PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY
AND IRVINE BARCLAY THEATRE PRESENT

Danish String Quartet

Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 8pm

Artist Sponsor
Sam B. and Lyndie Ersan

Eclectic Orange Series sponsored by:
Jelinek Family Trust

DANISH STRING QUARTET
Frederik Øland, Violin
Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, Violin
Asbjørn Nørgaard, Viola
Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, Cello

Part of Distinctive Experiences co-presented with Philharmonic Society of Orange County

SCHUBERT

“Gretchen am Spinnrade”, D. 118 (arr. Danish String Quartet) (3:39)

HAYDN

String Quartet in G minor, Op. 20, No. 3 (24:12)

1. Allegro con spirito
2. Menuet. Allegretto & Trio
3. Poco Adagio
4. Allegro molto

SHOSTAKOVICH

String Quartet No. 7 in F Sharp minor, Op. 108 (12:45)

1. Allegretto
2. Lento
3. Allegro

INTERVAL

SCHUBERT

String Quartet in A minor, D. 804 “Rosamunde” (34:30)

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Andante
3. Menuetto. Allegro - Trio
4. Allegro moderato

The Danish String Quartet is currently exclusive with ECM Records and has previously recorded for DaCapo and Cavi-Music/BR Klassik

FRANZ SCHUBERT
Born January 31, 1797, Vienna
Died November 19, 1828, Vienna

Schubert composed Gretchen am Spinnrade (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”) on October 19, 1814.  The text is from Part I of Goethe’s Faust.  As Gretchen spins, she thinks of Faust, who is coming to seduce her.  She is restless, troubled, anxious, out of control, and she knows it–“Meine Ruh is hin,” the song begins: “My peace is gone.”  The piano’s steady oscillation is the sound of the spinning wheel, and it is a reassuring sound–sort of.  Because it is the piano that tells the tale here, capturing the emotion in a way that the words sometimes do not.  Its shifts of key and changes of dynamic all underline the meaning in subtle ways, and at the climax of the song–when Gretchen thinks of Faust’s kiss–it stops completely: she’s overcome, and the wheel resumes its spinning falteringly as she collects herself.  In its dramatic sense, insight into emotion, compression, and intensity, Gretchen am Spinnrade is a masterpiece.  Schubert was all of seventeen years old when he wrote it.  This concert opens with an arrangement of Gretchen am Spinnrade for string quartet made by the members of the Danish String Quartet.

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
Born March 31, 1732, Rohrau
Died May 31, 1809, Vienna

In 1772 Haydn composed the six quartets that he would publish as his Opus 20, but listeners should not for an instant be fooled by that low opus number–these quartets are the work of an experienced composer.  When he wrote them, Haydn was 40 years old, he had been kapellmeister to the Esterhazy court for over a decade, and he had composed nearly fifty symphonies.  The string quartet had begun as an entertainment form, usually as a multi-movement work of light character intended as background music at social occasions.  The original title of this form–divertimento–made clear that this music was intended as a diversion.  Haydn in fact published the six quartets of his Opus 20 under the title Divertimenti, but he had already transformed the string quartet.  No longer was it entertainment music content to remain in the background–Haydn made it a concise form, capable of an unusual range of expression.  He reduced the number of movements to four, liberated all four voices (particularly the cello), and built the music around taut motivic development.

The evolution of the form, though, was not simply a matter of newly-refined technique–it was also a matter of new depth of expression.  Haydn brought to his Opus 20 all his recent growth as a composer (some have heard the influence of his symphonic thinking in this music), and these quartets demonstrate a level of dramatic tension far removed the form’s original entertainment function.  The String Quartet in G Minor is a very serious piece of music: its minor tonality is one indication of this, as is the fact that three of its four movements are in sonata form.  Throughout this music runs an unusual level of tension, an atmosphere heightened by the fact that all four movements end quietly.

