Saturday August 16th

Chamber Music

Samuel Adams

First Work

First Work, a song cycle by Samuel Adams, features three poems by three different poets that bridge the scarcely conceivable proliferation of time and space over eons and the minutiae of living from moment to moment.

The very different approaches of the poets—Pádraig Ó Tuama, Malachi Black, and Tracy K. Smith—only add to this sense of zooming in and out of our reality. The first—Ó Tuama’s poem Makebelieve—rewrites the Old Testament creation story, professing that “on the first day / god made / something up.”

In the long build up to the singer’s entry, Adams’s musical universe creates itself, beginning with a tiny bang and then a big one, followed by a gradual but unrelenting expansion. When the voice enters, that growth resets and the scale shifts from the cosmological to the geological. Then it guides the reader from “sex and / beasts and breaths and rabies” and “swarming things that swarm / inside the dirt” to “eventually, us, / with all our viruses, laments and curiosities.”

Ó Tuama is a theologian as well as a poet, and has been active in Ireland’s reconciliation processes. Discussing this poem, he says, “Religion is—or should be—free to change too, or to wrap itself around the delight and devastation of the human condition.” Adams gives the ending of Ó Tuama’s poem a hard-won and not entirely settled peace.

Black’s The First Word references the more abstract creation story of the New Testament, the opening of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word.” In contrast to the first, this poem holds us from the start at a moment of the closest human interaction, and Adams follows suit; a single melody is the basis for most of the movement, binding the voice, ensemble, and listener together. Adams breaks away from the melody only for the crucial line: “not yes, or you, or hawk, or love; just look,” as if setting the music, too, in italics.

In Smith’s The Universe as Primal Scream, a neighbor’s twin infants are “screaming like the Dawn of Man.” Smith imagines the sound heralding “a door opening onto the roiling infinity of space”; the song reverses course, leading us from the human to the empyrean. Matching the poem’s more conversational tone, Adams’s music moves flexibly between its different moods and thoughts, ending as if in the middle of a thought.

“The world’s an incredibly messy, difficult place,” says Adams. “And if I can create something that sheds a little bit of light, or creates a little bit of clarity for a listener . . . that’s really what I’m after.” In First Work, this clarity comes not from simplicity but from complexity: a musical thread that leads us out of the anger and rubble of untold millennia. — © Joel Rust

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart

Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478

With this piece, completed on October 16, 1785, Mozart virtually created the genre of the piano quartet. Earlier chamber works combining the keyboard with stringed instruments tended to treat the piano as a continuo instrument, discreetly supporting the others. But Mozart, one of the finest pianists of his day and a passionate devotee of chamber music, naturally gave the piano an equal role, making the work a true quartet. Unfortunately it proved too difficult for the average amateur player, so the publication did not sell. As a result, the music publisher Hoffmeister cancelled the agreement for which Mozart had written the quartet—a commission for three such works.

According to the early biography of Mozart by Georg Nikolaus von Nissen (who married Constanze after her husband’s death and presumably learned of the incident from her), Hoffmeister told Mozart: “Write more popularly, or else I can neither print nor pay for anything of yours,” to which Mozart is said to have replied, “Then I will write nothing more, and go hungry, or may the devil take me!”

The key of G minor had particular resonance for Mozart, and he chose it for music of impassioned character in such works as the String Quintet (K. 516), the great Symphony No. 40 (K. 550), or Pamina’s aria Ach, ich fühl’s, from The Magic Flute (K. 620). In this Piano Quartet, the impetuous Allegro opens with a powerful figure in octaves that plays a strong motivic role throughout the movement. The great Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein called this a “fate” motive, analogous to the openings of Beethoven’s Fifth and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth symphonies. Adroitly placed sforzandos stretch the phrases of the second theme in a charmingly unexpected way, giving the impression that its opening bars are in 5/4 time instead of 4/4 . This is followed by a figure somewhat lighter in character, but for the most part the development and coda are dominated by the “fate” motive.

