Mezzo-Soprano Kathryn Radokovich  joins the Colorado Chamber Players in
LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING
John Fadial and Paul Primus, Violin
Barbara Hamilton, Viola
Beth Vanderborgh, Cello
Andrew Cooperstock, Piano
 
Thursday February 17th, Schmitt Music, Englewood, 7:00 pm
Saturday February 19th, First Universalist Church, 3:00 pm
Sunday February 20th, Broomfield Auditorium, 1:00 pm
 
Program

JOHANNES BRAHMS  (1833-1897) Zwei Gesänge, op. 91 for Viola, Mezzo Soprano and Piano


1.  Gestille Sehnsucht (Longing at Rest)
  
2.   Geistliches Wiegenlied (Sacred Cradle Song)

 

CLARA SCHUMANN (1819-1896)

Romance no. 2 in F Major, op. 22 for Violin and Piano
 
 

DUKE ELLINGTON (1899-1974)
 

In A Sentimental Mood, for Violin and Piano (arr. by D. Stempien & G. Turner)
 


JESSIE MONTGOMERY (B. 1981)
 

Loisaida, My Love, for Mezzo Soprano and Cello

GEORGE WALKER (1922-2018)
 

Variations on a Kentucky Folk Song, Solo Piano
 


KATHRYN RADAKOVICH (B. 1985)
 

It’s Love, arr. for Mezzo-Soprano, Strings and Piano

INTERMISSION
 


JOHANNES BRAHMS   

From Quartet no. 3 in C minor, op. 60 for Strings and Piano 
   

1.   Allegro non troppo
  
2.   Andante
  
3.   Finale: Allegro comodo

 
Named one of the top five chamber groups in Colorado by the Denver Post,   Colorado Chamber Players  celebrate its 28th Season in 2021-2022. The 28th Season is presented as both live events and in a virtual format. The ensemble has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Chamber Music America Residency Awards (2000 and 2008). The CCP has received awards from the Argosy Foundation, Denver Mayor's Fund, Colorado Creative Industries, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Energize Colorado, Xcel Energy Foundation, and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). The CCP has a core of string quartet, piano, harp, clarinet and flute; and has expanded to include baroque instrument (viola d’amore, gamba and harpsichord). Favorite guest artists  have included cellist Lynn Harrell, clarinetist Derek Bermel, guitarist Sharon Isbin, violists Jesse Levine, Patricia McCarty and Roger Tapping, and pianist Jeffrey Kahane.
 

Johannes Brahms, Gestillte Sehnsucht, no. 1
Poem, Friedrich Rückert

In goldnen Abendschein getauchet,
Wie feierlich die Wälder stehn!
In leise Stimmen der Vöglein hauchet
Des Abendwindes leises Wehn.
Was lispeln die Winde, die Vögelein?
Sie lispeln die Welt in Schlummer ein.
Ihr Wünsche, die ihr stets euch reget
Im Herzen sonder Rast und Ruh!
Du Sehnen, das die Brust beweget,
Wann ruhest du, wann schlummerst du?
Beim Lispeln der Winde, der Vögelein,
Ihr sehnenden Wünsche, wann schlaft ihr ein?
Ach, wenn nicht mehr in goldne Fernen
Mein Geist auf Traumgefieder eilt,
Nicht mehr an ewig fernen Sternen
Mit sehnendem Blick mein Auge weilt;
Dann lispeln die Winde, die Vögelein
Mit meinem Sehnen mein Leben ein.

Johannes Brahms, Longing at Rest, no. 1
English Translation © Richard Stokes

Bathed in golden evening light,
How solemnly the forests stand!
The evening winds mingle softly
With the soft voices of the birds.
What do the winds, the birds whisper?
They whisper the world to sleep.
But you, my desires, ever stirring
In my heart without respite!
You, my longing, that agitates my breast –
When will you rest, when will you sleep?
The winds and the birds whisper,
But when will you, yearning desires, slumber?
Ah! when my spirit no longer hastens
On wings of dreams into golden distances,
When my eyes no longer dwell yearningly
On eternally remote stars;
Then shall the winds, the birds whisper
My life – and my longing – to sleep.

