Chamber Music Thursday at UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall

Hop River Chamber Music opens its 47th season with a concert at UConn’s von der Mehden Hall in Storrs, CT, this coming Thursday, the 10th of July at 7:30 pm. Works by Beethoven, Bolcom, and Brahms are on the program. (Two other concerts follow the next two Thursdays, 17th and 24th of July.)

The first piece is a piano trio, which features piano along with violin and cello. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) published compositions with Opus numbers as high as 138. It would be easy to imagine that his three Opus 1 pieces for piano trio were rather undeveloped, but these works were fact quite sophisticated for their time. The last of them was bolder, even, than Beethoven’s mentor Joseph Haydn wished for his protégé; Haydn recommended that it not be published.
The program for Thursday evening features the last of the three piano trios, the one in C minor (Op. 1, No. 3). This work has four movements and lasts about 25 minutes. Music theorists regard it as having dramatic intensity, harmonic daring, and structural innovation. Such features foreshadow Beethoven’s mature style. There is a stormy first movement as well as lyrical variations typical of Beethoven throughout his career; the middle movements are more tranquil and the finale returns to the storm left by the 1st movement. Beethoven loved composing music with three flats (either E-flat major or C minor), so here his love is on full display even in his first published compositions. Obviously, Beethoven ignored Haydn’s advice not to publish the C minor trio, and it was a wise decision, as the trio was a commercial and critical success.

The second work on the program is from the American composer and pianist, William Elden Bolcom (b. 1938), his Three Rags for String Quartet. Readers will be acquainted with Scott Joplin's ragtime works for piano, such as The Entertainer. Bolcom was fascinated with piano rags, composing them as early as the 1960s. Writing a series for string quartet was only natural given Bolcom’s penchant for chamber music. His Three Rags is a witty, genre-bending homage to ragtime, reimagined through the lens of classical chamber music, written in 1989. These string quartet arrangements—“Poltergeist,” “Graceful Ghost,” and “Incineratorag”—blend syncopated rhythms with lush harmonies and unexpected twists. “Graceful Ghost,” the most famous, is a nostalgic, lyrical rag that has become a modern classic. “Poltergeist” is mischievous and erratic, while “Incineratorag” channels fiery energy. The set is eclectic and humorous, bridging classical sophistication with popular idioms. Critics have praised the works for their charm, inventiveness, and emotional depth; these works are a fresh contribution to the chamber music repertoire. These three rags last about 12 minutes.

After a 15-minute intermission, the final work on this program is Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34. Brahms (1833-1897) was only 32-years old when he wrote this quintet. The piano had become very popular by the mid-1800s, but it was rare for composers to pair a piano with a string quartet. Beethoven and Mozart never wrote any such works, though they did pair pianos with wind quartets. Schubert wrote his famous Trout Quintet, but it featured a string bass rather than a cello. Other prominent composers, such as Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Copland, never wrote a piano quintet. One suspects that composers favor works for piano with full orchestra, given that these are far more common in the classical repertoire. A contrary view would be that the chamber-music format permits a listener to hear the separate lines of music.

Brahms was still a relatively youthful composer when he wrote the quintet. He was not sure if it should be a string quintet, which was his original plan; it then turned into a sonata for two pianos, and only thereafter did it reach piano quintet form. Brahms was himself a solid pianist, and it must be remembered that at this stage of his development, he had written no full-fledged symphonic works. It would not be until Brahms reached 43 that he finally completed his first symphony. Most music historians conclude that Brahms avoided a full comparison with Beethoven’s genius by waiting until his “mature” years to write a symphony.

Thus, it appears that composing in a piano quintet format gave Brahms a relatively safe place to develop his novel ideas, as part of the fully blooming romantic music tradition. The result is a work of symphonic breadth and emotional intensity. The first movement (Allegro non troppo) is turbulent and expansive, while the second (Andante, un poco Adagio) offers lyrical respite. The third (Scherzo) is fierce and rhythmically complex, and the fourth and final movement (Finale) begins with brooding mystery before erupting into a dramatic coda. Here one can witness Brahms’s mastery of counterpoint, motivic development, and harmonic richness. The work can be characterized as exemplary of the so-called “sturm-und-drang” genre. That is, there is considerable drama—storm and stress—to be felt before the closing measures of the coda bring welcome relief.

The quintet was met with admiration upon its premiere, with violinist and conductor Joseph Joachim calling it the finest chamber work composed since Schubert. One might discount Joachim’s judgment, given that he was one of Brahms’ closest friends and someone who often influenced the direction of the works Brahms composed. Yet, today, this quintet is considered a cornerstone of the chamber music repertoire.

The Brahms work lasts a bit over 40 minutes. Thus, the entire program will last about an hour and a half. von der Mehden Recital Hall has space for about 400 concertgoers.

First-rate performers from the region will be musicians for this program: Barbara Vaughan and Mary Ellen Briga play violins, Laurel Thurman plays viola, Fran Bard plays cello, and the pianist is Andrew King. Vaughan and Bard will accompany King in the Beethoven.

The concert is free, but a donation of $20 is suggested to help defray Hop River’s costs. Seating is open; arrive early to take a prime seat. After the concert, there is a reception with light refreshments. The second and third Hop River concerts will take place on the 17th and 24th, also in von der Mehden Hall.

There is ample parking in Storrs Center and at UConn, but the UConn lot immediately to the West is closed due to construction. The construction and road closure also mean that access to handicapped parking is best by entering campus through Mansfield Road (one of the main entrances to the UConn campus), turning on Coventry Rd. Pedestrian access to von der Mehden Hall is via sidewalks from all directions surrounding it.