The Andante, in B-flat, has harmonic richness decorated by elaborate runs for each of the four instruments in turn. It comes as a bit of a surprise that the finale turns to the conventional “happy ending” of the major key after the expressive weight of the first two movements. But though it is lighter in mood than what preceded it, the frequent passing chromaticism shows that the finale, too, is cut from the same expressive cloth. With this quartet Mozart set a standard for the new medium that has rarely been surpassed. — © Steven Ledbetter

Johannes Brahms

Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, op. 99

Following the 1882 completion of his F-major string quintet, Opus 88, Brahms allowed four years to elapse before composing another chamber work. But once he began again, new compositions poured forth in a torrent. During the summer of 1886, which he spent in Thun, Switzerland, he composed his Second Cello Sonata (the first had been written more than twenty years earlier), his Opus 100 Violin Sonata, and the Opus 101 Piano Trio.

The earlier cello sonata, in E minor, had been a dark and austere work, reveling in the bleak and somber lower depths of the instrument. The new sonata was altogether more loveable, though not by any means trivial. The main key is a fresh F major, and the first movement is characterized by a rich sonority generated by the steady tremolos in the piano, echoed also by the cello, which creates moods ranging from a full orchestral richness to a delicate nocturne-like effect. Arnold Schoenberg noted that the Viennese found this beginning “indigestible” when it was new, and even Schoenberg himself, one of the most impassioned Brahmsians, had difficulty with it at first. The impassioned cello writing was the composer’s tribute to the playing of his friend Robert Hausmann, the cellist of the Joachim String Quartet. His frequent correspondent and chamber music partner Theodore Billroth found this dramatic movement at first “somewhat dubious,” but considered the score as a whole to evoke “unending grace, charm, and lovely feeling.”

Jan Swafford points out that Brahms’s feeling for the cello here—treated in ways hardly to be found in his earlier chamber music, such as the timbre of frequent tremolos across the strings—looks forward to his obsession with the clarinet in the following decade.

The ardent passion of the first movement is followed by an extraordinarily slow movement of powerful affect in the key of F-sharp, which soon moves to a surprising F minor. These two keys—so distantly related—recur in the next movement and help tie together the central sections of the sonata. Much of the movement has the cello playing a sustained quiet legato while the piano animates the rhythm with delicate syncopations. The otherworldly character of the second movement, created at the outset by the unusual key, is heightened by the composer’s use of pizzicato in the cello, a technique otherwise rare in his output.

The scherzo bursts out in a passionate F minor with a particularly demanding piano part. The movement also features one of the composer’s favorite rhythmic devices, the two-against-three play of different subdivisions of the beat between the two instruments. The Trio provides a suave contrast to the main section, and moves at one point through the distant key of F-sharp. Here too the cello sometimes provides a light touch with pizzicato passages, contrasting with the more dramatic material.

The last movement is sometimes regarded as a puzzle because it seems rather too light in character for a sonata with three lengthy and solid earlier movements. This one is a rondo, cheerful and even frivolous. Brahms, usually a constant reviser of his work, composed this movement almost as fast as he could put the notes on paper. He was obviously pleased with this ending, however, because he never felt the need to rewrite it.

— © Steven Ledbetter

Melanie Spector is a New York-born soprano and graduate of the Detroit Opera Resident Artist Program. Recently, Melanie sang in the Eastern Region Finals of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (also a New York District winner). She will cover the title role in Siddhartha, She by Theofanidis and Studdard at the Aspen Music Festival as a Renée Fleming Artist. Past credits include High Priestess (Aida) and Chocholka (Cunning Little Vixen) at Detroit Opera, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at Savannah Opera and Opera Tampa, and Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) with Eugene Opera and Stuttgart Philharmonic. Melanie Spector is a 2025 recipient of a Joy Dinsdale scholarship.

Timothy Weiss, composer and conductor, has gained critical acclaim for his performances and adventurous programming throughout the U.S. and abroad. His repertoire in contemporary music is vast, including masterworks, recent compositions, and many premieres and commissions. He was the recipient of the Adventurous Programming Award from the League of American Orchestras. Recent engagements include the Arctic Philharmonic in Bodø, Norway; Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia; Eastman Broadband Ensemble; BBC Scottish Symphony; Britten Sinfonia in London; International Contemporary Ensemble; and the Melbourne Symphony in Australia. In his three decades as music director of Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME), Weiss has brought the group to a level of artistry and virtuosity in performance that rivals the finest new music groups. During his tenure with the CME, he has helped launch the International Contemporary Ensemble and Eighth Blackbird, as well as mentoring many other leading performers of contemporary music. Weiss is a professor of conducting and chair of the division of contemporary music at Oberlin. He holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Belgium; Northwestern University; and the University of Michigan. The residency of Timothy Weiss is made possible by an endowment gift from Susan and Ford Schumann.

