CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Christian Tetzlaff
Tanja Tetzlaff
Lars Vogt

Zankel Hall
Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 7:30 PM

Pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 PM in Zankel Hall: Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff, and Lars Vogt in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of Artistic Planning at Carnegie Hall.

Christian Tetzlaff, Violin
Tanja Tetzlaff, Cello
Lars Vogt, Piano

SCHUBERT Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio No. 2

Encore:
SCHUMANN In mässiger Bewegung from Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major, Op. 80

Program is approximately 1 hour, 35 minutes, including one intermission

This concert is made possible, in part, by an endowment fund for young artists established by Mr. and Mrs. Anthony B. Evnin and the A. E. Charitable Foundation.

Program Notes:

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)
Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929

About the Composer

Schubert was best known to his contemporaries as a composer of lieder, part songs, and piano music. Few outside his immediate circle of friends were aware of his contributions to the larger musical genres. As a result, virtually none of his orchestral music was published during his short lifetime, and only two of his many chamber works: the A-Minor String Quartet and the E-flat–Major Piano Trio. Both the latter and its companion, the Piano Trio in B-flat Major, date from late 1827, when Schubert rediscovered the piano trio medium after a hiatus of some 15 years. The buoyant mood of these two masterworks contrasts with the somber introspection of the song cycle Winterreise, which occupied Schubert for much of that year.


About the Work

The Trio in E-flat Major is one of Schubert's most beloved works. It featured on a concert held on January 30, 1829, to raise money for a memorial to the late composer. Schubert himself gave the trio pride of place on a program presented in Vienna on March 26, 1828—the only public concert of his own music that the composer is known to have organized. (The trio may also have been heard at the last of the so-called Schubertiads, or private musical soirées, held that January at the home of his friend Josef von Spaun.) After the performance, which was given under the auspices of Vienna's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde ("Music Lovers Society"), Schubert boasted that his new piece was received "by a tightly packed audience with such extraordinary applause that I have been urged to repeat the concert."


A Closer Listen

The qualities that listeners in Schubert's day singled out for praise in the E-flat–Major Trio are the same ones that delight us today: a rich vein of melody infused with bracing rhythmic vitality, and an endlessly varied palette of colors and textures. The first-movement Allegro opens in a bright, declamatory mode, but soon veers off into darker territory. (Fluid shifts from major to minor, and back again, are one of Schubert's trademarks.) To these two essentially dramatic themes, Schubert soon adds a third, of a gentler and more lyrical character, which the strings present against rippling cascades of triplets in the piano. The C-minor theme of the Andante con moto, introduced by the cello, is one of Schubert's most poignantly beautiful melodies. Its yearning strains give way to a graceful, hiccupping tune in the major mode that grows steadily louder and more assertive. Midway through the movement, a menacing undercurrent of tremolos in the piano presages stormy weather. Then, as so often in Schubert, the dark clouds magically disperse and the sun shines briefly before the final descent into hushed, minor-key gloom.

The contrast with the exuberance of the last two movements, both in lilting triple meter and both marked Allegro moderato, could hardly be greater. In a letter to his publisher, Schubert emphasized that the Scherzo should be played "at a moderate pace and piano throughout," to set it apart from the more "vigorous" character of the middle trio section. In the finale, the bouncy main theme alternates with lengthy minor-mode interludes, marked by insistently repeated eighth notes and sharp accents. Time and again, the music sidles up to a final cadence, only to dart off in a new direction. The last movement is one of Schubert's most spacious creations; indeed, his friends considered it too much of a good thing and prevailed on him to trim 99 of its 846 bars.



DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)
Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67

About the Composer

Throughout his career, Shostakovich was alternately lionized and demonized by the Soviet Union's cultural apparatchiks. It's a small wonder that his music veers wildly between mordent satire (the opera The Nose and the ballet The Golden Age), patriotic bombast (the Second Symphony and the symphonic poem October, both eulogizing the 1917 Russian Revolution), and bleak alienation (almost any of his 15 string quartets, his most deeply personal works). Shostakovich came of age in the 1920s, during the short peaceful period of the workers' state. But his incorrigible political cynicism, and his contempt for the proletarian pap produced under the banner of Soviet Realism, repeatedly landed him in hot water with the authorities. The international success of the "Leningrad" Symphony—composed during the Nazi siege of Leningrad in World War II and widely hailed as a symbol of Russian resistance—finally brought him a measure of security. Fundamentally tonal, but laced with dissonant harmonies and kinetic energy, Shostakovich's music epitomizes the restless, existentialist spirit of the 20th-century "Age of Anxiety."