Haydn marks the opening movement Allegro con spirito, and spirited it certainly is, with the animated line leaping between the four voices at the opening–this interplay of four voices will mark the entire quartet.  The development is terse–Haydn compresses his ideas into motivic fragments and their development feels lean rather than melodic; after all this energy, the quiet ending is particularly effective.  The minuet stays in G minor, and a level of tension informs this dance.  The trio–in E-flat major–feels like a ray of sunshine cutting through the chill mists of the minuet, and Haydn makes a characteristic decision here–the melodic interest is in the three lower voices, while the first violin weaves an amiable texture of steady eighth-notes above them.  The Poco Adagio is the one movement not in G minor (it is in G major), and it is an unusually long movement–even if the repeat is not taken, it is still the longest movement in the quartet.  Textures are somewhat fuller here, and while the music turns dark in the course of the development, this remains a melodic and attractive movement.  There are many nice little touches along the way, including an extended brilliant passage for cello (its liberation from the old accompaniment role is clear) and some nice attention to sound when Haydn contrasts the quite different sonorities of open and closed D’s in the second violin part.  The finale, marked Allegro molto, returns to the mood and manner (and key) of the opening movement, with taut contrapuntal textures and spirited interplay between the four voices.  After all this virtuosity, the ending is terrific: the dynamic grows quiet, and it is the (fully-liberated) cello that draws this quartet to its close on murmured bits of the movement’s opening theme.

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Born September 25, 1906, St. Petersburg
Died August 9, 1975, Moscow

In May 1932, when he was 26, Shostakovich married Nina Varzar, a bright, beautiful, 23-year-old physicist.  It would prove a successful, if stormy, marriage.  The storms were so severe, in fact, that within three years they were divorced.  And at just the moment the divorce became final, they discovered that Nina was pregnant with their first child.  The couple decided to give their relationship another chance, and they quickly re-married.  Daughter Galina was born in 1936, son Maxim two years later.  Nina Shostakovich died suddenly in December 1954, leaving behind the composer–then 48–and two teenaged children.  Devastated, Shostakovich in 1956 made an impulsive second marriage, which ended in divorce in 1959.

The year 1959 would have brought Nina’s fiftieth birthday, and–with his second marriage coming to an end–Shostakovich’s thoughts turned to memories of his first wife.  He began a new string quartet, which would be his Seventh, and planned to dedicate it to her memory.  He completed the first movement, but set the quartet aside to compose his First Cello Concerto during the summer of 1959 and then to go on a tour of the United States and Mexico that fall.  Once he returned to Moscow, Shostakovich was hospitalized for treatment of his right hand, which was gradually losing its strength.  In the hospital he resumed work on the quartet and completed it in March 1960.  The first performance, by the Beethoven Quartet, took place in Leningrad on May 15, 1960.

One might expect such music–dedicated to the memory of his first wife and written under unhappy conditions–to be somber and grieving, but such descriptions hardly apply to the Seventh Quartet, which is extremely original both in structure and expression.  It is also quite compact: its three movements (played without pause) last barely twelve minutes, and its themes are brief, almost epigrammatic: for example, the quartet takes much of its rhythmic energy from the simple pattern of three quickly-repeated notes.

The beginning of the Allegretto sounds almost playful, with the first violin skittering downward in a series of three-note figures.  A second theme–in the cello’s deep register and also built of three-note patterns–arrives beneath the steady pulse of the middle voices.  The development takes place largely in pizzicato notes, and the movement comes to a quiet close.

The Lento–muted throughout–follows without interruption.  Over quiet arpeggios from the second violin, the first violin sings a quiet melody that many will recognize as a quotation (slightly varied) from Shostakovich’s own Fifth Symphony.  The middle section moves along darkly in the lower strings before a brief recall of the opening violin melody leads to the final Allegro.  Aggressive salvos of three-note figures preface a slashing fugue, introduced by the viola, and during this fugue’s powerful development Shostakovich recalls themes from the earlier movements.  At the climax, all four instruments shout out the skittering little dance tune that opened the quartet, and the music comes to a cadence that should be the close.

But it is not.  Shostakovich instead appends a final section that almost becomes a fourth movement.  He mutes the instruments, and now the swirling first violin part seems to dance off into new regions, but suddenly the quartet’s opening theme returns and dissolves into fragments.  Music that only moments before had bristled with energy now seems spent, and the quartet concludes on a quiet chord.

In music dedicated to the memory of his first wife, Shostakovich refuses to make predictable gestures and instead writes music of unusual emotional focus and technical control.  The Seventh String Quartet finally becomes–on its own quite original terms–haunting and moving music.

