CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Gil Shaham And Friends

Zankel Hall
Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Gil Shaham, Violin
Adele Anthony, Violin
Masao Kawasaki, Viola
Paul Neubauer, Viola
Alisa Weilerstein, Cello
Orli Shaham, Piano

BRAHMS Piano Trio in A Major, Op. Posth.
BRAHMS String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111

Program Notes:

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)

Piano Trio in A Major, Op. Posth.

Brahms’s authorship of this appealing piano trio is in dispute, with distinguished musicologists arrayed on both sides of the controversy. The authoritative New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians places a discreet question mark beside the entry in the composer’s work-list. Jan Swafford, the author of the latest major Brahms biography, sidesteps the issue by not mentioning the Trio in A Major. But Malcolm MacDonald discusses it at some length in his comprehensive account of Brahms’s life and works before concluding, largely on the basis of internal stylistic evidence, that the Trio is almost certainly authentic.

The facts are these: In 1924 the German scholar Ernst Bücken discovered the previously unknown score of the Trio in A Major in a collection of manuscripts archived in Bonn. Although the handwriting was certainly not Brahms’s, Bücken detected what he regarded as the composer’s fingerprints all over the autograph. In 1938 he and Karl Hasse edited the Trio for publication by the eminent Leipzig firm of Breitkopf & Härtel, which listed it in its catalogue alongside Brahms’s three known piano trios as an “opus posthumous.” In light of the date of publication, it seems likely that nationalistic sentiment influenced the publisher’s decision to award the work an unequivocal attribution. In any case, the manuscript subsequently vanished, thus virtually ensuring that the Trio’s authorship would remain in the realm of speculation.

If one accepts Bücken’s dating of the Trio to 1853, then its composition would have coincided closely with Brahms’s sudden emergence onto the European scene. In the fall of that year, Robert Schumann hailed the precocious 20-year-old as a “genius” and published a famous article predicting that he would lead German music down “new paths.” Brahms, however, was not one to let his head be turned by praise. He confessed to Schumann that he feared he could never live up to such an extravagant encomium. “Above all,” he wrote, “it will compel me to exercise the greatest caution in my choice of pieces for publication … You will naturally understand that I am straining every nerve to bring as little as possible disgrace to you.”

Assuming that the Trio in A Major is authentic, it follows that Brahms deliberately withheld the score from publication, for reasons that can only be surmised. His first indisputably genuine piano trio, Op. 8 in B Major, came out in 1854 and was instantly recognized as a youthful masterpiece. But Brahms was never happy with the original version and toward the end of his life he revised the score extensively, pruning its length by fully one-third. There is no evidence that he revisited the Trio in A Major around that time. Nor did he express his dissatisfaction by destroying the manuscript, as he did with several early works that he deemed inferior. In the end, all one is left with is question marks—and the music, of course, which speaks for itself.

To the amateur ear, the Trio in A Major does indeed sound plausibly Brahmsian. In particular, it evokes the Brahms of the early years, when he was strongly under the spell of Schumann. The boldness and richness of the keyboard writing; the terse, motivic nature of the themes and their development; the vigor and variety of the rhythms; and the tempering of romantic impetuousness with classical restraint—all are characteristic of Brahms’s chamber music of this period. The mood of the Trio is predominantly upbeat, with just a hint of tender pathos in the luminously expansive slow movement and a dash of gypsy spice in the concluding Presto.

The Piano Trio in A Major, Op. Posth., receives its Carnegie Hall premiere this evening.


String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111

In December 1890 Brahms presented his publisher with the manuscript of his second string quintet, along with a terse message: “With this slip, bid farewell to notes of mine.” As it turned out, the composer’s valedictory was premature; he soon got a fresh wind and went on to pen some of his most beguiling works, including the Clarinet Trio and Quintet, the Four Serious Songs, and the late Intermezzi for solo piano. Yet it surely says something about Brahms’s psychological state that he should have chosen to designate this lighthearted, energetic work as his swan song. His good friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg put her finger on the Quintet’s special quality when Brahms sent her a manuscript copy of the score. She wrote to the composer:

I was so inspired by your earlier Quintet in F Major that the new one seemed to stand but a poor chance (old friends are best!); but I am now faithless enough to admit that it surpasses the older work in beauty, grace, and depth of feeling … The Quintet held me from the very start and I found myself back in the atmosphere of the G-Major Sextet. It is all wonderfully clear and compact; distinct in its manner of expression … He who can invent all this must be in a happy frame of mind! It is the work of a man of thirty!

