Program notes

Rondo

Antonín Dvořák’s Rondo for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 94 in g minor is a one-movement work originally composed for solo cello and piano. The work is one of three that Dvořák dedicated to Bohemian cellist Hanuš Wihan (1855-1920). Wihan premiered the work in Chrudim, Bohemia on 6 January 1892 where he was on a tour of the country with the composer, who served as a pianist for the concerts, and violinist Ferdinand Lachner. Dvořák, noting that there was no solo music on any of the programs to feature Wihan’s talents, composed the work and it is said that he wrote it in one day, on Christmas 1891.

One year later, in 1893, while working in New York City, Dvořák would rearrange the piano part of the work for a chamber orchestra comprised of two oboes, two bassoons, two timpani tuned in G and D, and strings. As Jan Smaczny has written in his monograph, Dvořák: Cello Concerto (1999: 12), this arrangement demonstrates the composer’s thought process about the most effective and appropriate instrumental combinations to play a piece that featured the cello as a solo instrument. The orchestral version is much more dramatic than the original version for cello and piano because of the new and interesting timbres that are presented by the orchestra. The piece is composed in a relatively high register for the instrument, one that exploits the cello’s ability to play song-like melodies in a lyrical manner. Wihan was known to have a penchant for playing trills in the instrument’s upper register, something that Dvořák exploited in the work’s composition. In all, this work highlights the player’s virtuosity.

This was one of Dvořák’s few compositions (at least in its reworking) to feature the cello with some semblance of an orchestra; despite Wihan’s request for a cello concerto, the composer maintained that concerti were not ideal vehicles to feature the cello because of the instrument’s need to project over a full orchestra, something that was beyond its natural acoustic capabilities. He felt that the cello was most suited to chamber music and orchestral music in which it was not featured as a solo instrument….

In 1892 Dvořák travelled on a “farewell” tour of Bohemian and Moravian cities before his departure for the United States. As fellow performers he chose his friends, violinist Ferdinand Lachner and cellist Hanuš Wihan. The programme for the concerts consisted of Dvořák’s piano trios, involving all three artists (with the composer at the piano), in addition to which each of them would also play solo pieces. For the purposes of this tour Dvořák arranged some of his earlier works for Wihan and he also wrote a completely new Rondo in G minor with piano accompaniment. Two years later he arranged the work’s piano accompaniment for small orchestra. The Rondo elaborates three distinctive themes, evolving according to the regular form A–B–A–C–A–B–A. 

Pohadka

Leoš Janáček is a one-off in music history. His is a voice of visionary ecstatic utterances, of mysterious murmurings evoking the folk music of his Moravian heritage, all tinged with the blurry soft hum of its favourite instrument, the cimbalom. As American conductor Kenneth Woods puts it:

Janáček comes from nowhere and leads to no one. There is simply no music before or after Janáček that sounds like his. His music is infinitely easy to recognize and completely impossible to replicate.

Janáček was fascinated by the study of speech rhythms and his music, while often misty and atmospheric, is strongly imprinted with the rhythm of the human voice. Utterly indifferent to the compositional conventions of his time, he creates his textures out of short bursts of melody that shimmer with sudden changes of modal colouring. These build to powerful emotional climaxes by the repetition of ostinato fragments that rarely seem to start on the strong beats of the bar.

Janáček’s Fairy Tale (Pohádka) for cello and piano dates from 1910, and after numerous revisions, reached its final form in 1923. Like much of his instrumental music, this three-movement work is programmatic, loosely based on scenes from The Tale of Tsar Berendyey by the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky (1783-1852).

While the story is long and convoluted, the gist is that the handsome young Tsarevitch, Prince Ivan, has had his soul promised to the King of the Underworld, Kashchei, but on mature consideration decides that he would much rather run away with the grumpy King’s fetching young daughter, Maria, a decision which leads to an adventure-filled chase over hill and dale until the two lovers finally reach safety and live happily ever after.

Just how Janáček’s score relates to the events of the tale is not really clear, but many interpreters see the cello in the role of the young prince, with his signature dotted- rhythm motif announced at the outset, and the piano as Maria. Steven Isserlis offers a very suggestive version of how the music illustrates the story, as follows.

