Program Notes:

SCHUBERT:

The guitarre d'amour, or arpeggione as it came to be known, was invented in 1823 or 1824 by the Viennese luthier Johann Georg Stauffer. The instrument—a kind of enlarged guitar that could be bowed, cello-style, due to an altered fingerboard—was not a success; within just a few years of its birth it had for all intents and purposes become extinct. However, this short-lived instrumental curiosity will be forever remembered as the vehicle for Schubert's Sonata "per arpeggione" in A minor, D. 821, a work now played almost exclusively by violists and cellists, although it exists in arrangements for instruments as far afield as the euphonium. 

Schubert composed the "Arpeggione" Sonata in November 1824 shortly after a summer spent teaching music to the Count of Esterházy's two daughters. The three-movement Sonata must be altered somewhat if it is to be played on cello or viola: the arpeggione's six strings were tuned to the same pitches as a guitar's, and the resulting extended range can cause problems when the piece is transcribed. Schubert by and large avoided the kind of idiosyncratic arpeggiations that earned the original instrument its nickname, focusing instead on the type of lyricism that drove his sonatas for traditional instruments. 

The opening Allegro moderato is built around a wistful melody whose fame is such that many who have never heard of the "Arpeggione" Sonata will find that they recognize the tune. A second theme proceeds in gentle gusts of sixteenth notes; the arpeggione could not play fast notes with much volume at all, so the Sonata's quicker portions are almost always marked piano or pianissimo. 

The Adagio is a rich but introverted musing on an almost hymn-like subject. Schubert places great emphasis on the Neapolitan chord—a harmony also used to great effect in the opening movement—during the movement's closing measures, weakening the power of the final cadence and thus inviting the soloist to improvise a brief transition into the final, multi-sectioned Allegretto. (Adapted from a note by Blair Johnson)


MEHMARI:

Born in 1977 in Niteroi (Rio de Janeiro state), Andre Mehmari is considered one of the most talented living Brazilian musicians. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by major Brazilian orchestras and chamber ensembles, and his performances of jazz and Brazilian popular music at festivals and concerts are widely acclaimed.

Mehmari began composing at age 10, and was teaching organ at conservatory at 15. He played all 26 instruments on his CD "Canto": piano, clarinet, viola, violin, cello, percussion, guitars, double-bass, flute and voice, among others. Mehmari won the Camargo Guarnieri National Composition Competition Award and the Carlos Gomes award for Classical Musician of the Year, and composed the music for the official Pan American Games ceremonies. He made his U.S. début at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, stunning the audience with virtuosity and musicality. 

Mehmari composed his Brazilian Suite No.1 for Antônio Meneses, with the composer as pianist. The composer writes about "Five Places in an Imaginary Brazil":

"The short pieces that make up the suite evoke the inner landscape of an imaginary Brazil. Great care was taken by the composer to keep as far away as possible from real, contemporary Brazil. A fine selection of out-of-date maps was used as a reference. The main themes are derived from the ancient chant of the mythic boto cor-de-rosa (pink dolphin) as the composer painstakingly transcribed it himself during his seven-year travels along the Amazon. Unfortunately, his notebook, full of drawings, notes, and transcriptions, was stolen by a mischievous Saci (a mythical, one-legged prankster), and the composer had to remember all the themes by heart when this noble commission from Antônio and Paul arrived. Therefore, 100% accuracy cannot be guaranteed, as memory tends to reinvent itself from time to time. Alas, this is a good time to reinvent the memories of a Brazil that never existed, an uncharted land of wondrous entities, resounding on sacred wood both plucked and bowed. The Andurá tree is said to set itself on fire during the night, generating magical light in dark times. Yara (the water-mother) spreads her airy voice through the Igarapé (a tributary of the Amazon)—who is listening? No one. But I remember, I remember . . . " 

 

GNATTALI:

Radamés Gnattali was one of Brazil's most important 20th century composers. He comfortably straddled the worlds of popular and classical music, embracing many influences including French Impressionism and American jazz. Gnattali wrote for many unconventional instrumental formations; his best-known work, "Retratos," a series of hommages to four Brazilian popular musicians, was composed for mandolin, strings and chorus.

Inspired by the success of his 1968 Sonatina for Two Guitars and Cello, Gnattali composed his Sonata for Cello and Guitar the following year. One of the few original works in existence for this combination of instruments, it was dedicated to his cellist friend Iberê Gomes Grosso and guitarist Laurindo de Almeida, who premiered and recorded it. Characterized by samba rhythms and echoes of the toada (a song with romantic or comical lyrics), the Sonata is truly a work meant for two virtuoso soloists, with a subtle interplay of accompaniment and leading voice. (From Fabio Zanon's series, "The Brazilian Guitar," on http://vcfz.blogspot.com/2006/08/31-radams-gnattali-iv.html)

 

VILLA-LOBOS:

It was only the year after Heitor Villa-Lobos was born when his native Brazil legally abolish slavery. So it's easy to imagine just what an era of revolutionary change was under way as the young composer came of age in Rio de Janeiro. Villa-Lobos absorbed the idioms of the everyday popular music around him as an active participant; for a time he even earned his living by playing cello as a café musician. Already in 1905—a few years before Bartók began his famous ethno-musicological field research—Villa-Lobos had begun collecting examples of folk music in northeastern Brazil. As did Isaac Albéniz, Villa-Lobos loved to spin long, colorful tales out of the actual facts of his excursions (including accounts of his alleged capture by cannibals).

