Brahms G minor Piano Quartet with music of Marilyn Shrude and Richard Strauss

The 2011 Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival concludes with what can be described as the ultimate festival piece, the Brahms G minor Piano Quartet. For the occasion, WWCMF welcomes pianist of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet and Professor of Piano at Cornell University, Xak Bjerken. Brahms’ work is known for its searing gypsy rondo Finale, and will leave you marking your calendars for the 2012 Festival.

Also on the program are two works by non-Italians who have chosen Italian titles for their works. Memorie diLuoghi (Memories of Places) is a sonata for violin and piano by composer, Marilyn Shrude. It is dedicated to the violinist Maria Sampen, her daughter, and fittingly, it is Maria who performs the work this evening. Richard Strauss’ final opera, Capriccio, opens with a string sextet of phenomenal beauty. It is presented here without the rest of the opera… and affords us the rare opportunity to perform chamber music from a composer known for his immense orchestrations.

Artists: Xak Bjerken, Timothy Christie, Kevin Krentz, Norbert Lewandowski, Christina McGann, Stephen Miahky, Philip Payton, Julia Salerno and Maria Sampen.

Brahms G minor Piano Quartet

Tasting Music IV will explore the G Minor Piano Quartet of Johannes Brahms.

True or False:

Like Samson with his flowing locks, Brahms drew his musical strength from his immense beard.

True. Why do you think pro athletes grow beards in the post season?

Nowhere is Brahms stronger than in this lush work for piano and strings. The work’s grand stature inspired composer Arnold Schönberg to arrange the piece for large orchestra.  That version is sometimes called “Brahms’ Fifth Symphony.”  However, chamber music is about intimacy, and here the work is presented by the original performing force of four musicians amid the warmly appointed Sinclair Estate Vinyards (SEV) tasting room in the heart of downtown Walla Walla.  Start growing your beard now (gentlemen only, please) and be ready for this final Tasting Music Event of the 2011 Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival.

Artists: Xak Bjerken, Timothy Christie, Nobert Lewandowski and Stephen Miahky

Adams' Hallelujah Junction and music of Enescu, Mozart and Haydn

Festival Series III brings three centuries of chamber music to the WWCMF stage. From the outer ends of the 20th century are John Adams’ Hallelujah Junction (1998) and George Enescu’s First Rumanian Rhapsody (1901). For the Adams, will pianists Winston Choi and Xak Bjerken rouse the combined 176 hammers of the black and white keys of two pianos into a celebratory chorus of Americana Minimalism? I think not… The Enescu First Rumanian Rhapsody, full of both sentiment and dizzying virtuosity, brings to mind the antics of classic Bugs Bunny.

Balancing these works from the poles of the 20th century are works by Mozart and Haydn. The Mozart Grande Sestetto Concertante is an artful reworking of his famous Sinfonia Concertante K. 364, for violin, viola and orchestra. So deft is the transcription that the jobs of two soloists and full orchestra are carried out by just six musicians, providing an intimacy and accessibility unmatched by the large scale original. Finally, Festival Series III pays homage to the Father of the String Quartet, Franz Joseph Haydn. His Op. 71, No. 2 is a compelling example of both his unmatched elegance and his legendary wit.

Artists: Xak Bjerken, Kevin Casseday, Winston Choi, Timothy Christie, Kevin Krentz, Norbert Lewandowski, Christina McGann, Stephen Miahky, Philip Payton ,Julia Salerno, Maria Sampen and MingHuan Xu.

Haydn String Quartet in D, Op. 71, No. 2

Tasting Music III takes chamber music outdoors at beautiful Walla Walla Vintners. Haydn’s String Quartet in D, Op 71, No. 2 is a wonderful example of a mature work from the composer known as the father of the string quartet. The four musicians who performed WWCMF’s Founding Celebration performance in September of 2007 are reunited in this performance.

Artists: Timothy Christie, Norbert Lewandowski, Stephen Miahky and Maria Sampen

Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time plus music by Debussy and Prokofiev

Festival Series II knits together music of Russia and France, spans two World Wars, and brings the complex dynamics of the first half of the 20th century to life more vividly than any written history. Debussy’s Sonata for flute, harp and viola is suffused with light and transparency, Prokofiev’s with steely melodic angles. In his epic Quartet for the End of Time, Olivier Messiaen transcends both with a completely new musical language. The work, born out of the most difficult circumstances imaginable, provides one of the most legendary stories in music history. Captured and interned in a German prisoner of war camp, Messiaen discovered musical colleagues among his fellow prisoners: a violinist, a clarinetist and a cellist. Himself a pianist, Messiaen created his quartet for this diverse combination, and it was given its world premiere on January 15, 1941, at Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp, in Görlitz, Germany, for an audience of inmates and guards alike. Despite the circumstances of its infancy, the Quartet for the End of Time stands as a work of exceeding beauty and deep humanity.