Johannes Brahms

Geistliches Wiegenlied, no. 2

Poem by Emanuel Geibel

Die ihr schwebet
Um diese Palmen
In Nacht und Wind,
Ihr heil’gen Engel,
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein Kind.
Ihr Palmen von Bethlehem
Im Windesbrausen,
Wie mögt ihr heute
So zornig sausen!
O rauscht nicht also!
Schweiget, neiget
Euch leis’ und lind;
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein Kind.
Der Himmelsknabe
Duldet Beschwerde,
Ach, wie so müd’ er ward
Vom Leid der Erde.
Ach nun im Schlaf ihm
Leise gesänftigt
Die Qual zerrinnt,
Stillet die Wipfel!

Grimmige Kälte
Sauset hernieder,
Womit nur deck’ ich
Des Kindleins Glieder!
O all ihr Engel,
Die ihr geflügelt
Wandelt im Wind,
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein kind.

Johannes Brahms

A sacred cradle-song, no. 2 English Translation © Richard Stokes

You who hover
Around these palms
In night and wind,
You holy angels,
Silence the tree-tops!
My child is sleeping.
You palms of Bethlehem
In the raging wind,
Why do you bluster
So angrily today!
O roar not so!
Be still, lean
Calmly and gently over us;
Silence the tree-tops!
My child is sleeping.
The heavenly babe suffers distress,
Oh, how weary He has grown
With the sorrows of this world.
Ah, now that in sleep
His pains
Are gently eased,
Silence the treetops!
My child is sleeping.
Fierce cold
Blows down on us,
With what shall I cover
My little child’s limbs?
O all you angels,
Who wing your way
On the winds,
Silence the tree-tops!
My child is sleeping.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Loisaida My Love, Jessie Montgomery
Text by Bimbo Rivas poem (1974)
Permission to use the text courtesy of Bimbo’s daughter Sandra Rivas

Lower East Side
I love you
You’re my lady fair
No matter where I am
I think of you.

The mountains and the valleys
Cannot compare my love to you
Loisaida, I love you!
I dig the way you talk
I dig the way you look.

*Me vacila tu cantar 
Y yo me las juego
Friapa’ que vivas para siempre
En mimentem, mi amada
Yo to llamo Loisaida.

Cuando estoy lejos de ti
Se me acaba mi esperanza
En tu calles, yo me siento 
Muy feliz y saludable
Louisaida, yo te quiero!

Increible una mezcla
La perfecta una gente bien decente
De to’as rasas que esti manque to adoran
Que no saben explicar lo que le pasa 
Cuando ausente de tus calles peligrosas
Si te aman.
A ti, me hermosa Loisaida.

O what a town
Even with your drug infested pocket parks
Playgrounds where your young bloods
Hang around.

Waiting, hoping that one day when they get too well
And smile again
Your love is all they need to come around
Loisaida, I love you.

Your buildings are burning up
That we got to stop!
Loisaida my dear
Te amo. (I love you).

Loisaida, English translation of Spanish text (K. Radakovich)
Your singing makes me pause 
And I play it cold, hoping that you live forever.
In my mind, my love, I call you Loisaida.

When I'm far from you, my hope runs out. 
In your streets, I feel very happy and thriving.
Loisaida, I love you!

Amazing, the perfect mix, 
A very decent people of all races,
who believe they love each other,
who don't know how to explain what happens
when they are absent from your dangerous streets,
if they love you.

To you, my beautiful Loisaida. 

It’s Love, by Kathryn Radakovich

What is this feeling? I’m suddenly reeling,
my head’s all the way up in the clouds.
Colors seem brighter, I feel so much lighter
than air, can’t keep my feet on the ground.
Here we are, wrapped in an azure haze,
a timeless, magical embrace.
So much bliss to be found in your kiss.

Oh, in your eyes I’m finally home.
No more desire to roam, 
unless you’re by my side.
Oh, now my heart has wings, 
I feel like I can fly!
If this is a dream,
I don’t want to wake.
It’s you. It’s me. It’s love.