Villa-Lobos also emphasized the non-academic aspect of his approach to composition—this even though he in fact did study at the National Institute of Music in Rio and later even became the architect of a system of music education that has had a profound impact on Brazil's cultural life. "My music is natural, like a waterfall," goes a typical pronouncement.

Villa-Lobos also had fascinating connections to the European tradition—as both exporter of Brazilian idioms (he lived in Paris at various points in his life) and importer of such masters as J.S. Bach, a lifelong idol. The Bachianas brasileiras epitomize the composer's preoccupation with his Baroque predecessor—whom he regarded as "a mediator among all races"—and comprise a widely spanning series of nine suites that he wrote between 1930 and 1945. In their musical content and form as well, the Bachianas brasileiras represent an idiosyncratic meeting ground of Baroque techniques and ideas with the folk and popular musical sources and even folklore from Brazil that were mother's milk for Villa-Lobos.

Some of the Bachianas are for chamber forces (one was even written for solo piano but later orchestrated), while others require a large orchestra. No. 5, the best known of the series, was written for eight cellos (Villa-Lobos's instrument) and soprano, although it has been arranged for many different instrumental combinations. Aria (Cantilena), the first of two movements, evokes the exquisite, longspun melodiousness of a Bach slow movement as it weaves the soprano's intonation in and against the ensemble of cellos playing in 5/4 meter. Its central section embeds folksong sensibility into the movement and sets a poem by the Brazilian writer Ruth Valadares Corrêa (also a soprano, who sang the Aria's world premiere). The poem is an ode to the moon's gentle rise against "the drowsy, beautiful firmament."

(Program notes prepared by the musicians)

About the Artists:

Born in Recife, Brazil, in 1957 into a family of musicians, Antônio Meneses began his cello studies  at the age of ten. At 16 he met the famous Italian cellist Antonio Janigro and was asked to join Janigro’s classes in Düsseldorf and later in Stuttgart. In 1977 Meneses won First Prize at the famed ARD Competition in Munich, and in 1982 he was awarded First Prize and the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Since then he has performed with most of the world’s leading orchestras (Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, Prague, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Munich, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Tokyo).

A devoted chamber musician, Mr. Meneses was a member of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio from 1998 to 2008. He recently has collaborated with the Vermeer Quartet on tour and has given chamber music concerts and duo recitals with pianists such as Menahem Presser and Maria João Peres. 

In addition to his busy concert schedule, Antônio Meneses gives master classes in Europe, Japan, and in the Americas. He also has taught since 2008 at the Bern Conservatory.


Internationally renowned guitarist Paul Galbraith has appeared previously in Hilo, as part of the Hawaii Concert Society’s 2004-2005 season. With his eight-string “Brahms Guitar,” an instrument that he developed together with English luthier David Rubio, Mr. Galbraith has expanded both the limits of the guitar and the breadth of its repertoire. 

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1964, Galbraith began piano lessons at age seven and guitar lessons a year later. At age 17 he took part in the first Segovia International Guitar Competition as the youngest of 50 entrants from 14 countries and in front of a  jury presided over by Segovia himself, winning the silver medal. This together with his award-winning performance the following year in the BBC’s “Young Musician of the Year Competition,” launched his ongoing career as a soloist, as a performer with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician.

In the Spring of 1984, Paul came across a more natural, comfortable and expressive way of playing the guitar, by holding it between the knees and sitting cross-legged on the floor. Just weeks after discovering the new posture, Paul was using it for his concerts, to the surprise and shock of the musical press. Gradually this position evolved, with the neck-angle becoming increasingly vertical in relation to the torso, with the eventual result that, after three years the instrument was positioned in a similar way to that used by cellists. At this point, therefore, it was a natural step for Mr. Galbraith to adapt a cello end-pin to his guitar, enabling him to further liberate the guitar’s resonance. 

His continuing quest to overcome the guitar’s technical limitations in the early 1990s led Galbraith, collaborating with Rubio, to develop a new eight-string instrument, with one lower string and one higher string surrounding the traditional six. Dubbed the “Brahms Guitar” by Rubio because of its sound while performing Brahms’ Op. 21 Variations, Mr. Galbraith has concertized with this instrument ever since.

Antônio Meneses, Cello and Paul Galbraith, Guitar

May 17 - 31, 2022

Program:


Franz Schubert (1797-1828) (piano part arr. Paul Galbraith):
            Sonata in A minor, D. 821 "Arpeggione" (1824)

  1. 1.    Allegro moderato

  2. 2.    Adagio

  3. 3.    Allegretto


André Mehmari (1977-):
            Suite Brasileira No.2 "Five Places in an Imaginary Brazil"

  1. 1.    Palmeira Triste

  2. 2.    Córrego das Almas

  3. 3.    Terra Sec

  4. 4.    Cordisburgo do Sul

  5. 5.    Manacaporã - Andurá

Written for Antônio Meneses and Paul Galbraith


Radamés Gnattali (1906-1988):
            Sonata for Cello and Guitar (1969)

  1. 1.   Allegretto comodo

  2. 2.   Adagio

  3. 3.    Con spirito


Villa-Lobos (1887-1959):
            Aria (Cantilena), from Bachianas Brasileiras No.5



Paul Galbraith and Antônio Meneses appear by arrangement with Lisa Sapinkopf Artists, www.chambermuse.com