Season 59: 2023-2024

Ames Piano Quartet

Concert Information

“One finds critics writing of their commitment, passion, power, and sensitivity, not to mention their collective technical skills.” - Robert Cummings, AllMusic.com

Ames Piano Quartet
3:00 pm
Sunday, January 28, 2024

$35 Regular | $5 Student
Complimentary Streaming for Ticket Holders

Program
“Dreams of the Wounded Musketeer,” featuring early music of Vienna and the Alps

Venue
Johnny Carson Theater at the Lied Center
11^th & R Street
Lincoln, NE 68588

Parking
Que Place Garage
1111 Q St.
Lincoln, NE 68508

Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Quartet #2 in Eb major, K. 493

Allegro
Larghetto
Allegretto

George Tsontakis (1951-)
Piano Quartet #4

Hypnotic, dreamy
Swaying

Intermission

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Quartet #1 in G minor, Op. 25

Allegro
Intermezzo: Allegro ma non troppo
Andante con moto
Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto

In 1785 a most remarkable coincidence in music history occurred: while Mozart was composing his two piano quartets in Vienna, fifteen-year-old Beethoven was composing his three piano quartets at his home in Bonn. What makes this noteworthy is that both composers' quartets are the first works in this genre to give the string parts the independence that they had not had in any previous quartets by other composers, where the strings merely accompany the piano. Beethoven's three quartets, along with most of his Bonn "juvenilia," were not published until after the composer's death--not until 1834.

The Eb quartet is the second of Mozart's two masterpieces in piano-quartet form. The first, in G minor K. 478, was published by Mozart's friend Hoffmeister, who soon wrote to Mozart that "the public found the work too difficult and would not buy it." Mozart had intended to compose a set of three piano quartets but gave up the project upon reading Hoffmeister's report. He probably already had the second quartet finished "in his head," for later that year after completing The Marriage of Figaro he composed this second quartet--but for a different publisher. He made it technically a little easier than the first, but it is no less a masterpiece, filled with originality and freshness of invention. Structurally, it follows the pattern of his piano concertos, giving the work a "concertante" quality halfway between concerto and chamber music. However rewarding for the pianist, the music gives the strings equal roles, and the fusion results in a new chamber-music form: the true piano quartet.

George Tsontakis' Piano Quartet #4 was commissioned by the Ames Piano Quartet with support from Iowa State University and premiered at ISU on November 3, 2019. Writing in Groves Dictionary of Music, composer Eric Moe says of George Tsontakis:

"Tsontakis' early works are written in a dissonant chromatic idiom not unlike that of [his teacher Roger] Sessions. His musical language soon shifted, however, towards a classically-influenced style characterized by large-scale harmonic prolongations and what he calls 'the timeless gesture,' a reference to the past through evocation rather than quotation. With the String Quartet No. 3 "Coraggio" (1986) he arrived at an idiosyncratic tonal language propelled by non-minimalist, Beethovenian use of repetition."

Tsontakis' Piano Quartet #4, composed many years after this was written (2019) could be described as the apotheosis of the "timeless gesture." Limiting himself to a single ostinato in each movement, the composer subjects both to a process of continual variation that gives rise to an "evolutionary" feel. In Tsontakis' own words:

"Like the first movement, the second begins with a kind of ostinato but unlike the first movement low 'major 10ths beat and offbeat motif, the second movement features a playful scurrying figure that grows and develops while essentially staying the same (one can maintain such a technique in music despite it sounding contradictory.) Both movements have longer lines flying over or under the ostinatos. The second movement is more of a compositional self-challenge with the challenge being one of trying to create a continuum of motion and rhythm throughout a fairly long span of time--as things change and evolve as life continuously does. I should also mention that very few if any known living composers have composed four piano quartets, so in my 4th I tried to make it a departure from the first three, with a different color and personality."

