Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer Festival: Debussy, Beach, Shostakovich, & Suk

Dmitri Shostakovich — Two Pieces for String Quartet
Claude Debussy — Cello Sonata in D minor, L. 135
Amy Beach — Quartet for Strings (in One Movement), Op. 89
Josef Suk — Meditation on an Old Czech Chorale "St. Wenceslas," Op. 35a
Josef Suk — Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 8

Claude Debussy – Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor
Bion Tsang, cello / Jon Kimura Parker, piano

Amy Beach – Quartet for Strings, Op. 89
Jun Iwasaki, violin / Yura Lee, violin / Aloysia Friedmann, viola / Raphael Bell, cello

Dmitri Shostakovich – Two Pieces for String Quartet
Jun Iwasaki, violin / Yura Lee, violin / Aloysia Friedmann, viola / Raphael Bell, cello

Josef Suk – Meditation on an Old Czech Chorale “St. Wenceslas," Op. 35a
Erin Keefe, violin / Tessa Lark, violin / Jonathan Vinocour, viola / Yegor Dyachkov, cello

Josef Suk – Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 8
Erin Keefe, violin / Tessa Lark, violin / Jonathan Vinocour, viola / Yegor Dyachkov, cello / Jeewon Park, piano

Program Notes
One of Debussy’s last and most forward-thinking works, this sonata incorporates rhythmic changes and pushes the limits of tonality. It was originally one of six in a series of sonatas he planned to compose, but he only finished half.

Beach's "Quartet for Strings" is one the few pieces she wrote that was not published in her lifetime. Completed in 1929, it was first published in 1994; this is the first time SCMS has performed the work.

Both the Elegy and the Polka are transcriptions of pieces found in Shostakovich's dramatic stage works. These works were the composer’s first foray into writing for string quartet.

Written in 1914, Suk's Meditation on an Old Czech Chorale became a type of rallying cry for Czech independence from Austria. He performed this work in almost every concert he gave during World War I.

A student of Dvořák, Suk would later teach the next generation of Czech composers – including Martinů. He composed his Piano Quintet to expand the repertoire to include piano music with a Czech idiom.

About Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS)

http://www.seattlechambermusic.org/