Download Based in New York City since 2007, the Enso String Quartet was

Ensō Quartet
Maureen Nelson
violin
Ken Hamao
violin
Melissa Reardon
viola
Richard Belcher
cello
Founded at Yale University in 1999, the Enso String Quartet has, in a decade and a half,
risen to the front rank of string ensembles. Described by Strad magazine as “thrilling,” and
praised by the Washington Post for its “glorious sonorities,” the Enso has won numerous
awards, including top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild competition and the Banff
International String Quartet Competition. In the words of Classical Voice, it is “one of the
eminent string quartets of our era.” Apart from a busy touring and teaching schedule, the
New York-based quartet has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings for the Naxos
label. In appraising the Enso’s Grammy-nominated album of works by Alberto Ginastera, the
reviewer for MusicWeb International declared, “The performances here by the Enso Quartet
from America are quite staggeringly brilliant. I don’t think I have been so thrilled by the sound
of a string quartet in a long time.... If I could give this disc a standing ovation of one...I
would!”
Fall 2014 marked the release of the Enso quartet’s fifth recording for Naxos – featuring the
quartets of Puccini, Verdi and Strauss. The group tours extensively in the U.S. with concerts
at Bargemusic in New York, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and Philadelphia Chamber Music
Society. Recent highlights include debuts at the Kennedy Center and in Seattle at Town Hall,
and returns to Interlochen and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston. In
summer 2013 the group made debut appearances in both Brazil and Mexico, at Festival
Interncional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão and Festival Internacional de Musica de
Camera San Miguel de Allende.
The Enso’s members all were drawn to the string quartet repertoire because of its richness
and diversity, and the ensemble is committed to exploring the four corners of that repertoire.
The Enso regularly performs the classics of the string quartet literature, but also champions
lesser-known works that deserve to be heard, along with much contemporary music,
including works the Enso has commissioned. The ensemble also performs many of its own
transcriptions, including arrangements of 16th Century Renaissance music. “The quartet’s
ability to present music of three completely different idioms so persuasively puts it in the
running for the mantle of Quartet of the Future”(Palm Beach ArtsPaper). World premieres
include commissioned works by the esteemed New Zealand composer Dame Gillian
Whitehead, and by the American composer Kurt Stallmann. The Enso also gave the world
premiere of Joan Tower’s Piano Quintet, with the composer at the keyboard.
In addition to their in-demand performances at concert halls around the world, the Enso and
its individual members are sought after as instructors. The ensemble gives master classes
for the next generation of professional musicians, but also works with enthusiastic amateurs,
young and old, and with the autistic, in conjunction with the United Kingdom-based
organization Music for Autism. The Enso has been awarded for its work with schoolchildren
in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Based in New York City since 2007, the Enso String Quartet was previously in residence at
Rice University in Houston, Texas, and at Northern Illinois University, in DeKalb, Illinois.
The ensemble’s name is derived from the Japanese Zen painting of the circle, which
represents many things: perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation,
the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit.
www.ensoquartet.com
Program
Brenton BROADSTOCK (b. 1952)
Safe Haven (World Premiere)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet no 10 in E-flat major, op 74 ‘The Harp’ (1809)
I
Poco adagio – Allegro
II
Adagio ma non troppo
III
Presto – Piu presto quasi prestissimo – Tempo I
IV
Allegretto con variazioni
15 min
31 min
INTERVAL
Renaissance Medley (2012) arr. Maureen Nelson
I
Di, Perra Mora by Pedro Guerrero
II
Mille Regretz by Josquin Des Prez
III
Cachua by M. Nelson, based on an anonymous theme
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
String Quartet in F major (1902-03)
Allegro moderato
Assez vif, très rythmé
Très lent
Vif et agité
8 min
28 min
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Brenton BROADSTOCK (b. 1952)
Safe Haven (World Premiere)
Safe Haven was commissioned for Musica Viva Australia in honour of Marianne.
