Waikanae Music Society

PROGRAMME

THE AMICI ENSEMBLE

SUNDAY 29 May AT 2.30PM,
WAIKANAE MEMORIAL HALL

BOHUSLAV MARTINÛ (1890-1959)

LA REVUE DE CUISINE (1927)

Prologue
Tango
Charleston
Final
The 33-year old Martinû went to Paris in 1923 to study with Albert Roussel, whose music he admired enormously; but he could hardly expect to avoid other musical trends in the city that was then one of the most vibrant musical centres in the World. Impressed by the music of Les Six, Martinû wrote several short ballet scores and other works using elements of jazz and the new styles of popular music that had invaded Europe from America. In 1927 he completed a lighthearted ballet that was performed in Prague with the title Pokuseni svatouska hmce (Temptation of the Saintly Pot). The scenario told a slender tale in which love between Pot and Lid is threatened by the seductive influence of the suave Twirling Stick. Dishcloth flirts with Lid, who is challenged to a duel by Broom. All ends happily as Pot returns to Lid and Twirling Stick goes off with Dishcloth.
The music for this charming trifle was successful in Prague as a ballet, but it proved sensational when performed in Paris as a concert suite with the title La Revue de Cuisine (The Kitchen Revue) early in 1930. His publisher undertook to print the score immediately and to bring out a number of Martinû's other works; thus, this cheeky sextet proved to be an important stepping-stone in the forwarding of his career and was always considered by Martinû to be one of his finest works.

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
PIANO TRIO IN E FLAT MAJOR (Notturno)
Adagio
This lovely, though brief, work for piano trio was published posthumously by Diabelli and Co. It was the publisher and not Schubert who was responsible for the title 'Notturno'. The work was probably written in Vienna during 1828, the last year of Schubert's life. There is speculation that it was originally intended to serve as the second movement of the Bb Major Piano Trio.

DAVID SNOW
A BAKER'S TALE or
THE PARABLE OF THE CROISSANTS
Le Promenade du Patissier
(The Baker's March)
Meditations a la Croissance Spirituel
(Meditions upon Spiritual Growth)
Hymne au Village Celeste
(Hymn to the Celestial Village)
The Parable of the Croissants is a work for six instruments and narrator. It is a story about a young man who sells croissants and gets so involved in the croissants and the people he sells them to that he forgets to charge them any money. It is a very witty reflection on life as seen by a baker.
David Snow holds a degree in music composition from the Eastman School of Music and Yale University. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an ASCAP Foundation grant, two composer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two maryland State Arts Council grants. His compositions have been performed in concert by the Ensemble Intercontemporaine, the American Brass Quintet, the Harvard Wind Ensemble, the Annapolis Brass Quintet, the Yale University Band, the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, and numerous other artists throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

INTERVAL

ANTONIN DVORÁK (1841-1904)
PIANO QUARTET IN E FLAT MAJOR, Op.87
Allegro con fuoco
Lento
Allegro moderato, grazioso
Allegro ma non troppo
By the time Dvorák composed this Piano Quartet in 1889 he was an international celebrity, feted by the German and English musical establishments. A more complex and demanding work than the earlier D Major Quartet, it reflects the originality and fluency that maturity had brought to Dvorák's craft. A particular feature of the string writing is the prominence allotted to Dvorák's own instrument, the viola, particularly in the two outer movements.
The arresting unison opening of the first movement is immediately answered by the piano in somewhat skittish mood - this interaction of the piano with its partners is strikingly effective throughout the movement. The luxuriant mood of the Lento moves through a wide range of expression while the captivating third movement, with its light airy textures, lies in style somewhat between a ländler and a waltz. Dvorák again chooses a dancelike character for his Finale, which unusually begins in a minor key and has more than a hint of gypsy spirit. This movement, with its brilliantly written dialogue between the four instruments, is filled with that sense of warmth and gaiety of which Dvorák is a master.

BOHUSLAV MARTINÛ (1890-1959) LA REVUE DE CUISINE (1927) Prologue Tango Charleston Final	The 33-year old Martinû went to Paris in 1923 to study with Albert Roussel, whose music he admired enormously; but he could hardly expect to avoid other musical trends in the city that was then one of the most vibrant musical centres in the World. Impressed by the music of Les Six, Martinû wrote several short ballet scores and other works using elements of jazz and the new styles of popular music that had invaded Europe from America. In 1927 he completed a lighthearted ballet that was performed in Prague with the title *Pokuseni svatouska hmce (Temptation of the Saintly Pot). The scenario told a slender tale in which love between Pot and Lid is threatened by the seductive influence of the suave Twirling Stick. Dishcloth flirts with Lid, who is challenged to a duel by Broom. All ends happily as Pot returns to Lid and Twirling Stick goes off with Dishcloth. The music for this charming trifle was successful in Prague as a ballet, but it proved sensational when performed in Paris as a concert suite with the title La Revue de Cuisine (The Kitchen Revue)* early in 1930. His publisher undertook to print the score immediately and to bring out a number of Martinû's other works; thus, this cheeky sextet proved to be an important stepping-stone in the forwarding of his career and was always considered by Martinû to be one of his finest works.
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) PIANO TRIO IN E FLAT MAJOR (Notturno) Adagio	This lovely, though brief, work for piano trio was published posthumously by Diabelli and Co. It was the publisher and not Schubert who was responsible for the title 'Notturno'. The work was probably written in Vienna during 1828, the last year of Schubert's life. There is speculation that it was originally intended to serve as the second movement of the Bb Major Piano Trio.
DAVID SNOW A BAKER'S TALE or THE PARABLE OF THE CROISSANTS Le Promenade du Patissier (The Baker's March) Meditations a la Croissance Spirituel (Meditions upon Spiritual Growth) Hymne au Village Celeste (Hymn to the Celestial Village)	The Parable of the Croissants is a work for six instruments and narrator. It is a story about a young man who sells croissants and gets so involved in the croissants and the people he sells them to that he forgets to charge them any money. It is a very witty reflection on life as seen by a baker. David Snow holds a degree in music composition from the Eastman School of Music and Yale University. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an ASCAP Foundation grant, two composer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two maryland State Arts Council grants. His compositions have been performed in concert by the Ensemble Intercontemporaine, the American Brass Quintet, the Harvard Wind Ensemble, the Annapolis Brass Quintet, the Yale University Band, the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, and numerous other artists throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
	INTERVAL
ANTONIN DVORÁK (1841-1904) PIANO QUARTET IN E FLAT MAJOR, Op.87 Allegro con fuoco Lento Allegro moderato, grazioso Allegro ma non troppo	By the time Dvorák composed this Piano Quartet in 1889 he was an international celebrity, feted by the German and English musical establishments. A more complex and demanding work than the earlier D Major Quartet, it reflects the originality and fluency that maturity had brought to Dvorák's craft. A particular feature of the string writing is the prominence allotted to Dvorák's own instrument, the viola, particularly in the two outer movements. The arresting unison opening of the first movement is immediately answered by the piano in somewhat skittish mood - this interaction of the piano with its partners is strikingly effective throughout the movement. The luxuriant mood of the Lento moves through a wide range of expression while the captivating third movement, with its light airy textures, lies in style somewhat between a ländler and a waltz. Dvorák again chooses a dancelike character for his Finale, which unusually begins in a minor key and has more than a hint of gypsy spirit. This movement, with its brilliantly written dialogue between the four instruments, is filled with that sense of warmth and gaiety of which Dvorák is a master.