The Quintet opens in a blaze of youthful high spirits, the cello’s strenuous melody struggling to surface from underneath a flood of 16th notes in the four upper voices. (One cellist protested that the passage was unplayable as written, but Brahms stubbornly refused to make any concessions.) A quietly lilting second theme provides a wistful contrast, and the sky darkens momentarily in the magically ethereal development section. But the movement’s exhilarating energy proves irrepressible. A plangent and richly expressive Adagio in D minor (highlighting the baritonal timbre of the violas) leads to a restless, waltz-like Allegretto that flits between G minor and G major. The final Vivace has a rollicking gypsy flavor. When Brahms’s biographer Max Kalbeck suggested that the Quintet be subtitled “Brahms in the Prater,” alluding to Vienna’s famous urban playground, the composer reportedly shot back, “You’ve got it! Among all the pretty girls, eh?”

The Rosé Quartet, supplemented by a second violist, gave the first performance of the G Major Quintet in Vienna on November 11, 1890. Some critics remained impervious to its charms. As one wrote, “the themes, although treated so effectively and elaborately, seem nonetheless more and more thought rather than felt, more constructed than discovered. One is so seldom in one’s innermost soul touched by Brahms.” Nevertheless, the popular verdict was nothing short of ecstatic. When the violinist Joseph Joachim performed the Quintet in Berlin on December 10, the audience was so demonstrative that he was forced—“against my principles,” as he pointedly reminded Brahms—to encore the slow movement.

Composed in 1890, the String Quintet No. 2 received its Carnegie Hall premiere in Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) on November 24, 1957, with Chamber Music Circle, chamber ensemble.


—Harry Haskell
A former music critic and editor, Harry Haskell is the author of The Early Music Revival: A History, The Attentive Listener: Three Centuries of Music Criticism, and Boss-Busters and Sin Hounds: Kansas City and Its "Star." 

© 2009 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Gil Shaham, Violin
Violinist Gil Shaham is internationally recognized by audiences and critics alike as one of today’s most virtuosic and engaging classical artists. He is sought after for concerto appearances with celebrated orchestras and conductors, as well as for recital and ensemble appearances.

Highlights of the current season include appearances with the orchestras of New York, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta, Montreal, and Houston, as well as Berlin, London and Munich in Europe. In addition to his many orchestral engagements, Mr. Shaham regularly tours in recital and enjoys musical collaboration with his family, including his wife, violinist Adele Anthony; his sister, pianist Orli Shaham; and his brother-in-law, conductor David Robertson. This winter he again brings together friends and colleagues for three concerts of Brahms’s chamber music at Zankel Hall.

Mr. Shaham has recorded more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs, including a number of bestsellers that appear on record charts in the US and abroad. These recordings have earned prestigious awards, including multiple Grammy Awards, a Grand Prix du Disque, a Diapason d’Or, and a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. His most recent recordings—including his new, bestselling release of Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Zinman—have been produced for his own label Canary Classics. Others include The Butterfly Lovers and Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony; The Fauré Album with Akira Eguchi; a Prokofiev album with Orli Shaham; and Mozart in Paris, a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A major with Yefim Bronfman and cellist Truls Mørk.

Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel where he began violin studies at age seven. In 1982 he returned to the US as a student of Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang at The Juilliard School. He has also studied at Columbia University.

Mr. Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990 and the Avery Fisher Prize in 2008. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius, and lives in New York City with his wife and their two children.