The dreamy opening of the first movement, apparently representing the magical lake at which Ivan and Maria meet, leads to a touching love-duet; but after that the urgency increases, culminating in a passage of violent syncopations as Kaschei chases the young lovers on horseback. The second movement also begins with a strong sense of magic. The young lovers have reached safety at the palace of a neighbouring Tsar; but alas, all is not well, since this Tsar and Tsarina are rather too taken with young Ivan, fancying him as the perfect match for their own daughter and putting a spell on him, causing him to fall in love with said daughter. Maria reacts just as any normal adolescent girl would under these circumstances: she turns into a blue flower. The good news is that this draws from Janácek (near the opening of the movement) some meltingly lyrical music. And then, more good news: someone has the presence of mind to summon a wise magician, who breaks the spell. One can hear Ivan’s recovery in the return of his initial dotted rhythm, now played arco (bowed) rather than pizzicato (plucked). To demonstrate his return to health, he shoots right up to a searing top B flat. Sometimes in performance I’ve wondered whether Ivan, to demonstrate his newly found vigour, climbs to the top of a tree, where he finds a rather desperate cat bawling at the top of its voice; but that probably isn’t the intended effect. In the last movement, Ivan and Maria have reached the sanctuary of Ivan’s parents’ palace, where they tell of their love and their adventures, celebrate, and live happily ever after—well, as happily as one can live in the key of G flat major.

Donald G. Gíslason 2015

Silent Woods

Silent Woods (Klid in Czech) is the translated title of the fifth part of Dvořák’s cycle for piano four-hands, Ze

Šumavy (From the Bohemian Forest) composed in 1883. Soon after accepting the appointment as Director

of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, Dvořák agreed to participate in a farewell concert

tour in the early months of 1892. Scheduled to perform concerts of his own music in Bohemia and Moravia,

Dvořák planned to tour as a pianist with two of his longtime friends and colleagues, violinist Ferdinand

Lachner and cellist Hanus Wihan. While working out the actual programs, Dvořák realized the need for some

music featuring Wihan. Immediately, Dvorák spent two days making arrangements for cello and piano of his

Slavonic Dance No. 8 and Silent Woods. Wihan and Dvorák gave the first performance in Prague on March

24, 1892. Because of its immense popularity, Dvořák again arranged the work, in 1894, for cello and orchestra.

The original Czech title (Klid) has various translations, such as “peace, serenity, calm, rest, repose, quiet, still”.

It is rather simple to imagine Dvořák hiking through the woodlands of his beloved homeland, as he was fond

of doing, to glean his inspiration for this piece.

Polonaise

This short piece was written for a concert of Dvořák’s works held in Turnov on 29 June 1879. The main item on the programme was his Piano Trio in G minor, but all three players were also to perform as soloists. For cellist Alois Neruda, Dvořák wrote a polonaise with piano accompaniment. The whereabouts of the autograph is unknown, but the polonaise survived as a copy which was discovered in Vienna in 1925. The polonaise follows a symmetrical A–B–A form, and is preceded by a quasi-improvisational introduction. In terms of rhythm and expression, the main theme respects the traditional polonaise style; the middle section is more serene and lyrical in tone. Dvořák later used a variant of the polonaise’s thematic material in his String Quartet in C major.

Sonata No. 2

The Second Cello Sonata was among the first works that Martinů wrote in the United States, where he struggled with homesickness and depression, much as Bartók did when he arrived six months later. New York City did not agree with the high-strung composer but, with only four scores in his luggage, he needed to focus on relaunching his career. He met Frank Rybka, a Czech cellist who helped Martinů and his wife secure an apartment in Jamaica Estates, Queens, a leafy residential neighborhood. Martinů dedicated the sonata to Rybka, whose son later described “a sensitive, lyrical piece that is evenly balanced to display both instruments.” He also admitted that “Martinů found it strenuous to work on this sonata.”