About the composer:
Brenton Broadstock was born in Melbourne, Australia in December 1952. He studied
History, Politics and Music at Monash University, and later composition and theory with
Donald Freund at the University of Memphis in the USA and with Peter Sculthorpe at the
University of Sydney. The University of Melbourne awarded him the Doctor of Music degree
in 1987. From 1982-2007 he was employed in the Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne
where he was Professor of Music and Head of Composition.
In 1999 Brenton received the prestigious Don Banks Award from the Australia Council for his
contribution to Australian music and in 2014 he received an AM, Member of the Order of
Australia, in the Australia Day Honours for “significant service to music as a composer,
educator and mentor”.
Brenton has won numerous prizes for composition, including the Paul Lowin Song Cycle
Prize, 2 APRA Awards and 2 Maggs Awards; his music has been performed at many
national and international festivals, including the BBC Proms; by all of the major orchestras
in Australia, by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the
Krasnoyarsk Orchestra in Russia, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland and at the
Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Brenton has written 6 symphonies, concertos for tuba, piano, euphonium and saxophone,
several orchestral works, a chamber opera, 3 string quartets and much chamber, choral and
solo music. His compositions are available on 50 commercial CDs worldwide.
In 2009 Brenton was Composer In Residence with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
composing a concerto for jazz trumpeter James Morrison and a choral symphony. In 2013
Brenton’s string orchestra work, Never Truly Lost, commissioned by Rob and Nancy Pallin,
was toured around Australia by the Australian Chamber Orchestra with Satu Vänskä as solo
violinist. In May 2014 Never Truly Lost was the ABCs entry to the International Rostrum of
Composers held in Finland and was selected as a ‘recommended’ work (from 50 entries
from 27 national radio networks).
The composer writes:
All children deserve to feel safe, to be protected and to have a safe haven. Marianne came
to Australia as a child with her parents to escape the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Her
parents epitomize the story of refugees to Australia, working several jobs to make a better
life for themselves and their children and to find a place that was free from war and
persecution. Her parents nicknamed her ‘Boci’, a term of endearment, a word that comes
from an Hungarian nursery song Boci Boci Tarka. I have used this nursery song to create a
set of variations that reflect Marianne’s family’s journey to Australia.
Safe Haven is structured in 3 parts:
1. Escape – fleeing from war and unrest, the melody is barely recognizable amongst the
turmoil.
2. Through a Child’s Eyes – the melody is finally heard in its simplest form and then is
reshaped as if looking through a child’s eyes – sometimes with wonder, sometimes fearful
and sometimes hopeful.
3. Safe Haven – the melody, at first unsure, comes to rest, optimistic and secure.
www.brentonbroadstock.com
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet no 10 in E-flat major, op 74 ‘The Harp’ (1809)
I
Poco adagio – Allegro
II
Adagio ma non troppo
III
Presto – Piu presto quasi prestissimo – Tempo I
IV
Allegretto con variazioni
Beethoven's String Quartet in E flat major, Op 74, was the first of his quartets to be
published alone rather than as one of a set, as the six Op 18 and three Op 59 quartets had
been. This apparently superficial change in Beethoven's approach to publishing is
symptomatic, at a deeper level, of the composer's growing awareness of his works as true
'individuals', each with its own idiosyncrasies of form and expression. Beethoven's own view
was bound up as well with the Romantics' awareness of a work of art as a single and
complete utterance.
It was composed in 1809, at a time in Beethoven's life when the uphill struggle of the
'Appassionata' piano sonata, the Fifth Symphony, the Coriolanus overture and the first two
'Razumovsky' quartets had ended and a new, lighter atmosphere favoured the growth of a
group of works in a more carefree vein. Joseph Kerman in his important book on Beethoven
quartets, suggests, however, that the impetus to compose the E flat Quartet in so
approachable a manner may have stemmed from the generally tepid reception given to the
'Razumovsky' quartets. Determined that he should succeed commercially, as well as
artistically, Beethoven may have decided to produce a new quartet that would be, in
Kerman's words, 'pre-eminently available to his essential public'. That, in any case, is what
he produced in the Op 74 quartet.