FRANZ SCHUBERT

The year 1823 was devastating for Schubert.  He had become ill the previous fall (every indication is that he had contracted syphilis), and by May he had to be hospitalized.  Much weakened, and with his head shaved as part of the hospital treatment, he required the rest of the year simply to regain strength to function, and early in 1824 he turned to chamber music.  His friend Franz von Schober described him in February: “Schubert now keeps a fortnight’s fast and confinement.  He looks much better and is very bright, very comically hungry and writes quartets and German dances and variations without number.”  But–despite Schober’s hopes–Schubert had not made a triumphant return to life and strength.  Instead, he entered the new year with the bittersweet knowledge that although he may have survived that first round of illness, he would never be fully well again.

Schober was right, though, that his friend had returned to composing with chamber music.  Schubert first wrote the Octet, and then in February and March 1824 he composed two extraordinary quartets: the Quartet in A Minor heard on this program and the Quartet in D Minor, nicknamed “Death and the Maiden.”  The Quartet in A Minor was first performed on March 14 by a quartet led by the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, one of Beethoven’s close friends.  It is nearly impossible to define the quality that makes this quartet–and much of Schubert’s late music–so moving.  His lyricism has now been transformed by a new emotional maturity, and a quality of wistfulness, almost sadness, seems to touch even the music’s happiest moments. Schubert’s biographer Brian Newbould draws attention to the fact that this quartet takes some of its themes from Schubert’s own songs, and the texts of those songs furnish a clue to the quartet’s emotional content.  This music is also full of harmonic surprises (keys change suddenly, almost like shifts of light) and is marked by a complex and assured development of themes.  The Quartet in A Minor may lack the dramatic, hard-edged impact of “Death and the Maiden,” but many consider it Schubert’s finest quartet.

 From its first instant, the Allegro ma non troppo shows the hand of a master.  The accompaniment–a sinuous, winding second violin line over pulsing viola and cello–is static, and Newbould points out that this is precisely the form of the accompaniment of Schubert’s great song “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (1814), which begins with the words Meine Ruh’ ist hin: “My peace is gone, My Heart is sore, I shall find it never and nevermore.”  Over this, the first violin’s  long-lined main melody seems to float endlessly, beginning to develop and change harmonically even before it has been fully stated.  The remarkable thing about this “lyric” theme is that it can be developed so effectively as an “instrumental” theme: its long flow of melody is finally interrupted by a fierce trill motto in the lower strings that will figure importantly in the development.  A second theme, shared by the two violins, is similar in character to the opening idea, and this movement–which arcs over a very long span–finally concludes with the trill motto.                                                    

 Listeners will recognize the theme of the Andante as a Schubert favorite, though this one is not from a song: he had already used this poised melody in his incidental music to Rosamunde and would later use it in one of the piano Impromptus.  This song-like main idea remains simple throughout (it develops by repetition), but the accompaniment grows more and more complex, and soon there are swirling voices and off-the-beat accents beneath the gentle melody.

The Menuetto opens with a three-note figure from the cello’s deep register, and that dark, expectant sound gives this movement its distinct character.  Newbould notes that Schubert took the theme of the trio section from his 1819 song “Die Götter Griechenlands,” where it sets Schiller’s nostalgic lament Schöne Welt, wo bist du?: “Beautiful world, where are you?” The minuet returns, and this movement dances solemnly to its close.

The A-major tonality of the finale may comes as a surprise, given the gravity of the first three movements, but it does make an effective conclusion.  This Allegro moderato is a rondo in which all three themes have a dancing character, though at moments one feels the wistfulness of the earlier movements creeping into the music’s otherwise carefree progress.  Full of energy, this movement is also marked by Schubert’s careful attention to detail: in the parts, he notes with unusual care the phrasing, accents, and dynamic shadings and contrasts that give this music its rich variety.

-Program notes by Eric Bromberger

The GRAMMY^®-nominated Danish String Quartet continues to assert its preeminence among the world’s finest string quartets. Celebrated for their “intense blend, extreme dynamic variation (in which they seem glued together), perfect intonation even on harmonics, and constant vitality and flow” (Gramophone) and renowned for the palpable joy they exude in music-making, the Danish String Quartet has become one of today’s most in-demand classical quartets, performing to sold-out concert halls around the world. The Danish Quartet celebrated their 20^th Anniversary in 2022-2023, having formed when violinists Frederik Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørenson and violist Asbjørn Nørgaard were teenagers under the mentorship of Tim Frederiksen of Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Music.  In 2008, the three Danes were joined by Norwegian cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin. 