About the Work

Two decades separate Shostakovich's two trios for piano and strings. The first, a short, ebullient exercise in the key of C minor, dates from his student days at the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) Conservatory. The high-spirited lyricism of the Op. 8 Trio is a far cry from the brooding intensity of its E-minor cousin, a work, as his biographer Ian MacDonald observes, "begun in grief and concluded in anger." The grief was occasioned by the death in February 1944 of the composer's artistic confidant Ivan Sollertinsky, an eminent music critic (although Shostakovich seems to have begun sketching the music several weeks earlier). The anger arose from the horrific revelations in the press that summer of the Nazi death camps that had been liberated by Soviet troops. Completed in mid-August, the trio was first performed in Leningrad on November 14 by Shostakovich and members of the Beethoven Quartet. At the Moscow premiere two weeks later, according to one member of the audience, "the music left a devastating impression. People cried openly. The last ‘Jewish Part' of the Trio by popular demand had to be repeated."


A Closer Listen

The Second Piano Trio bears Shostakovich's stylistic fingerprints in its extremes of mood and register; insistent rhythms; and spare, linear textures. The opening Andante casts a haunting spell, with the muted cello intoning a plaintive melody in ghostly, high-lying harmonics. Soon the violin joins in, followed by the piano in simple octaves. The pulse quickens and the piano introduces a brighter variant of the melody, set against throbbing eighth notes in the strings. Shostakovich develops this material in a brilliant and frequently sardonic manner, using changing meters and canonic imitation.

The second movement, marked Allegro con brio, starts in a light, scherzo-like vein, but soon turns demonic, with angular leaps, stabbing accents, and relentlessly driving rhythms. The Largo is a dirge-like passacaglia, characterized by a harmonic pattern that repeats itself every eight bars. The piano part consists entirely of slow-moving block chords, above which the violin and cello weave a tender and richly lyrical duet. (This is the movement that was played at Shostakovich's funeral service at the Moscow Conservatory in 1975.) The finale, a grimly grotesque dance of death, follows without a break. Shostakovich would incorporate Jewish themes into many of his later works, but never to greater emotional effect than in this savage Allegretto. Toward the end, the theme from the first movement returns in the strings, buoyed by the piano's sweeping arpeggios. The dance flickers back to life, then subsides, and the trio ends with a hushed echo of the third-movement passacaglia.

—Harry Haskell

© 2010 The Carnegie Hall Corporation

More Information:

These two chamber masterworks provide very different experiences. The Shostakovich moves―with breathtaking emotion―between irony and heartbreak. The Schubert seems happy and innocent, yet there’s a touch of sadness in its smile. This trio’s recent recording of the Schubert was praised as “palpably ‘alive’” (Fanfare).

Christian Tetzlaff, Violin
Christian Tetzlaff

Christian Tetzlaff is known for a broad spectrum of performances and recordings, including Bach's unaccompanied sonatas and partitas; 19th-century masterworks by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Brahms; 20th-century concertos by Bartók, Berg, and Shostakovich; and world premieres of contemporary works. Also a dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Tetzlaff frequently collaborates with distinguished artists and is a founder of the Tetzlaff Quartet.

Mr. Tetzlaff has been in demand as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors. He has appeared with the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto, among many others; and with major European ensembles, including the Berliner Philharmoniker; Orchestre de Paris; and London Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras.

Highlights of Mr. Tetzlaff's 2009–2010 season include return visits to the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Minnesota Orchestra; and the Chicago, Saint Louis, and Indianapolis symphonies; recitals in Boston and Toronto; first performances with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra; a tour with the San Francisco Symphony that includes concerts at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall; and performances of the Bach unaccompanied sonatas and partitas at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and New York's 92nd Street Y.