Artists: Sarah Brady, Winston Choi, Timothy Christie, Amy Ley, Christina McGann, Stephen Miahky, David Requiro, Kevin Schempf and MingHuan Xu

Debussy Sonata for flute, harp and viola

Tasting Music II invites you to Garrison Creek Cellars to enjoy some of the best views in the Walla Walla Valley, and to encounter a work of sublime beauty. The Sonata for flute, harp and viola was one of Debussy’s final works. Its opening Pastorale movement will find no better home than the idyllic paradise of Les Collines Vineyard. Suffused with light and transparency, the work brings an unlikely combination of instruments together to create a totally unique sound world.

Artists: Sarah Brady, Timothy Christie and Amy Ley

A Musical Paella

Wild contrasts and surprise performances.  The super-cool jimgermanbar in Waitsburg sets the stage...  Known for their Paella Nights, jimgermanbar's Jim and Claire will leave the giant pans hanging on their hooks.  Tonight will be a musical Paella.

Collage is a style of performing in which the conclusion of one piece dovetails with the beginning of the next to form a continuous fabric of contrasting sounds and textures, not unlike the way different tastes and textures exist within a single paella pan.  Once again, Beethoven will hold court amid composers who run the gamut from profound to wacky to profoundly wacky.

There are two shows, and programs may vary slightly.  The Gold Pass will not be accepted at either show.  Space is extremely limited.  Tickets are good for their assigned time only.  No Paella will actually be served.

A Musical Paella

Wild contrasts and surprise performances.  The super-cool jimgermanbar in Waitsburg sets the stage...  Known for their Paella Nights, jimgermanbar's Jim and Claire will leave the giant pans hanging on their hooks.  Tonight will be a musical Paella.

Collage is a style of performing in which the conclusion of one piece dovetails with the beginning of the next to form a continuous fabric of contrasting sounds and textures, not unlike the way different tastes and textures exist within a single paella pan.  Once again, Beethoven will hold court amid composers who run the gamut from profound to wacky to profoundly wacky.

There are two shows, and programs may vary slightly.  The Gold Pass will not be accepted at either show.  Space is extremely limited.  Tickets are good for their assigned time only.  No Paella will actually be served.

Music of Mozart, Ravel, and Kodaly, plus the world premiere of Commedia Gallery for Flute, Harp and Viola by composer John David Earnest

Festival Series I celebrates unique combinations of instruments. As is our custom, the Festival Series will commence with the world premiere of a work commissioned for the occasion. John David Earnest, composer-in-residence at Whitman College, has created a new work for flute, harp and viola, titled Commedia Gallery. For this premiere, what better venue could there be than the gallery at the Walla Walla Foundry? Also on the program are works by Mozart, Ravel and Kodaly. The elegance of Mozart, the impressionist colorings of Ravel, and the passionate Hungarian folk music of Kodaly will set the 2011 Walla Walla Chamber Music ablaze with glorious musical fire.

Artists: Sarah Brady, Timothy Christie, Amy Ley, Philip Payton, Norbert Lewandowski, David Requiro, Maria Sampen and Kevin Schempf

Music of Mozart, Ravel, and Kodaly, plus the world premiere of Commedia Gallery for Flute, Harp and Viola by composer John David Earnest

Festival Series I celebrates unique combinations of instruments. As is our custom, the Festival Series will commence with the world premiere of a work commissioned for the occasion. John David Earnest, composer-in-residence at Whitman College, has created a new work for flute, harp and viola, titled Commedia Gallery. For this premiere, what better venue could there be than the gallery at the Walla Walla Foundry? Also on the program are works by Mozart, Ravel and Kodaly. The elegance of Mozart, the impressionist colorings of Ravel, and the passionate Hungarian folk music of Kodaly will set the 2011 Walla Walla Chamber Music ablaze with glorious musical fire.

Artists: Sarah Brady, Timothy Christie, Amy Ley, Philip Payton, Norbert Lewandowski, David Requiro, Maria Sampen and Kevin Schempf

Kodaly Duo for violin and cello, Op. 7

Tasting Music I will kick off the series in grand style at Corliss Estates. Zoltan Kodaly is known for his orchestral suite from the folk opera Háry János. In the opera, an exuberant soldier regales his companions with tall tales of exploits such as his single-handed defeat of Napoleon and the French Army… In his Duo for violin and cello, Kodaly sets in motion feats of virtuosity that you will find hard to believe.

Artists: David Requiro and Maria Sampen