The Danish Quartet’s inventive and intriguing programming and repertoire choices have produced critically acclaimed original projects and commissions as well as popular arrangements of Scandinavian folk music. This season, the Quartet will complete its DOPPELGÄNGER series, an ambitious four-year international commissioning project pairs world premieres from four composers—Bent Sørensen, Lotta Wennäkoski, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Thomas Adès—with late major chamber works by Schubert. Each season, the Quartet has performed a world premiere on a program with its doppelgänger—the Schubert quartet or quintet that inspired it—culminating in 2024 in the premiere of a quintet by Adès, after the String Quintet in C Major. The DOPPELGÄNGER pieces are commissioned by the Danish String Quartet with the support of Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures, Vancouver Recital Society, Flagey in Brussels, and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.  

In summer 2023 the Quartet performs at Ravinia and at Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall. The 2023-2024 season sees them on tour in eighteen cities in the USA and Canada and venues in Norway, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Brussels, Italy, and their home of Denmark. 

The Danish String Quartet’s most recent recording project is PRISM, a series of five discs on ECM New Series that explores the symbiotic musical and contextual relationships between Bach fugues, Beethoven string quartets, and works by Shostakovich, Schnittke, Bartók, Mendelssohn, and Webern. The final disc, PRISM V, was released to great acclaim in April 2023, with The Strad praising the quartet’s “refined, coherent and erudite performances, which combine an exhilarating sweep with minute attention to details of phrasing and timbre.” The Quartet’s discography reflects the ensemble’s special affinity for Scandinavian composers, with the complete quartets of Carl Nielsen (Dacapo, 2007 and 2008) and Adès, Nørgård & Abrahamsen (their debut on ECM in 2016). They also released two discs of traditional Scandinavian folk music, Wood Works (Dacapo 2014) and Last Leaf (ECM 2017), which was chosen as one of the top classical albums of the year by NPR, Spotify and The New York Times. A third folk recording is planned for release in 2023 on ECM.  

The Quartet takes an active role in reaching new audiences through special projects.  In 2007, they established the DSQ Festival, which takes place in intimate and informal settings in Copenhagen. In 2016, they inaugurated a concert series, Series of Four, in which they both perform and invite colleagues to appear.   

The Danish String Quartet has been the recipient of many awards and appointments, including Musical America’s 2020 Ensemble of the Year and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust.  The Quartet was named in 2013 as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and appointed to the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). The Quartet was awarded the 2010 NORDMETALL-Ensemble Prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany, and, in 2011, received the Carl Nielsen Prize, the highest cultural honor in Denmark. www.danishquartet.com. 

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*Deceased

Bold type indicates gifts of $50,000 or more.

Please call the Philharmonic Society Development Department if you have included either the Philharmonic Society or the separate Philharmonic Foundation in your will or trust so that we may honor you as a member of the Legacy Circle. For more information, call (949) 553-2422, ext. 202 or visit: www.PhilharmonicSociety.org/SupportUs and click on Planned Giving.

DONORS TO THE PHILHARMONIC FORWARD CAMPAIGN

The Philharmonic Society’s campaign is the first of its kind in the organization’s history. It will grow the Society’s endowment—providing greater opportunities for the presentation of the world’s leading orchestras and other musical performances while expanding our educational and community outreach—and also establish a current needs fund for organizational sustainability and flexibility. We are proud to recognize those who are helping secure the Society’s future with a gift to the Philharmonic Forward Campaign. We are grateful for their support, which will help fuel the Society’s growth and provide a legacy of incomparable music and superb music education programs in perpetuity.

CO-CHAIRS

Donna L. Kendall and Douglas H. Smith

$1,000,000+

Mr. James J. Brophy

Donna L. Kendall  and the Donna L. Kendall Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sebring

Anonymous

$500,000+

Richard Cullen and Robert Finnerty

James and Judy Freimuth

$250,000+

The Davisson Family Fund

   for Youth Music Education

Margaret M. Gates—In memory of family

Mr. and Mrs.* Milton S.Grier, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas H. Smith

