CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Ying Quartet

Weill Recital Hall
Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Ying Quartet
·· Timothy Ying, Violin
·· Janet Ying, Violin
·· Phillip Ying, Viola
·· David Ying, Cello

MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 6

DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105

Encore:
VIVIAN FUNG Pizzicato

Program Notes:

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847)String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12Mendelssohn started his three-year post-university tour of Europe by sailing to England in April 1829. In a letter written to his sister Fanny on September 10, he said, “My Quartet [Op. 12] is now in the middle of the last movement, and I think it will be completed in a few days.”
The first movement of Op. 12 is a gentle outpouring of an intimate, ingratiating melody, and includes four significant musical ideas. In the slow introduction, three short upbeats lead to a longer note that comes back later in this and the third movements. The faster principal theme is a cantabile melody that starts loudly, but immediately wearies of the effort and fades away. The secondary theme has the same rhythmic pattern as the first, and its descending contour corresponds to the drop in dynamics of the earlier subject. Early in the development section, the second violin introduces a new melody, also somewhat related to theme one. For the remainder of the development section and through the recapitulation, the composer does nothing to violate the warm, tender quality of this thematic material, creating a movement of rare poetic beauty.
Mendelssohn models the second movement on the 16th-century canzonetta, a light vocal piece often in the character of a dance song, and substitutes it for the more traditional scherzo. The movement’s fairyland charm and daintiness have probably made it the most popular single movement of all six Mendelssohn quartets, particularly favored as an encore piece.
The three-note upbeat motto from the first movement introductionh is heard at the outset of the cantabile theme that opens the Andante espressivo, ending with a brief, improvisatory recitative for the first violin that Mendelssohn marks con fuoco, “with fire.” He then simply repeats the whole statement, although somewhat elaborated, ending with even more prominent appearances of the three-note motto.
Without pause, the high-spirited finale starts out like a spirited tarantella, a fast, wild dance once believed capable of curing the bite of the tarantula spider. Prancing along with gay abandon, Mendelssohn weaves a number of motifs around the onrushing flow of notes. In the concluding coda, Mendelssohn transforms the first movement introduction into a march-like melody, along with other references to first movement themes.

BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945)String Quartet No. 6
Seriously troubled by the rise of Nazism and the threat of World War II, Bartók nevertheless forced himself to continue composing through the late 1930s. On August 18, 1939, he wrote to his son from Saanen, Switzerland, that he was starting his Sixth String Quartet for the New Hungarian Quartet. But several days later, after receiving word of the German-Russian nonaggression pact, Bartók stopped composing and headed home to Budapest. For nearly three months, he only worked haltingly, deeply disturbed by the outbreak of war. He did not actually complete the quartet until near the end of November. It proved to be the last composition that Bartók wrote in Europe; less than one year later, he and his wife emigrated to the United States.
The Sixth Quartet is drenched in the anguish Bartók must have been suffering as the civilized world tottered on the brink of destruction, as it became clear that he would have to flee his beloved Hungary. Testament to this is the linear progression of the quartet’s four movements—each one slower than its predecessor—that finally ends in a mood of bleak resignation. One theme, marked “Mesto” (“mournful or sad”), serves to introduce each movement and binds the entire work together.
In the first movement, the viola leads the Mesto theme, with others then joining in for a forceful unison passage that Bartók transforms into the fleeting, ascending first theme of the section. A second theme follows, with the characteristic Hungarian folk music rhythm of trochees and iambs (patterns of long-short note groups followed by short-long note groups). The character is light, lively, and playful, as Bartók works out the two themes and brings them back for a varied recapitulation.
The cello ushers in the second movement with the Mesto, this time with a counter melody in the first violin and a hushed tremolo accompaniment in the second violin and viola. The body of the movement is a march, but laden with anger, irony, and savage satire. The third movement is introduced by the Mesto melody in the first violin, with counter melodies in the second violin and cello. As in the previous Marcia, the Burletta (“burlesque, jest”) is bitter and cutting. To intensify the satire, Bartók directs one violin to play the same notes as another—but a quartertone flat, creating grating dissonances. A nostalgic, wistful middle section provides a welcome change of mood before the final part brings back the feeling of the opening; included here is considerable use of pizzicato and jeté (“thrown bow”), along with a recollection of the second theme from the first movement.
All four instruments join in the fourth presentation of the Mesto theme, which now continues as the principal theme of the movement. Bartók also recalls the two themes from the first movement, now in somber tones bereft of their earlier vitality. Lovely in tone and highly emotional, the movement communicates a sense of beatific acceptance—until the viola provides a final glimpse of the Mesto theme and the quartet ends.
ANTONÍN DVOØÁK (1841–1904)String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105
By early 1895, after having been in the United States about three years, Dvoøák was eager to return to his native Bohemia. He missed his relatives and friends, the Bohemian countryside and cities, and yearned to see his country home in Vysoka, just outside Prague. While in this wistful mood, but still living in New York, Dvoøák began composing a new string quartet, his Op. 105, in March 1895, and finished exactly 70 measures of the first movement before sailing homeward in early April.

