CHRISTMAS @ SWIFTS
Sunday, December 15th, 2pm and 5pm
68 Darling Point Road,
Darling Point, Sydney
soprano Jane Ede
organ Grace Chan
Sydney Art Quartet
violin Thibaud Pavlovic-Hobba
violin Anna Albert
viola Andrew Jezek
cello Andrew Hines
PROGRAM
Johann Strauss - Overture from “Die Fledermaus”
for string quartet
Caroline Shaw - “And so”
for soprano and string quartet
Bach - Cantata BMV 82a
for soprano and string quartet
Second aria - Schlummert ein
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer - Chaconne in F
for solo organ
Joseph Haydn - String Quartet Op. 64 No. 5 “Lark”
for string quartet
Allegro moderato
Adagio Cantabile
Menuet Allegretto
Finale Vivace
Gustav Mahler - Rückert Lieder
for soprano and string quartet
Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft
Liebst du um Schönheit
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Caroline Shaw - “Other song”
for soprano and string quartet
Christmas carol sing-along
with organ accompaniment
Silent Night
The First Noël
Ding Dong! Merrily on High
PROGRAM NOTES
Johann Strauss - Overture from “Die Fledermaus”
for string quartet
Die Fledermaus was Strauss’s third operetta for Vienna’s Theatre an der Wien. The piece was based on a popular French vaudeville comedy, its action tidied up for the supposedly more-elevated tastes of Viennese audiences. At its premiere, critics still found it scandalous, in part because its story of a practical joke spinning out of control seemed ill-suited for performance on what happened to be Easter Sunday. Audiences, however, immediately loved it.
Translating literally as ‘The Bat’, Die Fledermaus was written over a two-year period from 1873 and is entirely frivolous in nature. The plot is utterly farcical, focusing on mistaken identity, flirtation and a practical joke that has rather unforeseen consequences.
Musically, Die Fledermaus overture is thoroughly high-spirited, with numerous waltz and polka themes.
Caroline Shaw - “And so”
for soprano and string quartet
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and others.
From the album “Evergreen”, released in 2022, it comprises five original works by Shaw: three pieces written for string quartet and two songs written for string quartet and voice.
The angelic “And So,” a reimagining of the immortal Shakespearean “What’s in a name?” monologue from Romeo and Juliet. Originally composed for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, “And So” is personal and intimate on Evergreen. Above the quartet’s tentative and smoky strokes, Shaw wonders: “Would a song by any other name sound as sweet and true?” The contour of the composition follows each question she poses; the voice rising in volume and pitch with the line, “If you were gone/Would I still know [...] how to grow?” And when Shaw asks “Would scansion cease to mark the beats if I went away?” the strings pulse methodically, as if marking stresses above each word of a handwritten poem; when she mentions the word “time,” pizzicato plucks mirror a ticking clock.
J.S. Bach - Cantata BMV 82a, Second aria “Schlummert ein”
for soprano and string quartet
Bach composed the solo cantata for bass, BMV82, in Leipzig in 1727 for the Feast Mariae Reinigung (Purification of Mary) and it was first performed on 2 February 1727. The version for soprano, BWV 82a, was possibly first performed in 1731. Part of the music appears in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.
The cantata is one of the most recorded and performed of Bach's sacred cantatas and is regarded as some of the most inspired creations of Bach. The central aria, beginning "Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen" (Fall asleep, you weary eyes), is a Schlummer-Arie (slumber aria). In a complex structure, it is not only a da capo aria of three sections framed by a ritornello of the strings, but repeats the first section in the centre of the middle section. Frequent use of pedal point suggests rest, and fermatas stop the forward motion.
The frequent pauses, where everything temporarily comes to a standstill, are suggestive of that peaceful closing of life where there is no activity and disorder is a thing of the past.
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer - Chaconne in F
for solo organ
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656-1746) was born in Bohemia and was active as a Kapellmeister at the Saxon-Lauenburg court for a staggering 60 years. Fischer introduced the French keyboard style to Germany, a sign of the German court’s efforts to emulate the grand way of living and culture of Versailles and its Sun King.
