Violin

Holly Huelskamp, Sam Moraes, Rebecca Chung, Carolina Neves, Graham Woodland, Manuela Topalbegovic

Viola

Hannah Frey, Matt Pickart

Cello

Ranya Iqbal, Stephanie Hunt

Bass

Adam Anello

Antonio Vivaldi

(1678-1741)

Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, No. 11 in D minor, RV 565 (1711)

Allegro

Adagio e spiccato

Allegro

Largo e spiccato

Allegro

The Concerto Grosso in D minor, RV 565, is the eleventh of a dozen concertos for stringed instruments compiled in Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico (The Harmonic Inspiration), first published in Amsterdam in 1711. Cast in four compact movements, RV 565 is scored for a standard trio sonata complement of two violins and a cello, supplemented by a string orchestra and, holding down the figured bass line, an organ. It begins with the two violins playing in unison over a jagged cello backdrop. The violins settle into a melody, which the cello takes up, and soon everything erupts into a full-fledged, four-part fugue. Pastoral and melancholy, the Largo initiates a gently rocking siciliano rhythm (in 12/8 meter). Vivaldi further specified that the Adagio and Largo should be performed spiccato, a technique that involves bouncing the bow off the strings. In the finale, the cello keeps veering off the continuo’s path, bent on its own virtuosic adventures. Shortly after Vivaldi published this concerto, J.S. Bach transcribed it for pipe organ.

Program notes by René Spencer Saller

Dmitri Shostakovich

 (1906-1975)

Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a (1960)

arr. Rudolf Barshai (1967)

Largo —

Allegro molto —

Allegretto —

Largo —

Largo

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his String Quartet No. 8 (performed here in the Chamber Symphony arrangement by Rudolf Barshai) over the course of only three summer days, while visiting Dresden, Germany, to compose music for a film about that city’s destruction in World War II. He inscribed his score “In memory of the victims of fascism and war.” However, on another occasion, the composer said of the quartet that “I dedicated it to myself,” alerting listeners to meaningful subtleties that might sneak past Soviet censors. In fact, the quartet is unusually rich in allusions to the composer’s other works. References — some extended, some fleeting — recall Shostakovich’s First and Fifth Symphonies, and his E-minor Piano Trio, as well as a traditional prisoner’s song (“Tortured by Heavy Bondage”) that Russian audiences would have recognized. 

The work’s first four notes constitute a musical signature. This device (which Shostakovich also employed in several other works) is easily decoded when one realizes that some notes of the musical scale are named differently in German than in English: D and C represent the same notes in both languages, but E-flat and B-natural are respectively known in German as Es (the phonic equivalent of “S”) and H. Imagining oneself in Germany — where the composer was when he wrote the piece, and where his name is transliterated as Schostakowitsch — the first four letters of “D. Schostakowitsch” could be rendered as a musical motto by the notes D–S–C–H, which English-speakers know as D–E-flat–C–B-natural.

Shostakovich had gotten to know Rudolf Barshai when he coached the founding musicians of the Borodin Quartet at the Moscow Conservatory. Barshai was the group’s original violist and went on to found the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in 1956. In 1977 he emigrated from Russia and spent the remainder of his career as a conductor, leading the Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony (1982–88), and the Orchestre National de France. Given his dual accomplishments in chamber music and orchestral conducting, Barshai possessed a refined talent for transcribing chamber compositions for the use of small orchestras. His transcriptions include Shostakovich’s Quartets Nos. 3, 4, 8, and 10, as well as Prokofiev’s piano suite Visions Fugitives. In its original version, the Eighth Quartet is cataloged as Shostakovich’s Op. 110, while Barshai’s transcription for string orchestra is designated as Op. 110a.

Program notes by James M. Keller

Jessie Montgomery

 (b. 1981)

Strum (2012)

Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition.

Originally conceived for the formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.

Program notes by Jessie Montgomery

Formed by members of the St. Louis community, Holly, Amy, and Ranya bring together musical experiences from around the world. The STL Chamber Soloists perform music without a conductor, and work collectively and democratically. This often lends itself to dynamic and innovative interpretations of music old and new.

The STL Chamber Soloists' founding members have individual and unique musical experiences that have taken them across the world from the USA to South America, Europe, and Asia. The depth of understanding gained by living and working in a different culture, and in a different language, is evident in the performances of the STL Chamber Soloists. Their Beethoven has sampled ale in Bonn. Their Piazzolla has danced in the streets of Buenos Aires. And their Walton has climbed the rolling hills of England.

But most importantly to the STL Chamber Soloists is the sense of community, and inclusivity. The STL Chamber Soloists employ excellent, local musicians, and compensate them at a rate equal to their decades of training. As a result, performances are polished and entertaining.