George Tsontakis' Piano Quartet#1 ("Bagatelles") was commissioned by Kim Lim for the Diamarel Piano Quartet, #2 by the Cape & Islands Music Festival for the Broyhill Chamber Players and #3 for Opus One by Music from Angelfire.

The G minor Piano Quartet is Brahms' first masterpiece in his mature grand manner. This is one of a pair of piano quartets in which Brahms combined his fully-ripened piano style with his now well-developed mastery of form. The came early in the composer's Viennese career, at a time when he was accepted more as a pianist that as a composer. In this quartet, Brahms was clearly putting his best foot forward, and the result is a brilliance of technique and sound previously unknown in this type of music. He uncorked an abundance of melodies--they tumble over one another, springing out of each other as they unfold. In matters of form, Brahms still kept to the classical tradition: even the famous gypsy rondo finale ha its precursor in a well-known Haydn piano trio.

Schumann, Brahms' great benefactor and mentor, referred to his friend's chamber music as "veiled symphonies." In its basic mood and fullness, this quartet is so symphonic that Arnold Schoenberg was inspired to orchestrate it for full symphony orchestra. This was done so totally within the Brahms style that Schoenberg jokingly referred to it as "Brahms' Fifth."

Following a private run-through in 1861 with Schumann's wife, the great pianist Clara Wieck at the keyboard, the G minor Piano Quartet had its official premiere in Vienna in November of 1862, with members of the Hellmesberger Quartet and the young Brahms himself at the piano. In the tumult of approbation that immediately followed the performance, Joseph Hellmesberger cried out, "This is Beethoven's heir!" Since that iconic moment, most audiences have heartily agreed.

Program

Anonymous (?Biber/?Schmelzer)
Sonata Jucunda a6 in D Minor

Giovanni Priuli (c.1575-1626)
Canzona Prima a8 from Sacrorum Concentuum

Giovanni Valentini (c.1582-1649)
Sonata a4 (arr. a10) in G Minor "Enharmonic"

Antonio Bertali (1605-1669)
Sonata a4 in D Minor

Alessandro Poglietti (d. 1683)
Sonata a8 in A Minor

Johann Pezel (1639-1694)
Ciacona a6 in B-flat Major from Opus Musicum Sonatarum

Intermission

Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684)
Sonata a5 in A Minor

Samuel Capricornus (1628-1665)
Sonata a8 in A Minor

Adam Drese (1620-1701)
Sonata a6 in C Major

J.H. Schmelzer (c. 1620/23-1680)
Serenada in Mascara a8 in A Major

H.I.F. von Biber (1644-1704)
Battalia a10 in D Major

DREAMS OF THE WOUNDED MUSKETEER

September, 1683

I feel a madness setting in as I lie here on the ground, my blood pooling beside my musket and my trumpet. Was it only last night in the tavern that the musicians were playing that delightful piece, the Sonata Jucunda by a composer no one could identify? A slow dance and a fast one alternated, manic with intensity, and then suddenly there appeared a strange sound, music from a distant land (perhaps Turkish?), like heathen soldiers appearing on the horizon. There was a mighty din in that piece as the battle was joined, impossible dissonances heralding the clash of empires, not unlike the real battle that was to happen the next day, leaving me shattered. I can only hope that we shall emerge victorious from this siege of Vienna, much as did the Christians in Sonata Jucunda.

For most of my life I have been a member of the Kammeradschaft, the trumpet guild to which Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II granted special favors, which were then affirmed and expanded by Ferdinand III and now Leopold I, long may he reign. Out of all the musicians in the Empire, only we have the right to play the most sacred instruments: trumpets and timpani. Our commission comes not only with a salary and lodging, but also a horse, uniforms, firewood, grain, and a daily beer ration. But our privileges include great responsibilities, and these include appearances on the battlefield in times of war. And so here I lie, mortally wounded and feverish, my body and mind weakening.