His keyboard suites have French titles and are a fusion of the elaborate and ornamented French style and the German Stylus Phantasticus of his compatriots Froberger and Buxtehude.
Joseph Haydn - String Quartet Op. 64 No. 5 “Lark”
for string quartet
The D major Quartet, op. 64, no. 5, became known as “The Lark” because of the soaring, circling violin melody in the first movement. The designation, though fitting, was not attached by Haydn, nor was the Quartet’s other less famous nickname, “Hornpipe,” which refers to the merry Finale’s fleeting resemblance to an old English sailors’ dance.
The opening movement’s elegantly prancing staccato provides the perfect foil for the first violin’s exquisite “lark” melody in high register. This beloved theme lies at the heart of one of the movement’s most ingenious features—a second recapitulation after he had already produced one in the home key. This produces a wonderful sense of spaciousness and a chance to hear the lovely melody yet again. Equally striking is the sharply modulating transition to his second theme, which begins with a cascade of triplets that takes on a prominent role in the development section.
The intimate slow movement follows Haydn’s usual plan—A-B-A with the middle section unfolding in the minor mode. This “B” section turns out to be an imaginative variation on the material of the outer section. Variation also plays a key role in the return of “A,” especially in the added figuration for the first violin.
In the wittily elegant minuet Haydn revels in impish grace notes, metric shifts between groups of twos and threes, and unexpected chromatic inflections. His trio section is remarkable for its chromatic minor-mode counterpoint.
At breakneck pace in exhilarating perpetual motion, the Finale unfolds in A-B-A form, with elements of sonata form evident in the developmental nature of the middle section. This imaginative minor-mode fugato brilliantly brings out the main theme’s contrapuntal potential without an interruption in the steady stream of fast notes and shines the spotlight equally on all four participants.
Gustav Mahler - Rückert Lieder
for soprano and string quartet
Rückert-Lieder is a song cycle of Lieder for voice by Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866), who was an editor and professor of Oriental languages. He wrote poetry in imitation of Asian and Middle Eastern styles, in addition to the beautiful examples of German lyric romantic poems which Mahler collected for this set of songs.
Much of Mahler’s music is driven by melody, and he sometimes became so attached to the melodies of his songs and the messages which they conveyed that he appropriated many of them for use in his symphonies. One of Mahler’s special gifts was his ability to convey complex emotions with seemingly simple melodic lines. A good example of this can be found in the song “Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft!” where the opening line, “I breathed a gentle fragrance!” is brought to life with Mahler’s luxuriant melodic setting, and we can almost smell the gentle fragrance drifting by.
When one reads through the texts of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, it is not difficult to see why they were so attractive to the hyper-romantic composer. “Liebst du um Schönheit” (“If you love for beauty”) was a present from Mahler to his wife Alma. This song is in the voice of a poor artist who has very little money or physical attractiveness, a predicament which Mahler related to himself.
Of the third song, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (“I am lost to the world”), Mahler once said, “It is truly me.” In this poem, Rückert exquisitely captures the ethos of the romantic artist – a solitary figure, withdrawn from the world and all of its earthly distractions, destined to be alone and forgotten. The poetry’s tone of peaceful resignation is captured and amplified in the music, and indeed Mahler was a master at composing music in this vein.
Caroline Shaw - “Other song”
for soprano and string quartet
The musical tone painting evident in “And So” also occurs in “Other Song”. This is a reflective reinterpretation of a track from Shaw’s 2021 album “Let the Soil Play It’s Simple Part”.
In this version, the voice slides upward on the word “higher,” glazing through several notes to eventually land on its target, an effect also explored by the quartet.
We wish to thank our friends at Five Ways Cellars for their generous support of this project
Please enjoy the complimentary glass of wine as we see in the festive season together
We also wish to thank Saskia at Grandiflora for the beautiful flower arrangements in the grand ballroom