Mr. Tetzlaff's highly regarded recordings reflect the breadth of his musical interests. Releases include Berg's Chamber Concerto with Mitsuko Uchida and Ensemble Intercontemporain, led by Pierre Boulez, for Decca; the Brahms and Joachim violin concertos with the Danish Radio Orchestra and Thomas Dausgaard for Virgin Classics; Bach sonatas and partitas on the Musical Heritage and Hänssler labels; Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Tonhalle-Orchestra Zürich and David Zinman for Arte Nova; and a Grammy-nominated album of Bartók's violin sonatas nos. 1 and 2 (with Leif Ove Andsnes), and Bartók's Sonata for Solo Violin, also on Virgin Classics.

Tanja Tetzlaff, Cello
Tanja Tetzlaff

Cellist Tanja Tetzlaff's extensive repertoire encompasses solo standard works, contemporary concertos, and chamber music. She studied with Bernhard Gmelin at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Hamburg, and with Heinrich Schiff at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Ms. Tetzlaff's honors include first prize at the First International Music Competition in Vienna (1992), third prize at the ARD International Music Competition (1994), the Förderpreis Deutschland (1998), and the Novartis-Prize of the Kultur-Fördergemeinschaft der Europäischen Wirtschaft.

She has performed with such orchestras as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Berliner Symphoniker, Camerata Salzburg, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. She has also worked with conductors Lorin Maazel, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Sir Roger Norrington, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Paavo Järvi, among others.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Tetzlaff performs regularly with such musicians as Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Vogt, Tabea Zimmermann, Martin Fröst, Gunilla Süssmann, Alexander Lonquich, Florian Donderer, and her brother Christian Tetzlaff, with whom she founded the Tetzlaff Quartet.

Ms. Tetzlaff appears frequently at summer festivals in Switzerland (St. Gallen, Davos, Pontresina), Norway (Risør, Bergen), Germany (Schwetzingen, Heimbach) and the Netherlands (Delft). She has also appeared at the Berliner Festwochen, Musikfest Bremen, and Klangbogen Wien.

Last season, Ms. Tetzlaff performed cello concertos by Elgar, Haydn, Shostakovich, and Saint-Saëns, as well as the German premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Cello Concerto. She also performed the Brahms Double Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff and B. A. Zimmermann's Pas de trois in Berlin.

Ms. Tetzlaff has recorded the Haydn cello concertos with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra; Schumann's Cello Concerto with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, conducted by Heinz Holliger; solo works by Bach, Kodály, Salonen, and Britten; and Grieg, Sibelius, and Rachmaninoff with pianist Gunilla Süssmann.

Ms. Tetzlaff plays a cello made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1776.

Lars Vogt, Piano
Lars Vogt

Born in Düren, Germany, pianist Lars Vogt first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition; he has since performed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.

An EMI recording artist, Mr. Vogt has recorded Hindemith's Kammermusik No. 2 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Claudio Abbado; Schumann, Grieg, and the first two Beethoven concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle; solo works by Schubert; and Mozart concertos with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg and Ivor Bolton.

Mr. Vogt was appointed the Berliner Philharmoniker's first pianist-in-residence in 2003–2004. He has also appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Philharmonic, and the Bayerische Staatsorchester, among others. In the US, Mr. Vogt has appeared with the National, Pittsburgh, and Houston symphonies; in Asia, he has appeared with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg.

This season, Mr. Vogt appears with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle; opens the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France's season; and performs recitals with Thomas Quasthoff. Other chamber engagements take him to Rome and Philadelphia, with additional performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Last month, Mr. Vogt was a featured guest artist at Mozartwoche in Salzburg, where he performed Mozart concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic and Christoph Eschenbach, and with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding.

In 1998, Mr. Vogt founded Spannungen, a festival in Heimbach, Germany, whose success has been marked by the release of 10 live recordings on EMI. He enjoys regular partnerships with Christian Tetzlaff, and collaborates occasionally with actor Klaus Maria Brandauer and comedian Konrad Beikircher. He also initiated Rhapsody in School, an education project in Germany.