I recall my first days in Vienna. Ferdinand II had just been elected, and he arrived from Graz with his retinue. The frail Giovanni Priuli was his first Hofkapellmeister, still writing in the old-fashioned polychoral style that had been popular in Venice long before. I remember finding his music attractive but dull. Everything changed a few years later with his successor, Giovanni Valentini. The strangeness of his counterpoint, and the harmonic and metric innovation! One composition did nothing but modulate a short strain of music back and forth between G Minor and B Major! Valentini ushered us into a fantastic new age of experimentation.

Valentini had the ear of the Emperor, and under him, music flourished in Vienna. My own musical training and my induction into the Kammeradschaft came during this great era. After Valentini’s death, Antonio Bertali continued the tradition he had established. Bertali, a violinist, arrived in Vienna shortly after I did, and I watched him rise through the musical ranks. His music was more tuneful than Valentini’s, but no less wild. I recall one chamber work which had a long Passacaglia passage, the same descending bass line repeated again and again, like madness. He wrote it in such a way that the most jarring dissonances were not only present, but contrapuntally required!

I’m remembering that there was yet another Italian musician who flourished here in Vienna during the last several decades: the court organist Alessandro Poglietti. He frequently entertained the Emperor with his skill at the harpsichord, sometimes playing dance music or imitative improvisations, sometimes performing the most splendid programmatic works about birds, or battles. The sonatas he wrote for large string ensemble showed off the remarkable counterpoint he was renowned for. Alas, I saw Poglietti fall on the battlefield shortly before I did. I hope his death was swift...

My trumpet is on the ground, just out of reach, and my mind strays to my years in Leipzig. The Swedish occupation had ended in 1650, and Imperial forces re-entered the city at that time. To my great shock, municipal musicians in Leipzig were allowed to sound the hour from the city tower on trumpets, whereas elsewhere for anyone but the Kammeradschaft to play the trumpet was expressly forbidden; in Hannover, for example, when we found an unlicensed trumpeter, we beat him severely and broke his jaw, as was our right. But when I heard Johann Pezel play the high trumpet, I could only feel jealousy and awe, such was his skill. Pezel had traveled and spoke Italian well; the position of Stadtpfeifer seemed below his station. He wrote a complex Ciacona which used two different lengthy bass patterns, one for concertato passages and one for the ripieno.

It was a strange time in Leipzig; Johann Rosenmüller had been employed at the Nikolaikirche and expected to win the Thomaskantor position, but he and several schoolboys were arrested—charged with the sorts of crimes that could only be whispered about—and he escaped and fled the city for Venice. Madness! Rumor has it that he found employment at some famous orphanage for young girls. Each work of one of his collections of sonata-suites—published in Germany in his attempts to curry favor with the Saxon aristocracy and be permitted to return—began with a sinfonia and was followed by an allemande, a corrente, a ballo, and a sarabande.

My mind jerks from Venice back to Vienna. Samuel Capricornus had been called Friedrich Bockshorn when he arrived in the city, but he soon Latinized his name in a peculiar affectation. He studied composition with Valentini and Bertali, and while still very young—perhaps too young—was appointed Kapellmeister in Stuttgart. Remarkable works bearing Capricornus’s name emerged from Stuttgart from that day forward, but so did absurd stories of his lengthy feud with a local composer named Böddecker, and the letters they sent to their liege lord sniping about each others’ counterpoint, and Capricornus’s published attacks on a musician in his employ—Böddecker’s brother—whom he claimed played the cornetto like a cow horn. The devout Pietist Adam Drese was Capricornus’s opposite in temperament. He traveled a great deal, having been appointed Kapellmeister first in Weimar, then in Jena, and most recently in Arnstadt, spreading the Italian compositional style throughout the Empire.

I burst with national pride to think of Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, the greatest violinist of our time and Vienna’s first homegrown Hofkapellmeister. A lifetime of industry and good will and talent—and studies with Valentini and Bertali—led to Schmelzer finally attaining the highest musical rank shortly before succumbing to the plague only a few years ago. I recall now his music for a masked ball, not one of his best-known works, just a short aria and gigue followed by a delightful ciacona that sounded almost Caledonian in its simplicity. He was surpassed in skill perhaps only by his friend and student, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. But whereas Schmelzer spent his life in Vienna, Biber spent much of his in the employ of a Bishop in a remote Czech castle, and only recently found work in Salzburg.

