (Chair)

Bruce CooperJanet Hayes

Marisa MandilePaul Murnane

Maria Myers ACSusan Renouf

Jeanette Sandford-Morgan OAMSuzanne Stark

Ian WallaceAngelina Zucco – Chief Executive

Australian String Quartet