Chamber Music Unbound performs

Concerts in Mammoth and Bishop celebrate Grieg, Brahms, Wagner and Beethoven

Chamber Music Unbound presents the third program of the Winter Season on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. at Cerro Coso College in Mammoth, and the following afternoon, Sunday, Jan. 21, at 4 p.m. at Cerro Coso College in Bishop. The 90-minutelong concert program features works by Grieg, Brahms, Wagner and Beethoven. The performers are the members of the Felici Piano Trio and the young Mammoth pianist, Ari Schuldt, who recently graduated from Indiana University’s renowned Jacob School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. Tickets are available at the door or online at ”Chambermusicunbound.org

The Music:

Dubbed the “Voice of Norway”, Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was Scandinavia’s foremost pianist and composer of the mid-nineteenth century. His three violin sonatas, composed at different stages throughout his life, are superb examples of his unique synthesis of musical inspirations that fuse his lyrical, folk-song inspired invention with Classical forms. Even though Grieg had no experience playing a string instrument, the smoothly idiomatic violin writing was a result of the vital role this instrument had played in the early stages of his musical development. A family friend of the Griegs,’ the world-renowned violinist Ole Bull had first recognized the extent of young Edvard’s talent and advised his parents to send the teenager to study at the Leipzig Conservatory. Later, Bull would go on to encourage the young composer to explore the riches of the Norwegian folk fiddle (the hardingfele) style, which he himself had popularized on his concert tours abroad.

Twenty years later in the autumn of 1886, Grieg tackled the composition of the “Violin Sonata in C Minor, Op. 45,” working in a little hut overlooking a lake at his home Troldhaugen (trolls’ hill). In this work, which represents a high point in his writing, we encounter the mature, fully formed artist who with great confidence displays the diverse aspects of his talent. Grieg’s writing strikes a highly dramatic and individualistic note which finds its melodic, harmonic and rhythmic inspiration in nature and Norwegian folk-music. Passionate outbursts, alternated with reflective moments, give this unique work universal characteristics typical of the Romantic period.

Born in 1833, Johannes Brahms grew up in the Northern German port city of Hamburg. His father was an all-round musician and member of the city band where he played the French horn. Father Brahms was fluent on several instruments, ranging from flute to double bass, but his favorite instrument was the cello. When seven-yearold Johannes asked to learn to play the piano, his father deemed it “impractical,” but did find him a good teacher and a decent instrument. A few years later, Brahms senior instructed him in “more practical” cello playing and invested 300 Marks (the equivalent of the family’s annual rent for their little house) in the purchase of a cello for his son.

But alas, Johannes Brahms did not become a cellist. And really, he was only a reluctant pianist, even though he was a very fine musician with virtuosic skills. He simply didn’t enjoy the rituals and routines of a performer, which did not suit his essentially introverted personality. He did however find his voice as a creating musician early on thanks to his piano teacher who gave him very thorough music theory instruction and taught him harmony and counterpoint as well, paving the way for the young man to cast his musical imagination into a ready framework of musical logic. As a composer, Johannes Brahms eventually arrived at a personal style that transcends geographic boundaries and has achieved true timelessness.

The “Cello Sonata in E Minor” is a perfect example of Brahms’ successful fusion of stylistic elements from three centuries: the first two movements feature Romantic melodicism and harmonies cast into the Classical shapes of Sonata form and Minuet, and the last movement is a fugue composed as an homage to the great Baroque composer, J. S. Bach (1685-1750).

A particular outstanding achievement of Brahms’ sonata is the way he handles the dialogue between the stentorian grand piano and the singing cello. Pianistic selfrestraint, practiced in the interest of equilibrium between the two partners, generates new and interesting sonorities and allows the cello to sing out over its entire range. Brahms’ intimate knowledge of both instruments clearly helped him to balance these by nature so unequal partners.

“One sees what can still be done with the old forms when someone comes along who knows how to handle them,” complimented Richard Wagner in 1864, when Brahms performed some of his music during his one and only visit to Wagner’s house.

In addition to the two Romantic sonatas by Grieg (performed by violinist Rebecca

Ari Shuldt and the Felici Trio will be performing in Mammoth and Bishop next weekend. Left to right: Rebecca Hang, Ari Schuldt, Steven Vanhauwaert, and Brian Schuldt.

Hang and pianist Ari Schuldt) and Brahms (performed by cellist Brian Schuldt and pianist Steven Vanhauwaert) the four musicians will team up as a four-hands piano ensemble with violin and cello. As such they will play two unusual arrangements of the first movement of Beethoven’s famous “Symphony No. 5,” and of Wagner’s “Song to the Evening Star” from the opera Tannhäuser.

Come out, enjoy some fabulous music and a cup of hot apple cider in intermission!