I feel feverish, music swirling through my head. A musical Battalia! A happy aria in the key of D. Only last night I was laughing in a tavern, celebrating Bacchus, listening as a half-dozen drunken soldiers from a half-dozen countries sang bawdy songs in as many different keys, creating total cacophony. I hear a dance tune, then the rattle of a fife and drum invoking the god Mars, and then another dance, why? I must have a respite, a gentle aria for strings before the canon start firing. They begin with orderly volleys before breaking into chaos. I am hit, wounded! Through my haze I see someone standing over me, and he raises his weapon. Lament for me, a musketeer and trumpeter of the Holy Roman Empire.

Notes by Kivie Cahn-Lipman

Ames Piano Quartet Members

"In various iterations, the Ames Piano Quartet has been the ensemble-in-residence at Iowa State University since its inception in 1976. One of the few regularly constituted piano quartets in the world, the Ames Quartet briefly became the Amara Quartet in 2012, upon the retirement of two of its long-term members. Wishing to reconnect with more than thirty years of tradition, the Quartet has now returned to its original name of Ames.

The Quartet has an extensive discography, including fourteen CDs under the Ames name and a further two as Amara. Labels for which the group has recorded include Musical Heritage, Dorian, Sono Luminus, Albany, and Fleur de Son Classics. “One finds critics writing of their commitment, passion, power, and sensitivity, not to mention their collective technical skills,” writes Robert Cummings on the AllMusic.com web site. Of their most recent release (Faure Piano Quartets) critic Huntley Dent writes in Fanfare magazine, 'As to the performances on this release, the second by the Amaras on Fleur de Son, they equal the best in the catalogue...we get the two virtues that make for a superb chamber ensemble: each player has an individual voice, and the group as a whole expresses a unified musical conception.'" - music.iastate.edu

Borivoj Martinic-Jercic, violin - Ames Piano Quartet

BORIVOJ (BORO) Martinić-Jerčić, VIOLIN
A recipient of the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin Award, Mr. Martinić-Jerčić has enjoyed an illustrious career. Born in Zagreb, Croatia (1960), he was raised in a family of musicians and scientists and began violin lessons at the age of five. In 1978 he graduated from the Blagoje Bersa Conservatory of Music where he studied with Kristijan Petrović. As a teenager he visited relatives in Ottawa, Ontario, where he began summer lessons with Armand Weisbord. In 1977 Boro attended the Interlochen Summer Music Camp, where he won a full tuition scholarship to the University of Michigan. In 1982 he earned his Bachelor Degree in Violin Performance under the guidance or Prof. Paul Makanowitzky, and in 1984 Boro earned his Master’s Degree in Violin Performance under the guidance of Prof. Ruggiero Ricci. After graduating in 1984 Boro performed with such prestigious ensembles as Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Detroit Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.

Boro joined The Phoenix Symphony in 1986; he was named its concertmaster in 1991. In 2005 he took up a new post as the Artistic Director and Concertmaster of world famous chamber orchestra “I Solisti di Zagreb” in Croatia. At the same time he was given a position of a Professor of violin at the Zagreb Academy of Music. During his tenure with I Solisti di Zagreb, he performed more than three hundred concerts worldwide and released several CDs. The CD with Maestro Pepe Romero, “Caribbean Concertos” was nominated for Latin Grammy in 2012.

After leaving Zagreb in 2012, he joined the String Department at Iowa State University where he is an Associate Professor of Violin and Viola and a violinist of the Ames Piano Quartet. Since joining the Ames Piano Quartet, they released three CD’s with Fleur de Sol Classics, Ltd label.