Adele Anthony, Violin
Since her triumph at Denmark’s Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in 1996, Adele Anthony has enjoyed an acclaimed and expanding international career that
includes both solo appearances and chamber music performances.

In recent seasons, Ms. Anthony has performed with major orchestras in Houston, Seattle, San Diego, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Grand Rapids, as well with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, among others. She has also appeared at summer festivals such as Aspen and La Jolla. Abroad, Ms. Anthony has performed with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Denmark’s Aalborg and Aarhus Symphony orchestras, Finland’s Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, NDR Orchestra Hannover, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Ms. Anthony enjoys performing in duo recital with her husband, Gil Shaham. This winter she joins him for three Brahms chamber music concerts at Zankel Hall.

Ms. Anthony is an active recording artist. In 2006 Naxos released Vivaldi:The Four Seasons, her recording with Sejong Soloists and Cho-Liang Lin. Her recording of the Philip Glass Violin Concerto with Takuo Yuasa and the Ulster Orchestra was released by Naxos in 2000. She has also recorded Arvo Pärt’s Tabula rasa with Gil Shaham, Neeme Järvi, and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon), and the Nielsen Violin Concerto with Dorrit Matson and the New York Scandia Symphony (Centaur).

Ms. Anthony studied at the Conservatory of the University of Adelaide with Beryl Kimber until 1987. She continued her studies at New York’s Juilliard School, where she worked with Dorothy DeLay, Felix Galimir, and Hyo Kang. She made her Australian debut with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in 1983 and has since performed with all six symphony orchestras of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She will return to Adelaide in June 2009 for performances and a recording. Ms. Anthony has also received awards from the Australia Council, the South Australian Government, and The Queen’s Trust. She performs on an Antonio Stradivarius violin, crafted in 1728, and resides in New York City with her husband and their two children, Elijah and Ella Mei.

Masao Kawasaki, Viola
Violinist and violist Masao Kawasaki leads an exciting and versatile international career as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and pedagogue of violin and viola. His multifaceted career has resulted in the development of musicians that now enjoy careers in every realm of the music field. His excellence in teaching was acknowledged in 2004 when he received the prestigious Presidential Scholars Program Teacher Recognition Award.

Mr. Kawasaki performs extensively as soloist with numerous orchestras throughout Europe, Asia and North America, including appearances with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Miyazaki International Music Festival Orchestra, Mito Chamber Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall with the Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra.

Mr. Kawasaki’s has collaborated in chamber music with the world’s most distinguished artists, including Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Yefim Bronfman, Joseph Suk, and Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg. Guest appearances include Tokyo, Emerson, Juilliard, and American String Quartets. He has recorded for CBS/Sony, EMI, Nonesuch, and Phillips labels and featured in live broadcasts on radio and television stations globally. Festival appearances include Spoleto, Rockport, Casals, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, and Miyazaki International Chamber Music Festivals.

Critically acclaimed as a violinist and violist, Mr. Kawasaki is frequently invited to serve on juries of competitions, including Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, Tertis International Viola Competition, and national violin and viola competitions in Japan and China.

Mr. Kawasaki’s students enjoy careers as soloists, chamber musicians, principal players of major orchestras, and professors of major universities and conservatories worldwide. He is a member of the violin and viola faculties of The Juilliard School, Chairman of the String Department at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a member of the violin-viola faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and holds the Geraldine B. Gee Chair for viola at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Recent highlights include master classes in Shanghai and Beijing, China; the Ishikawa Music Academy; and Viola Space.

