P.O. Box 1362 Jackson, CA 95642
March 14, 2011
Dear Friends of Music:
Our next concert of chamber music will take place on Sunday, April 3, starting at 2 pm in the Church of the Nazarene, Sutter Creek.
We have an exceptionally fine program in store for you. Two of Sacramento's finest string players will perform the novel "Eyeglasses Duo" for viola and cello of Beethoven, followed by the great Trio in C major for violin, cello and piano of Brahms. In the second half, continuing our informal Distinguished Young Artists series, two graduates of the music department of California State University, Sacramento join me in a beautiful
Baroque trio sonata for flute, oboe and piano of Jean Baptiste Loeillet and delightful trios by 20th-century British composers Madeleine Dring and Malcolm Arnold. Each of our guest artists will also perform a solo work. Full details of the program follow.
We again ask volunteers to contribute cookies and other finger-food items for our refreshment table during intermission. Drinks will be provided.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Concert violinist Corina Stoian and pianist Ron Brickman will be performing in the St. James Concert Series in Sonora on Sunday, April 10, at 3 pm.
Works by Fauré, Schütt, Bartok and others. Tickets are $12 and are available at the door
(St. James Anglican Church, Washington Street).
On April 17 at 3 pm, clarinetist Roman Fukshansky, mezzo-soprano Tania Mannion and pianist Ron Brickman perform in a beautiful home in Shenandoah Valley, followed by a food and wine service. Full details will be sent out shortly in a separate flyer.
Our final event of the season will be a chamber music concert at the Church of the
Nazarene on Sunday, May 1, featuring a quintet for piano and strings of Georges Onslow
(a contemporary of Mendelssohn), and works for trumpet, trombone and piano.
Yours sincerely,
Ron Brickman
President

April 3, 2011
L. van Beethoven (1779 - 1827). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Eyeglasses" Duo for viola and cello, Wo O 32
I. Allegro II. Minuetto, Trio
Randall Fisher, viola
Alan Clark, cello
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87
I. Allegro
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Presto
IV. Finale: Allegro giocoso
Randall Fisher, violin
Alan Clark, cello
Ron Brickman, piano
Jean Baptiste Loeillet (1680 - 1730). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sonata in C minor, Op. II, No. 6
I. Largo
II. Allegro
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro
Madeleine Dring (1923 - 1977). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trio
I. Allegro con brio II. Andante semplice III. Allegro giocoso
Taylor McKinna, flute
Robert Broadfood, oboe
Ron Brickman, piano
Paul Reade (1943 - 1997). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aspects of a Landscape
I. Dawn II. Birdsong III. Bird Movements IV. Sundance V. Conflict
VI. Lament VII. Celebration
Robert Broadfoot, oboe
Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tango Etude No. 4
Taylor McKinna, flute
Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Suite Bourgeoise
I. Prelude: Moderato
II. Tango (Elaine): Andante con moto
III. Dance (censored): Allegro
IV. Ballad: Andante con moto
V. Valse (Ugo)
Taylor McKinna, flute
Robert Broadfood, oboe
Ron Brickman, piano