Working with university students inspired him to begin to work on a book, “Freedom and Flexibility of the Violinist’s Left Hand”. The book was published in 2017 by Dominis Music Ltd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In 2020 The Strad Magazine reviewed his book with much praise.

Every summer, since 1984, he performs with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and regularly appears throughout North America as violinist with the Ames Piano Quartet. Since 2012 he is a member of “Samoborske Glazbene Veceri” Chamber Music Festival in Croatia. Numerous solo and chamber music performances have taken him throughout the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe.

As concertmaster he has collaborated with such eminent artists as Kurt Masur, Hermann Michael, Theo Alcantara, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Alan Gilbert, Edo de Waart, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Elmar Oliveira, Midori Goto, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Gil Sha-ham, Guillermo Figueroa, Van Cliburn, Ivo Pogorelich, Emanuel Ax, Alicia de Larrocha, Pepe Romero, Zoran Dukic, Ana Vidovic, Radovan Vlatkovic, Yo Yo Ma, Giovanni Sollima, Julius Berger, Marc Coppey, Monika Leskovar and Bozo Paradik.

Stephanie Price-Wong, Viola - Ames Piano Quartet

SAMANTHA RODRIGUEZ, VIOLA

Violist Samantha Rodriguez is currently a member of the Des Moines Symphony, principal viola with the Des Moines Metro Opera and the violist in the Ames Piano Quartet. Prior to moving to Des Moines, Samantha was assistant principal third chair of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and previously held the position of third chair with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of their viola section for 9 years.

Samantha is also a frequent substitute with the Minnesota Orchestra and is principal violist of the Lakes Area Music Festival, of which she is a founding artist. An avid chamber musician, Samantha plays in chamber ensembles for L.A.M.F. throughout the year for communities in Minnesota, and has performed in groups for audiences across upstate NY, Colorado Springs and central Florida. In 2012, after attending and being inspired by the International Viola congress, Samantha formed a viola trio with her two closest friends. Together, they decided to enter chamber music competitions and thus the Voila Trio was born. The trio placed 2nd in the M.T.N.A. national chamber music competition and were the very first all viola ensemble to be finalists at the prestigious Coleman competition.

As a soloist, Samantha has had the privilege of performing with the Eastman Philharmonia, Symphony and Chorale, the Geneseo Symphony and the L.A.M.F Orchestra. Samantha received her bachelor and master of music degrees from the Eastman School of Music as well as a performer’s certificate under the tutelage of George Taylor.

In her spare time, Samantha loves to sing. She has enjoyed being a member of different choirs and relishes the chance to sing a gospel solo. She also likes to bake and spend lots of cuddle time with her cat named Charles.

Jeremy Berry, Viola - Calidore String Quartet

GEORGE WORK, CELLO
George Work, professor of cello at Iowa State University, holds his bachelor’s and master’s degrees of music and a performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he also served as teaching assistant to Robert Sylvester. His principal teachers include Robert Sylvester, Paul Katz, Ronald Leonard, Gabor Rejto and Carol Work.

In 1981, he joined the Ames Piano Quartet, in residence at Iowa State University. In the course of its career, the Quartet released fourteen critically acclaimed CD recordings, one on the Musical Heritage label, five on Albany Records, and the others on Dorian/Sono Luminus Recordings. The Ames Quartet appeared regularly in concert throughout the United States and Canada. International appearances included Salzburg, Austria, Paris and Marseilles, France, Taipei, Tainan, Kashiong and Taichung, Taiwan, Merida, Mexico, Havana, Cuba and Kaliningrad, Russia. The group was also featured on NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR’s “The Listening Room,” and appeared on a special edition of “St. Paul Sunday” commemorating the 50th anniversary of WOI radio. This latter led to an invitation to tape a second “St. Paul Sunday,” which aired nationally for the first time in November 1999. In 2012, following the retirement of two long-time members, the Quartet was renamed the Amara Piano Quartet. It continues to concertize throughout the US under the new name, and has recently released its first commercial CD on the Fleur de Son label.

