Brahms & More Brahms
Free
Johannes Brahms — Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120, No. 1
Johannes Brahms — Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26
Johannes Brahms — 16 Waltzes, Op. 39
Johannes Brahms — "III. Scherzo" ("Sonatensatz") from F-A-E Sonata
Chelle Stearns, violin
Anita McEntyre, viola
Ron Welch, cello
Hartwig Eichberg, piano
Brahms – Scherzo in C minor for violin and piano from the F-A-E sonata
Brahms – Waltz for piano, Op. 39 No. 2
Brahms – Allegretto quasi Menuetto from the Cello Sonata No. 1, Op. 38
Brahms – Waltz for piano, Op. 39 No. 15
Brahms – Allegretto grazioso from Clarinet Sonata No. 1, Op. 120 No. 1
Brahms – 2nd piano quartet in A major
About the artists
Anita McEntyre began her first lessons on violin when she was six years old at the Eastside Music Center here in Kirkland. She studied violin with William Kostenbader in Kirkland, and James Shupe in Ogden, Utah. She studied viola with Aviva Leanard in Shoreline, Washington. She has retired as a community college and university professor of business and now spends most of her time playing music with and for friends.
Ron Welch, cello, a scholarship student in music, graduated from the University of Washington in 1967 with a degree in Comparative Arts. He has studied cello with Ray Davis, Carter Enyeart, Eva Heinitz, and currently studies with Cordelia Wikarski-Miedel. A frequent recitalist and chamber musician in the Seattle area, he has also given recitals in Cheney and Spokane, WA. Ron has been principal cellist of the Broadway Chamber Symphony on their European tours, principal cellist of the Seattle Philharmonic and acting principal of Philharmonia Northwest. He has appeared as a soloist with the Broadway Symphony and the Bellevue Symphony. Ron is currently a freelance musician in the Seattle area and performs with the Meridian Trio and for the last nine years in duo collaboration with Hartwig Eichberg.
Hartwig Eichberg, pianist and conductor, grew up in Hamburg, Germany, where he was a prizewinner in the Steinway Piano Competition. He earned his Ph.D. degree in musicology with a dissertation of the piano works of Johann Sebastian Bach, which, in part, was published as Tome V/10 of the New Complete Edition of J. S. Bach’s Works. Eichberg subsequently worked as conductor and coach at several German opera houses, as well as in Italy, France, Hawaii and Brazil. He moved to Seattle in 1992, and performs as a freelance musician, accompanying singers and instrumentalists in concert, in addition to teaching piano and coaching singers and instrumentalists in his Seattle studio. He has served as music director at several churches in Seattle. He is the director of the Jubilee Singers, a chorus devoted to the tradition of a capella singing of the African-American spirituals.
When Chelle Stearns was 8 years old, Lana Haines came into her class at Highland Elementary in Grants Pass, OR to demonstrate the various string instruments. The violin called to her. That afternoon she ran home and announced to her parents that she wanted to play the violin. She has not stopped playing since. Chelle has played in numerous orchestras over the years, but her heart is in chamber music. In 2002, she played both of Brahms’ string sextets (along with a bit of Schoenberg, but that is a different story) with the North Cliff String Sextet at the Music Center of the University of St. Andrews. She has longed to return to Brahms’ chamber works since then.