The "Eyeglasses Duo" is the nickname for Beethoven's Duet "mit zwei obligaten Augengläsern" for viola and cello. The work was composed in 1796-7 but was published only in 1912. It is not entirely certain why the duet was given its funny name, but most probably the work was composed to be played by Beethoven (who played the viola) and his dear friend Nikolau Zmeskall, an amateur cellist. Zmeskall was one of the first people Beethoven met upon arriving in Vienna and they remained life-long friends.
In his correspondence, Beethoven teases Zmeskall for his short-sightedness, adding additional credence to the view that the duo was composed as an affectionate gesture of musical friendship. The extant version is not complete; it consists of an energetic allegro introduced by the viola, with the two instruments then trading accompaniment and melody back and forth. A second movement is a canon-like Minuetto with Trio.
The Trio in C major, op. 87 for piano, violin and cello of Johannes Brahms is the second the composer wrote for this combination of instruments. It was completed in
1882 when the composer was 49. It is a masterful, mature work, coming after the piano quartets, the piano quintet, the string sextets and all three string quartets. From the opening bars, the first movement establishes an astonishly vast scale of expression. The principal theme makes large leaps that stretch upwards. Throughout the movement, at least four themes are intertwined and restated until a significant coda. The second movement presents a tentative, forlorn theme in A minor that goes through five variations, with great diversity in musical texture and color. The next-to-last variation shifts the tonality to the major key and from 2/4 to 6/8 meter. The third movement,
Presto Scherzo, in C minor restores the momentum with a nimble lightness that recalls
Mendelssohn. The trio provides a gorgeous contrast with an inspired melody in C major.
The Finale is indicated Allegro giocoso, or fast and playful, and abounds in rich sonorities and inventive variation before culminating in a spirited conclusion.
Jean Baptiste Loeillet was a Belgian-born composer of the Baroque era. He is often designated as the "London" Loeillet to distinguish him from another famous composer, his first cousin Jean Baptiste Loeillet "de Ghent." The "London" Loeillet moved to the
English capital city in 1705, where he led a successful career as teacher and performer on the harpsichord. His Trio Sonata in C minor is a beautiful representative of Baroque chamber music, with all four movements demonstrating the composer's superior craft.
Madeleine Dring was born into an English musical family and pursued a successful career in both music and the theatre. Her composition teachers at the Royal College of
Music included Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob. Her musical style is light and unpretentious, and her chamber music in particular recalls the idiomatic and rhythmic writing of Francis Poulenc. The first movement of her Trio for flute, oboe, and piano is a metric tour-de-force, as the meter changes almost measure to measure from 2/4, 4/4, 3/8, 5/8, to 6/8, which gives the tuneful music a delightful quirkiness. The second movement is much steadier rhythmically, presenting a beautiful melody introduced first by the oboe, then the flute, then the two instruments together in a ravishing duet. The last movement returns to the playful mood, and with its Gallic joiede-vivre it really could have been composed by Poulenc himself.
The great Argentinian tango composer, Astor Piazzolla , wrote six Tango Etudes for solo flute. They were composed in 1887, toward the end of the composer's career, when he was returning to more classical concepts but without forsaking his tango heritage. The fourth tango etude is given the tempo marking "Lento meditativo;" it has few technical

flourishes but offers another of the composer's heartfelt legato melodies. It tests breath control and the ability to shape and communicate a musical line to the listener. The final, quieter repetition of the theme is deeply moving.
Paul Reade was an English composer who was active in British television and ballet. He composed theme music for several TV shows and scored the ballets Hobson's Choice and
Far from the Madding Crowd.
His Aspects of a Landscape for oboe solo describes various movements in the life of birds, such as "Sundance" (two birds in the sunlight),
"Conflict" (two birds fighting), etc.
The English composer Malcolm Arnold had a particular gift for writing music for wind instruments (as was already demonstrated earlier this season when the Zephyr Wind
Quintet performed his Three Shanties). The Suite Bourgeois is actually his first composition for wind instruments, written in 1940. The work was lost for many years but resurfaced in 1996. The music reveals Arnold's interest in contemporary musical styles and in its five movements we find popular and dance music, allusions to the French group of composers of the previous generation (Les Six) and more than a passing tribute to Arnold's idol, the British composer Constant Lambert. The Prelude is the most serious of the five movements and illustrates Arnold's fascination for contrapuntal textures. The
Tango is dedicated to "Elaine," a friend who often visited him in Northhampton. The third movement, Dance, was originally given a secondary title that the composer later felt was too risqué, so the word "censored" was substituted. The Ballad illustrates the composer's wonderful gift for melody. The concluding Valse is dedicated to the conductor and jazz violinist, Hugo Rignold.
Violinist/violist Randall Fisher has recently moved to the Sacramento area, from
Colorado where he was a member of the Colorado Symphony. He has taught violin, viola, and chamber music at Old Dominion University, Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, Hong Kong Conservatory, Denver School of the Arts and Colorado College.
His training includes stints at the Aspen Institute and the Manhattan School of Music with Lilian Fuchs. Cellist Alan Clark taught orchestra classes in the San Francisco and
Sacramento public schools before retiring in 2004. As an orchestra player, Alan has played with the Sacramento Symphony, the Marin Symphony and the Santa Rosa
Symphony, and now serves as principal cellist of the Auburn Symphony. Alan has performed several times in the Friends of Music's chamber series, with his recent performances including a Beethoven string trio with Pamela Buck and David Thorpe, and the first Brahms piano trio, opus 8.
Flutist Taylor McKinna is graduating this spring as a flute performance major at
California State University-Sacramento, with a double major in nursing. A student of
Laurel Zucker, she has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the
Liberace Woodwind Scholarship and the Sacramento Saturday Club Scholarship.
Oboist Robert Broadfoot started his musical career at the age of 10, studying jazz on the tenor saxophone. In 2004 he discovered classical music and found his true calling with the oboe. He is now completing his Master's degree in music performance at CSU-
Sacramento. He performs with the Townsend Opera Players of Modesto, the Vita
Academy of Sacramento and the North State Symphony.