George Work has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras in the Midwest, as well as in Taiwan, R.O.C. and Kaliningrad, Russia. His recording of the Ibert Concerto for Cello and Winds was released in 2012 to critical acclaim. A faculty member at the a Brevard Music Center in North Carolina from 1998-2002, George Work was also chosen to be an artist faculty member at the first-ever Schlern International Music Festival, held in Voels am Schlern, Italy, in the summer of 2003. In addition to concertizing with the Ames Piano Quartet, George Work is also a member of the Belin String Quartet and the Des Moines Symphony. In 2016, he became the first-ever recipient of the Jean Bacon Louis Faculty Fellowship.

Mei-Hsuan Huang, Piano - Ames Piano Quartet

MEI-HSUAN HUANG, PAINO
Pianist Mei-Hsuan Huang is Associate Professor of Piano at Iowa State University and a member of the Amara (Ames) Piano Quartet (Joanne Rile Artists Management).

Huang has been a prizewinner in several international piano competitions, including the USASU International Piano Competition in Tempe, Arizona, the 57th Wideman Piano Concerto Competition in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Taipei, Taiwan. She regularly performs over fifty solo and chamber recitals every year in Europe, States, Canada and Taiwan. She has been invited to summer festivals including the 2006 Aspen Music Festival, the 2007 Pianofest in the East Hamptons, the 2008 Orford Music Festival, Quebec, the 2010 Atlantic Music Festival in Maine, the 2012 CICA Eureka Springs International Music Festival in Arkansas, and the 2012 and 2013 Banff Music Festival, Alberta. Festivals increasingly ask for her presence on their artist rosters. Recently, Huang also was presented in a piano recital in National Taiwan Concert Hall (Taipei), as a result of being nominated for the prize of “Excellent Musician Series” by ProArtist. She also gave a sold out concert (Chamber Label Management) in 2017 at National Taiwan Concert Hall and TaiChung Opera House.

In 2013, Huang performed George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Central Iowa Symphony, Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Iowa State University Orchestra, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Des Moines Symphony. In 2017, she performed Bach’s F Minor Keyboard Concerto and numerous chamber concerts with the Caroga Lake Chamber Orchestra in New York and Switzerland. Huang has travelled with the Amara Quartet to perform at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie, Ontario and on concert series in Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas. The quartet released compact disc on the Fleur de Son label in 2016, a recording of American quartets that will feature the piano quartet by George Tsontakis’ piano quartet No. 3, Dark Rosaleen—written by Lee Hoiby for the Ames Piano Quartet—a piano quartet by Walter Piston and Carolina Reveille by Paul Schoenfield. The quartet released compact disc on the Fleur de Son label in 2018 including both Faure Piano Quartets. Huang was recently invited to perform Beethoven's Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" with the Central Iowa Symphony and Iowa State University Orchestra.

Besides performing, Huang is dedicated and passionate about teaching. She maintains a strong studio in Ames, IA where she teaches a select number of high school students along with her University students. Students of Huang have won and placed in numerous regional and local competitions, including Fort Dodge Concerto Competition, Central Iowa Young Artist Competition, Terrace Hill Piano Competition, Iowa State Fair Talented Show, Iowa Teacher Music Association (IMTA) competition and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) competitoin.

Huang received her bachelors degree at The National Taiwan Normal University, where, she won the prestigious Xing Tang Temple Piano Competition Prize. She received her masters degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Sergei Babayan, Margarita Shevchenko, and Paul Schenly. She received her doctorate of musical arts degree at The Ohio State University under full-scholarship.

Huang is on piano faculty at The Atlantic Music Festival in Maine and guest pianist at Caroga Music Festival in New York during the summer.

Huang was named a Steinway & Sons Artist since 2014. She is also the recipient of 2019 Steinway Top Teacher Award and 2021 Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame.

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Ames Piano Quartet

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