Dvoøák spent the following months at Vysoka, but did not compose. In August, he wrote to a friend, “My muse is now quite silent. For the whole four months I have not even taken up my pen.” In the fall, though, when he returned to Prague to resume teaching at the conservatory, he felt ready to start writing again. Instead of continuing with Op. 105, he began a new quartet, marked Op. 106. On December 12, three days after completing Op. 106, Dvoøák returned to Op. 105, finishing it on December 30, 1895. Op. 105 proved to be the last of the fourteen quartets that Dvoøák wrote.

In Op. 105 there are no overt traces of either the Americanisms he acquired from his stay in the United States, or of the Slavonic character that infused so much of his earlier music. Rather, these elements are integrated into a wholly unified work that seems both a celebration of Dvoøák’s joy at being back home and his confident mastery of the quartet medium.

Before beginning the optimistic first movement, Dvoøák inserts a sober, foreboding introduction, quickly dispelled an extroverted, rising phrase based on the melody heard in the introduction. Dvoøák imaginatively works out the various themes in the development section and brings them back for a final review in the recapitulation.

The second movement, one of Dvoøák’s finest scherzos, is closely akin to a Furiant, the Bohemian folk dance, with its verve and irresistible rhythmic energy. The principal, romantic theme of the following Lento plays itself out before the highly chromatic subject of the middle section is heard above the cello. The music rises to an impassioned climax, and Dvoøák then returns to the opening material. This time, though, the second violin plays a rapid little decorative figuration, which Dvoøák marks Scherzando (“playful”), adding a light touch to the predominantly serious character of the first theme.

Starting at the very bottom of the cello’s range, the last movement appears to have some difficulty getting started and remains rather episodic throughout. The mood is one of warmth and geniality, rather than sparkling gaiety, of inner smiles rather than of joyful laughter. At its end, though, Dvoøák’s exuberance breaks through for an all-out happy conclusion.


© 1985 Melvin Berger, from Guide to Chamber Music (Dover, 2001). Reprinted in edited form by permission.

Ying Quartet
·· Timothy Ying, Violin
·· Janet Ying, Violin
·· Phillip Ying, Viola
·· David Ying, Cello
The Grammy-winning Ying Quartet occupies a prominent position in the classical music world. Its performances take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls; at the same time, the quartet’s belief that music can be a meaningful part of everyday life has also drawn its four members to perform in settings as diverse as Chinese restaurants and juvenile prisons.

The Ying Quartet first came to professional prominence in the early 1990s during its years as resident quartet of Jesup, Iowa, a farm town of only 2,000 people. Playing before audiences of six to 600 in homes, schools, churches, and banks, the quartet had its first opportunities to enable music as an integral part of community life. The quartet considers its time in Jesup the foundation of its present musical life and goals.

As quartet-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music, the Ying Quartet teaches in the string department and leads a rigorous, sequentially designed chamber music program. From 2001 to 2008, the Ying Quartet has also been the Blodgett Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University.