The first movement, like that of the third 'Razumovsky' quartet (by far the most approachable
of that set), begins with a slow introduction, comparable with the introduction of Haydn's
Creation, in which the chaos before the creation of the world is depicted. Fragments of
motives, shifting and evasive harmonies, interrupted by violent accents, dominate the scene,
until suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, a clear dominant-seventh chord appears, leading
the listener from a state of musical uncertainty into the clear tonality of the main part of the
movement.
Most of this is bathed in a clear, bright sunlight (a not inappropriate metaphor for Beethoven,
and much in the vein of the Romantic pictorialism of the 'Pastoral' Symphony, dating from
the previous year). After a rich interplay of themes and moods the greatest climax is reached
towards the end, where a short crescendo leads to a sudden outburst of grandiose energy
an discordant harmonies, gradually clearing to a reassuring apotheosis of the more melodic
parts of the first subject group. The entire Quartet gained its nickname 'harp' from the
plucked arpeggio accompaniment figure associated with the tail of this principal theme in all
its appearances, and most especially at the point immediately before the recapitulation.
The slow movement, in A flat major, breathes a deep restfulness and serenity from its long
cantilena melody, which begins high on the first violin. In a loose rondo-like form, sections of
only slightly varying character are lined up. Only one of them, in the minor mode, which
appears soon after the beginning and again towards the end, is more introverted. The
principal section appears each time in varied guises, increasingly more embellished.
The third movement (Presto), in C minor, is a scherzo full of wild, demoniacal energy. Its
initial theme has a strong affinity to the famous beginning theme of the Fifth Symphony
which is, of course, in the same key. The middle section (Piú presto quasi prestissimo), is
played twice, with the main-part reappearing in between. When the scherzo appears for the
last time, the restless quavers, after the first forte statement, die down to a pianissimo
whisper and, gradually modulating, lead directly to the finale, a set of variations in E flat
major. Here, metaphorically, the sky is cloudless once more. The theme, with its whimsical
accents on the upbeats, suddenly corrected at the end of each of the two sections, is the
embodiment of Beethoven's will to please his audience with music of real humour, but
nevertheless the expression of a man familiar enough with darker feelings. There are six
variations in which the basic lines of the theme appear, as it seems, in six different mineralic
crystallisations. All the variations are in E flat major, forte and piano variations alternating.
The short Coda starts off upon the material of the last variation and concludes with
semiquaver passages in unison, taken from the third variation.
Renaissance Medley (2012)
arr. Maureen NELSON
I
II
III
Di, Perra Mora by Pedro Guerrero
Mille Regretz by Josquin Des Prez
Cachua by M. Nelson, based on an anonymous theme
Maureen Nelson writes:
“I enjoyed very much the possibilities of arranging Renaissance music for string quartet
which, for chronological reasons, lacks this genre.
The first piece is a Moresca, a moorish dance which has a strong Arabic flavour and plays
with a meter in 5/2. The text is vocalized by a crazed lover, demanding why the object of
their desire is a slayer of hearts.
By contrast, we move to the mournful and heartbreaking French chanson, Mille Regretz,
which expresses the pain of abandoning a lover:
‘A thousand regrets at deserting you and leaving behind your loving face,
I feel so much sadness and such painful distress, that it seems to me my days will soon
dwindle away’.
In the final work, we wanted to channel the improvisational spirit of the renaissance and
created an “improvised” set of variations based on a Cachua. This melody comes from an
unusual manuscript of renaissance songs and dances from Trujillo in northern Peru collected
by the Bishop Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón.”
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
String Quartet in F major (1902-03)
I
Allegro moderato
II
Assez vif, très rythmé
III
Très lent
IV
Vif et agité
Ravel’s Quartet is so assured, original and admired that it’s hard to believe it was his first
real go at writing serious chamber music. Still harder is it to comprehend why, at the time, so
many of his teachers and professors felt he should give up composing and stick to the piano.
It is dedicated to one of the more encouraging tutors (Gabriel Fauré) and even he may have
received it with mixed feelings.
