Senior Recital

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Program • 2 sheets/4 sides (please print full scale, double-sided on the short edge, and fold in half) 

Program Notes

Cirsium for Solo Violin • Spencer Klaw Kennedy (b. 2005)
The pasture thistle, Cirsium discolor, is a plant that has grown in my yard all my life. “Thistles” in general are often called weeds, and due to their spines they are even considered pests. Whenever I would find one, I would nervously run my fingers over its fluff-like needles before running to my dad to ask him to pull it out before someone’s foot was impaled.

Now, in my mature antiquity (age 19), they have become some of my favorite plants in the North American yard. The thorns always give way to the most beautiful pink and purple flowers; bees and bunnies and butterflies all gather around to feast on the blossoms. This piece is a short portrait of a thistle. Soft flexible thorns, large verdant leaves, and brilliant purple flowers, painted in a miniature for solo violin. This work was written for Kielor How Tung.

Program Notes by Spencer Klaw Kennedy

String Quintet in C Major, Op. post. 163, D 975: I, III • Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
The circumstances surrounding the origins of his String Quintet in C Major are largely unknown. His original autograph manuscript of the work has not survived, and there is no definitive reason why this work was composed. We only know of the work through an edition published by C.A. Spina in Vienna in 1853, when Schubert had already been dead for 25 years. Even the instrumentation is unusual. Most string quintets have two violins, two violas, and one cello, though some notable exceptions include Boccherini’s extensive “cello quintets,” where there are two cellos instead of two violas. It is possible that Schubert took inspiration from Boccherini and wrote his only String Quintet with this instrumentation. Despite all the mystery, the String Quintet is considered one of his most famous and important works and is frequently performed. 

The first movement opens with a giant swell from a string quartet subset of the quintet, giving a false impression of a string quartet. The main theme is then introduced by the first violinist, and is concluded with a chord high in the stratosphere. Another quartet subset soon enters, starting again with the same giant swell heard in the beginning, and ending with this time a low chord. A  buildup soon begins, and after a long growth, the quintet ensemble finally plays as a single unit in an energetic version of the theme introduced in the beginning. 

After a tense buildup, two cellos suddenly halt all motion and diffuse into a lyrical and subdued second theme, with the violins and viola providing sparse accompaniment. When the two cellos finish, the violins interrupt and play the second theme. After the violins have their say, the second theme starts to build up momentum, with the second violin and the first cello decorating the theme with fast, delicate accompaniment, and the first violin and viola stating the theme one after another, as if one is trying to catch up to the other. The whole ensemble then finally joins together and proceeds to imitate one another with fragments of the theme. Suddenly, the whole quintet evolves into a march-like theme and dies away before a sudden sforzando chord comes out of nowhere. 

The music then opens up just like the beginning of the piece, though quickly diverts to the march theme heard just moments ago. Throughout this entire section, Schubert proceeds to play around with all the themes stated previously, transforming them through different characters and moods, ranging from violent outbursts to bouncy and lyrical singing. Ultimately, the music becomes too much to contain, and it quickly builds up to a fortissimo climax, keeping the audience wondering what’s going to happen next. 

The music starts to calm down, and after a long prolongation, the music proceeds just as it did at the very beginning, though this time with rising arpeggios in the background, as if the energy that was built up before did not truly go away. However, when the music halts as it did before, the instruments take on new roles. The viola, which had only provided sparse plucked accompaniment before, has been “upgraded” to a more melodic role alongside the first cello. In this next section, all the thematic material presented is nearly identical to what came before, except in a different key, and the players exchange roles, giving a sense of familiarity while also being different. The music is all similar to everything that happened the first time, but when we seem to reach the end of the movement, the music expands with the same melody heard at the beginning as if it’s going to start a third time, but the two cellos prevent them from finishing by interrupting with giant chords and arpeggios. The two cellos try to start the theme again, but then the violins and viola in turn interrupt them. The music starts to wind down and meanders around a single chord. The first violin has one last say, reaching high into its register before everyone plays a big, luscious C Major chord. Schubert then ends the movement the same way he started it, with a swell. 

The third movement is a traditional Scherzo and Trio, which is a type of upbeat dance. The Scherzo has a folklike feel with its drones in the two cellos and syncopated rhythms. The entire scherzo is one of Schubert’s most technically demanding works in the entire chamber repertoire. The Trio is a particularly unconventional one. A trio is usually a lighter, but still upbeat section of the music, but in this case the trio is slowed down dramatically and is filled with lush and full chords. It is more lyrical and intimate, as if it’s a completely different piece. Schubert then, from nothing, builds up tension and excitement to bring us back to the same lively scherzo.

Program Notes by Kielor How Tung

Ich habe genug, BWV 82 • Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
The English translation—by Michael Marissen (Swarthmore College Daniel Underhill Professor Emeritus of Music) and Daniel R. Melamed—of the German text is provided in the recital program above or at the link/QR code below.

Bach composed Ich habe genug (I have enough) for solo bass voice with oboe obbligato and strings + continuo for the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1727. (A later version, BWV 82a, is scored for solo soprano voice with flute obbligato, and parts appear in the Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook.) A church cantata for the Feast of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mariä Reinigung), Ich habe genug comprises five movements with alternating Arias and Recitatives that recount the biblical story of Simeon meeting infant Jesus from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:25-35).

For an annotated translation of the text, please see Marissen and Melamed's comments at https://bachcantatatexts.org/BWV82 or the QR code below.

Program Notes by Deborah H. How

Adagio for Strings • Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Adagio for Strings was originally composed as the second movement of his only String Quartet in B minor. The piece opens up with a lone and eerie B-flat from the first violins before the rest of the strings join in to set a contemplative and somber mood. The first violins then take off with a stepwise melody that constantly builds and settles. The melody is passed around throughout the entire string section until a dramatic climax that has all the strings screaming and yearning at their highest registers. Once things have calmed down, the contemplative and somber mood returns, and the melody comes back down, dying into nothingness.

Program Notes by Kielor How Tung

Eine Kleine Nichtmusik • Professor Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele's published work includes more than 100 pieces written for symphony orchestra, choral group, chamber ensemble, solo instrument, and voice. His catalog includes works by Peter Schickele as a composer; pieces attributed to the mythical 18th-century composer P.D.Q. Bach; and pieces attributed to Professor Peter Schickele, musical pathologist at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. (https://www.schickele.com)

Eine Kleine Nichtmusik for chamber orchestra is a quodlibet by Professor Peter Schickele that quotes famous classical, folk, and popular melodies (of the time) in counterpoint to Mozart's four-movement serenade, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The work was first premiered on December 26, 1966 at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Over the past (almost) 50 years, fans have compiled lists of the music quoted in Eine Kleine Nichtmusik. A comprehensive index of the 69 works quoted can be found at: https://wikipdq.fandom.com/wiki/Eine_Kleine_Nichtmusik 

Program Notes by Deborah H. How

Reception