“Our Four Arts 2022 festival, “Around Dvořák”, centers on the music of one of history’s most beloved composers. It’s exciting to discover that the famed creator of the New World Symphony was also the composer of a great number of definitive, masterful chamber works that constitute a significant portion of our standard repertoire today. In looking and listening “around” this impressive Czech composer, we’ll encounter those who influenced, inspired, and impacted Dvořák’s creativity, surrounded by an assemblage of his most heartfelt Romantic works, both classics and novelties. Hear an individual concert or participate in a week-long residency program with a package ticket.” – David Finckel and Wu Han, Beyer Artists-in-Residence
Even seasoned chamber music listeners often have never heard of Josef Suk, but the young Czech violinist who captured both Dvořák’s admiration and the hand of his daughter in marriage is worth meeting. His famed Op. 1 Piano Quartet, which so impressed Dvořák, opens this program of unbridled passion, followed by Brahms’s dark and foreboding work for the same ensemble, graced with one of history’s most beautiful cello solos. Dvořák’s mighty Piano Quintet (considered one of the “big three” along with those by Schumann and Brahms) provides a powerful ending to an essential Dvořák experience.
Program
WU HAN, piano
CHAD HOOPES, violin
DANBI UM, violin
PAUL NEUBAUER, viola
DAVID FINCKEL, cello
Josef Suk (1874-1935)
Quartet in A minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1 (1891)
Allegro appassionato
Adagio
Allegro con fuoco
Wu Han, Um, Neubauer, Finckel
JOHANNES Brahms (1833-1897)
Quartet No. 3 in C minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 60 (1855-56, 1874)
Allegro non troppo
Scherzo: Allegro
Andante
Finale: Allegro comodo
Wu Han, Hoopes, Neubauer, Finckel
–INTERMISSION–
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Quintet in A major for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, B. 155, Op. 81 (1887)
Allegro, ma non tanto
Dumka: Andante con moto
Scherzo: Furiant, molto vivace
Finale: Allegro
Wu Han, Hoopes, Um, Neubauer, Finckel