The work’s turbulent opening seems to embody this strain, and the unease persists through the ruminative second movement. But memories of Bohemia emerge in the finale, seemingly a cross between a Czech folk dance and a funkier new-world rhythm. The cellist must articulate its “gnarly” textures, says Moser. “Because the piano’s attack is so direct, and the stringed instrument’s attack is so gradual, in a lot of syncopated moments you have to sacrifice a gradual easing into the tone for really attacking with a lot of bite,” he says. “Especially in the finale of the second sonata, I [initially] fell a little bit short in being as pronounced as the piano. That was really most of the work that we were putting in.”

Like Dvorák before him, Martinu found friends of Czech ancestry among his new American acquaintances. One of the these was Frank Rybka. Rybka had studied music with Janácek in Brno before going to America in 1912. He had taught in Pittsburgh but was at this time living in Jamaica, Long Island. Through his agency the Martinus found a flat there, and the two families became firm friends. American neighbours who found the composer’s habit of wandering the streets at night peculiar were warned not to stop and talk to him; it was at such times that Martinu gave birth to his ideas.

from notes by Kenneth Dommett © 1989

Jessica McKee is an active collaborator throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. Passionate about chamber music, she is a founding member of the Iris Piano Trio, an outreach-based chamber group that began at Charles E. Smith Life Communities in Rockville, MD. She has held adjunct teaching positions at various local institutions including Montgomery Community College, The University of Maryland and Washington Adventist University. She is currently Staff Collaborative pianist at The University of Maryland, performing for recitals throughout the academic year. Outside the university, she is an extremely active performer, frequently collaborating with both students and professionals in recordings, recitals and chamber music concerts in the D.C. area as well as throughout the United States. Her playing can be heard on professional recordings Consonant Connections and A Winters Night.

McKee holds both her Masters and Doctoral of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Maryland where she studied with Rita Sloan and worked closely with the Maryland Opera Studio as well as the brass, string and wind faculties. McKee also attended the University of Michigan where she studied piano with Logan Skelton and Douglas Humphreys and played violin in the Philharmonic Orchestra.

McKee maintains a small private teaching studio at her home in Maryland where she lives with her husband, her two young daughters, her cat and her dog.

Daniel Shomper is an active performer, chamber musician, orchestral musician and teacher. The Baltimore Sun has praised his ‘virtuoso playing’ and complimented his ‘masterful performance’ and ‘lyrical expression.’ He has performed at venues in the United States and abroad, including venues in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Prague, Budapest, Helsinki, and Quebec. Recent notable performances include his featured solo appearance on the 2018 AACC Symphony Orchestra tour of Spain, performing Victor Herbert’s second cello concerto in venues in Madrid, Avila and Seseña Nuevo.

Dr. Shomper is an avid chamber musician. He is a founding member of the Riverhawk String Quartet, which features the string faculty at Anne Arundel Community College. He is also a member of the Tapestry Cello Ensemble, which performs a broad range of music written and arranged for cello quartet. Daniel is passionate advocate for new, contemporary, and underperformed works. He is the Founder and Director of the World Class Chamber Music Series, and the New Music Maryland Concerts at Anne Arundel Community College. These concerts feature performances by the RSQ, solo recitals by faculty, and other collaborations. The New Music Concerts have resulted in the commissioning and premieres of works for solo cello, string quartet, and more eclectic ensembles.

He is a member of the Annapolis Symphony where he frequently serves as acting principal and associate principal. Daniel also performs with many other orchestras and ensembles in the DC and Baltimore area, including the Baltimore Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Post-Classical Ensemble, the National Cathedral Orchestra and Choir among others. He has also served as Associate Principal Cello of the Reading Symphony and performs regularly with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Shomper is passionate teacher. He serves on the faculty at the Annapolis Symphony Academy, maintains a robust private studio, directs a cello ensemble comprised of his students and is an Adjunct Faculty member at Anne Arundel Community College.

Dr. Shomper received his DMA from the University of Maryland where he studied with David Hardy, Peter Wiley and the Guarneri Quartet, Kenneth Slowik and Evelyn Elsing.

Daniel Shomper, Cello

Jessica McKee, Piano

AACC Humanities Building, Room 112

Tickets: $25 General Admission, $10 Students