$100,000+

Pete and Sabra Bordas

David and Suzanne Chonette

Karen and Don Evarts

Milli and Jim* Hill

Marlene and Chris Nielsen

Richard and Deborah Polonsky

Diane and Michael Stephens

Anonymous

$50,000+

Mr. Douglas T. Burch, Jr.*

Dr. Richard D. and  France Campbell

Erika E. Faust*

Mrs. Joanne C. Fernbach

Joan Halvajian

Elaine and Carl Neuss

Marcia Kay Radelet

Mr. and Mrs. Philip E.Ridout

Ms. Dea Stanuszek

Dr. Daniel and Jeule Stein

$25,000+

Douglas Burch Classical Programs Fund

Mr. William P. Conlin* and Mrs. Laila Conlin

Mr. and Mrs. Donald French 

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Fuerbringer

Mr. and Mrs. Noel Hamilton

Dr. and Mrs. Chase* Roh

Up to $24,999

Eleanor and Jim* Anderson

John W. Benecke

Mr. and Mrs. Jim Burra

Ana and Ron Dufault

Hung Fan and Michael Feldman

First American Trust Kimberly Dwan Bernatz

Mr. John D. Flemming and Mr. Mark Powell

Duke Funderburke

Carolyn and John Garrett

Karin Easter Gurwell

Maralou and Jerry M.* Harrington

Mrs. Alice E. Hood

Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee -  

   Marina Windjammer Group

Kevin and Judith Ivey

Ms. Lula Belle Jenkins

Doris and Jim Kollias

Mrs. Elizabeth C. Kramer

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lewis

Mr. and Mrs. ThomasMadracki

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Mastrangelo

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Michel

Charles Mosmann

Carl Neisser*

Joan Rehnborg

Dr. and Mrs. Henry Sobel

Dr. and Mrs. Julio Taleisnik

Marti and Walter Unger

Gayle Widyolar, M.D.

Sandi Wright-Cordes

U.S. Bank

Anonymous

*Deceased

LEAVE A LEGACY

Estate gift s allow our long-time subscribers and donors to leave an enduring legacy that helps ensure the long-term fi nancial strength of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Please consider including us in your will, as either a percentage of your

estate or a fi xed amount. Doing so will support our commitment of presenting world-class programming and music education that enriches the cultural life of Orange County for generations to come.

For more information, please contact (949) 553-2422, ext. 233, or email support@philharmonicsociety.org.

PRESIDENT AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Tommy Phillips

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS
Emily Persinko, Artistic Operations Manager
Kathy Smith, Piano Technician

DEVELOPMENT
Mark Saville, Vice President of Development
Halim Kim, Senior Director of Development
Fatima Rizvi-Flores, Individual Giving Manager & Board Liaison
Nicole Gonzales, Special Events Manager
Paige Frank, Development Coordinator

EDUCATION
Katherine Yang, Vice President of Education & Community Engagement
Courtney McKinnon, Manager of Volunteer & Education Services
Jennifer Niedringhaus, Education & Engagement Operations Manager
Chloe Hopper, Education Associate & OCYS Coordinator
Penny Arroyo, Huntington Harbour Office Manager & Finance Coordinator

FINANCE
Roan Alombro, Vice President of Finance
Fay Hu, Finance & HR Associate

MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Jean Hsu, COO / Vice President of Communications
Daniel Acosta, Director of Marketing
Marie Songco-Torres, Senior Marketing & PR Manager
Adaora Onyebeke, Marketing & PR Associate

PATRON SERVICES
Jonathan Mariott, Director of Patron Services
Angelica Nicolas, Marketing & Patron Services Manager
Randy Polevoi, Musical Concierge

ORANGE COUNTY YOUTH SYMPHONY AND STRING ENSEMBLE
Johannes Müller Stosch, Music Director & OCYS Conductor
Lucy Lu, OCYSE Conductor & OCYS Strings Coach
Danielle Culhane, Operations & Personnel Manager
Hana Kurihara, Operations Assistant

OFFICERS
John Flemming, Chair/CEO *  
Donna L. Kendall, Deputy Board Chair *
Sabra Bordas, Vice Chair *  
Stephen Amendt, Secretary/Treasurer *

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John W. Benecke, Development Chair
Sabra Bordas, Nominating and Governance Chair *
Jim Brophy
Lauren Claus
Hung Fan, Laguna Beach Music Festival Chair
Jean Felder, Artistic and Marketing Chair
Margaret M. Gates
Kari Kerr, President, The Committees *
Douglas H. Smith, Member at Large *
Steven M. Sorenson, MD
Kathryn Wopschall
Sandi Wright-Cordes, Orange County Youth Symphony Chair

IN MEMORIAM
Douglas T. Burch, Jr.
Jane Grier
Wesley Kruse

* Executive Committee