Ravel’s parents were keen amateur musicians. Unusually, they seem to have
wholeheartedly supported their son’s career plans. His father had a formal musical
qualification and perhaps there was a sense in which they were pleased to offer young
Maurice opportunities that they had been unable to pursue themselves. Ravel senior was a
successful engineer (was this why the composer collected mechanical and wind-up toys
throughout his life?). Hints of Madame Ravel’s Basque heritage also coloured Maurice’s
musical style, with many of his works inspired by or tinged with Spanish and Moorish
themes.
The family had moved to Paris shortly after Ravel was born. It was a wonderful time and
place for a young musician, with a thriving Conservatoire and in 1889 the inspiring and stillfamous Paris Exposition. Still, he struggled a bit with his musical studies. He gained prizes at
the Conservatoire for his piano performance, but no one liked his harmony and counterpoint.
He was dropped from the class and left in 1895. Undaunted, he pursued his compositional
urges and re-enrolled in Fauré’s composition class and Gédalge’s counterpoint tutorial,
believing it to be essential for his development.
Once again, he didn’t do well – kind souls suggest he was too original, or ahead of his time,
though others suspect he just didn’t apply himself. Dropped from class for the second time,
he was allowed to continue to sit in on Fauré’s lectures. In other ways, he was doing the
right things for a young composer: putting on performances of his works, and meeting useful
people in elegant salons. He read widely and listened to everything that came his way.
Collette described him at this time: ‘He wore side-whiskers and all his hair emphasised the
contrast between his striking head and his tiny body. He liked loud ties and frilly shirts…’.
As a result of all this activity, he was not entirely without friends when he failed to win the
Prix de Rome, the principal composition prize in France, for a record fifth time. It became a
huge public scandal (‘l’Affaire Ravel’) and eventually forced the resignation of the head of
the Conservatoire, widely believed to have skewed the results in favour of his own students.
The Quartet is often linked with that of Debussy’s, written ten years earlier. The two works
do make an interesting comparison (each composer only ever wrote one quartet). Debussy’s
is all about harmony and harmonic innovation; Ravel’s is (perhaps surprisingly, given his
academic sagas) more tightly grounded in counterpoint and form. Maybe it’s a sign of that
engineering father…
One of the things which makes us describe a composer as ‘great’ is an early sense of a
distinct and individual voice, and each quartet has this quality in abundance. Each, too,
shows one of the great recent musical innovations, attributed to Franck – thematic unity
across all movements, where themes ‘cycle’ throughout the work. In Ravel’s case in
particular this technique gives a very satisfying sense of cohesion through four quite different
movements.
The opening Allegro moderato introduces one of the principal themes, while a second theme
(doubled at two octaves between violin and viola) has a widely-spaced texture which gives
the movement a sense of light and clarity often described as typically French. It is not
unemotional, but it is not sweatily passionate in the way so much late-Romantic music can
be.
The second movement , fast and rhythmic, launches into an arresting pizzicato theme. There
is a contrasting middle section (a chance for the cello to shine) before the opening music
returns to round off the movement at breathless pace. The third movement draws on that
middle section in a rather ‘triste’ atmosphere – the minor key tonality provides something of
a respite after all the pizzicato which preceded it, and also sets up the finale.
The final movement, Vif et agité, is dazzling. It effortlessly links and combines themes and
motifs from all over the work, presenting them in new ways and sustaining the interest right
up to the climactic moments.
The Quartet was one of the works which cemented Ravel’s position in French music. His
remarkable career was interrupted, like so many, by the Great War. He volunteered in 1914
and became an ambulance driver (calling his van ‘Adelaide’ after his ballet – what does this
say about his driving?). Late in 1916 he became seriously ill and shortly afterwards his
mother died. She had been his principal emotional support, and the combined effects of
illness, her death and war took an impossibly heavy toll on his life, well-being and
composition. With hindsight, it’s unlikely he would have written something as vivacious and
uncomplicatedly witty as the Quartet, except as the very young man he was in 1902.
KP Kemp © 2003/2015