Paul Neubauer, Viola
Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing distinguish him as one of this generation's quintessential artists. Balancing a solo career with performances as an artist member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mr. Neubauer, at age 21, became the youngest principal string player in the New York Philharmonic's history. He is the Orchestra and Chamber Music Director of the OK Mozart Festival in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 2005 he premiered Joan Tower's Purple Rhapsody, a viola concerto commissioned for him by seven orchestras and the Koussevitsky Foundation.
Mr. Neubauer has recently released an all Schumann recital album with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott for Image Recordings. He also recorded works written specifically for him: Wild Purple for solo viola by Joan Tower for Naxos; Viola Rhapsody, a concerto by Henri Lazarof on Centaur Records; and Soul Garden for Viola and Chamber Ensemble by Derek Bermel on CRI. His recording of the Walton Viola Concerto was recently re-released on Decca. He has appeared with over 100 orchestras throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, including the New York, Los Angeles, Helsinki and Royal Liverpool philharmonics; the National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and the Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. He gave the world premiere of the revised Bartók Viola Concerto, as well as concertos by Penderecki, Picker, Jacob, Lazarof, Suter, Müller-Siemens, Ott, and Friedman.
Mr. Neubauer has performed at the festivals of Verbier, Ravinia, Stavanger, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart, and Marlboro. First prizewinner of the Whitaker, D'Angelo, and Lionel Tertis international competitions, Mr. Neubauer has also been heard on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and has been featured in Strad, Strings, and People magazine. In 1989 he became the first violist chosen to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Born in Los Angeles and currently residing in New York City, Mr. Neubauer studied with Alan de Veritch, Paul Doktor, and William Primrose. He holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he is now a faculty member, and also teaches at Mannes College.

Alisa Weilerstein, Cello
American cellist Alisa Weilerstein has attracted widespread attention for playing that combines a natural virtuosic command and technical precision with impassioned musicianship. At 26 years old, she has performed with the nation’s top orchestras, given recitals throughout the US and Europe, has appeared at prestigious festivals, and is a dedicated performer of chamber music.

This season Ms. Weilerstein will make her debuts with the Boston and the Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and perform with the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas and National Symphony Orchestras, and New York Philharmonic, among others. She will give recitals and perform chamber music throughout the US. Abroad she will perform with the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Slovenia Philharmonic, and will give several recital tours in Italy.

During the 2007–2008 season Ms. Weilerstein performed with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony and the Orchestre National de Lyon, among other orchestras. She also gave several recitals throughout the US, including the Celebrity Series in Boston. Abroad she performed with the NDR Hamburg, the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel at the Hong Kong Festival, and gave recitals in Bergamo and Milan, Italy.

Alisa Weilerstein was awarded Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal prize in 2008 and was named the winner of the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Award, which she received at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. She was the recipient in 2000 of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was selected for two prestigious young artists programs in 2000–2001, the ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) Rising Stars recital series, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two.

Ms. Weilerstein is a graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Richard Weiss. In May 2004 she graduated from Columbia University in New York with a degree in Russian History. In November 2008 Ms. Weilerstein became a Celebrity Advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Ms. Weilerstein was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was nine. Please visit alisaweilerstein.com for more information about Alisa Weilerstein

Orli Shaham, Piano
A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and vitality, Orli Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists. She has performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras; the Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis, and San Francisco symphonies; and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic, Taiwan
Philharmonic, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. A frequent guest at summer festivals, she has performed at Ravinia, Verbier, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Caramoor, and Spoleto. Ms. Shaham has collaborated with her brother, violinist Gil Shaham, on three CDs; their most recent recording, Mozart in Paris, was released by Canary Classics in Spring 2008.

During the 2008–2009 season, Ms. Shaham debuts with the Malaysian Philharmonic led by Claus Petr Flor, and returns to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia. In the US she performs with the St. Louis, San Antonio, and Akron symphonies. Her recital schedule features visits to Cincinnati, St. Louis, and appearances at Carnegie Hall. In addition Ms. Shaham serves as the 2008–2009 Chamber Music Essentials lecturer
for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She also curates and performs in the Pacific Symphony’s chamber music series in Costa Mesa, California.

Driven by a passion to bring classical music to new audiences, Ms. Shaham maintains an active parallel career as a respected broadcaster, music writer, and lecturer. An enthusiastic teacher, she has taught music literature at Columbia University, and contributed articles to Piano Today, Symphony,and Playbill magazines. Orli Shaham
lives in New York and St. Louis with her husband, conductor David Robertson; her two stepsons, Peter and Jonathan; and her newborn twin sons, Nathan and Alex.