Alexander Kerr’s expressive and charismatic style has made him one of the most accomplished and versatile violinists on the international music scene today. In 1996 at the age of twenty-six, Kerr was appointed to the prestigious position of concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. After nine successful years in that post, he left in June 2006 to assume the endowed Linda and Jack Gill chair in music as a professor of violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In addition to his teaching responsibilities in Bloomington, he maintains a busy concert schedule, appearing with orchestras and in recital and chamber music performances throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe. In 2008 he began his tenure as principal guest concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and in September 2011 he assumed his role as concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Victoria Chiang is a professor of viola at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Her recordings of Stamitz’s and Hoffmeister’s viola concertos, and of Ignaz Pleyel’s Sinfonia Concertante, can be found on the Naxos label. Career highlights include appearances with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Romanian State philharmonics of Constanta and Târgu Mureș, the Duluth Superior Symphony, and solo performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and the International Viola Congress. Chiang has collaborated as a guest artist with the Guarneri, Takács, Tokyo, American, Arianna, and Pro Arte string quartets and is a founding member of the Aspen String Trio. Other festival appearances include Domaine Forget, Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival, the Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Perlman Music Program Winter Residency. Chiang recently joined the faculty at Mercer University’s McDuffie Center for Strings, where she shares a studio with Rebecca Albers. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Her principal teachers include Heidi Castleman and Masao Kawasaki (viola) and Dorothy DeLay and Kurt Sassmannshaus (violin). Chiang first came to Aspen as a student in 1985.

Michael Mermagen, cello, made his solo debut at age sixteen with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra after receiving their Young Soloist Award. He holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Juilliard with principal teachers Stephen Kates and Zara Nelsova. He has also performed in the Violoncello Society of New York Master Classes led by Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker, and Bernard Greenhouse. Mermagen has toured and given recitals, concerto performances, master classes, and chamber music performances around the world, most recently with the Aspen String Trio. As an artist-faculty member and alumnus of the AMFS, Mermagen has been principal cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony for over twenty-five seasons. He has recordings on Arabesque and Warner Brothers and has been heard live on WQXR Concerts Plus, WNYC Around New York, APM Performance Today, and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Mermagen is currently associate professor of cello at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. This appointment follows his twelve-year tenure as associate professor of cello at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He performs on a Nicolo Gagliano cello, Naples, 1774.

Winner of the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, Anton Nel continues to tour internationally as recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Highlights in the U.S. include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, and Detroit symphonies as well as coast-to-coast recitals. Overseas he has appeared at Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and major concert halls in China, Korea, and South Africa. He holds the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at Austin, where he heads the division of keyboard studies. He also teaches annual masterclasses at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and the Manhattan School of Music. During the summers he is on the artist-faculties of the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival and the Orford Music Academy in Quebec. Nel also frequently performs as a harpsichordist and fortepianist. His teachers have included Adolph Hallis at the University of the Witwatersrand and, at the University of Cincinnati, Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. He first appeared at the Aspen Music Festival and School in 1988 and joined the faculty in 1997. More information at www.antonnel.com.

Darrett Adkins, cellist, has appeared as a soloist with the Tokyo and Suwon philharmonics, Tochio Soloisten, National Symphony of Brazil, and the orchestras of New Hampshire, North Carolina, Greenwich, and Monadnock Music Festival. He made his New York concerto debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center and gave the American premiere of Donatoni’s Cello Concerto with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. An AMFS alumnus, Adkins made his Aspen debut in 2002 in Boulez’s Messagesquisse under James Conlon. He gave world premieres of concertos by Philip Cashian and Andrew Mead with the Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble, the world premiere of Jeffrey Mumford’s Concerto with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and the American premiere of Rolf Wallin’s concerto Ground at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. He gave the first New York performance of Berio’s Sequenza XIV and recorded it for Naxos. From 1997–2002, Adkins was a member of the Flux Quartet. In 2012 he joined the Lion’s Gate Trio. Adkins recorded Jay Greenberg’s Cello Quintet with the Juilliard Quartet, commissioned and recorded Philip Cashian’s Cello Concerto in 2014, and released his solo CD, Hypersuite 2, in 2013. Adkins joined Juilliard’s faculty in 2002 and the Oberlin Conservatory’s faculty in 2003.