PROGRAM

JUDITH TAYLOR
MUSICAL RECEPTION
Sunday July 28, 2024 at noon

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  1756 -1791
“Exultate, Jubilate” solo motet K165 1773

Arianna Rodriguez soprano
Markus Pawlik piano

Johannes Brahms 1833 - 1897
Cello Sonata in e minor opus 38 1865

Allegro non troppo
Allegretto quasi Menuetto
Allegro

Peter Wyrick cello
Markus Pawlik piano

Franz Schubert 1797 - 1828
Piano Trio in E flat major D 898 1827

Allegro moderato
Andante un poco mosso
Scherzo allegro
Rondo allegro vivace

Mayumi Wyrick violin
Peter Wyrick cello
Markus Pawlik piano


THE MUSICIANS

Peter Wyrick, cello, holds the Lyman and Carol Casey Second Century Chair at the San Francisco Symphony. He was born into a musical family in New York and educated at the Juilliard School of Music from an early age. He was the principal cellist with the Mostly Mozart orchestra in New York. Mr Wyrick has played with many of the world’s most well known musicians in various different capacities.

Violinist Mayumi Hiraga Wyrick performs regularly with many Bay Area ensembles including San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera, and San Francisco Symphony.  
Mayumi completed her undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory.  She received her Master’s degree from the Conservatory of Amsterdam.  Her principal teachers have included Vera Beths, Anner Bylsma, Lucy Chapman, and Axel Strauss. Miss Wyrick is Peter Wyrick’s daughter.

Markus Pawlik, piano, is known for the exquisite sensibility and coloring of his playing, based on an iron clad technique. He was born in Bremen and won the German National Young Musician’s competition three separate times. In 1982 Mr Pawlik won the grand prize at the “Eurovision Young Musician of the Year” competition. This launched his international career. Since 2013 he has lived in the Bay area.

Arianna Rodriguez, soprano, is a second year Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera. She grew up in Virginia and was educated at George Mason University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. At first she was interested in operetta but later decided to pursue classical opera. She made her main stage debut in “Die Frau Ohne Schattern” and has also sung the role of Gianetta in “L’ Elisir d’Amore”.


THE MUSIC

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756 - 1791

“Exsultate, Jubilate”, solo motet for soprano

Mozart’s solo motet, “Exultate, Jubilate” is exactly what it says, an exciting celebration of religious fervor. With only the slightest stretch of the imagination can one interpret it to represent other kinds of celebration. He wrote it at the grand old age of seventeen while waiting for a production of his opera “Lucio Silla” in Milan. There are four sections, the final one being a sparkling “Alleluja”. The opera was a success and Mozart was in high spirits.

Leopold Mozart had an unerring program for his son’s musical education. He was himself a provincial musician in a backwater but seemed to have pulled together all the elaborate strands of a unique education. The source of this sophistication remains unclear.

When the boy was seventeen he took him to Rome, to hear the brilliant, complex music of the Catholic church and learn from some of its masters. This was the time when Wolfgang startled the musical world by re-creating the famous “secret” “Miserere” in the mass completely by ear. The church had not wanted anyone to know how it was formed.

Some of the most popular singers were the castrati, men who retained the exquisite high voices of their pre pubertal youth. Hearing a few of these singers prompted Wolfgang to write this happy excited piece for Venanzio Ruazzini with the crystalline phrases which highlighted the men’s voices. Fortunately the barbaric practice of castration ended but we are fortunate to have a woman soprano with the right voice to perform the music.


Johannes Brahms 1833-1897

Sonata for Piano and Cello in e minor opus 38

Anyone who hears the powerful opening phrase of this sonata in the lowest register can never forget it. The sound reverberates around one’s head long after the piece ends. Brahms wrote the sonata between 1862 and 1865, the years in which he also created the string sextets which have similarly mesmerizing phrases.

The cello had been a background, accompanying instrument since its introduction in 1550. Stradivarius is credited with fixing the dimensions of the instrument. They are still used today. Gradually luthiers found ways to improve the cello’s volume and tone and it became possible to use it as a solo vehicle. Boccherini was a cellist and wrote about ten concertos highlighting its possibilities. Robert Schumann wrote a very fine cello concerto in 1850.

Writing brilliant showpieces for solo instruments often denotes the fact that the composer knew a skilled musician able to play the work. Mozart wrote his clarinet concerto and clarinet quartet for Anton Stadler at a time when the clarinet was still an obscure instrument. In his early symphonies written while he was at the Esterhazy estate in Hungary, Haydn highlighted the cellist’s skill by including long solo passages in many movements. Having such excellent musicians at his disposal allowed Haydn to explore musical ideas in greater depth.

Brahms was no exception. He was close to Joseph Joachim, the internationally famous violinist and wrote many works for him. Although Brahms had an amateur colleague in mind, Josef Gansbacher, Robert Hausman was a prominent professional cellist in Vienna. He performed the sonata frequently, championing the very difficult work for many years. The sonata is in three movements.


Franz Schubert 1797 - 1828

Piano trio in E flat major D 929

Schubert two wrote two piano trios in 1827, a year before he died at the age of thirty one. His musical output was staggering, surpassing that of many composers who lived much longer than he did. Because of his extreme poverty he was never able to mount performances of many of his larger works. They were only found years after his death. He is best known for the hundreds of exquisite songs he wrote, many sketched out on shirt cuffs or linen napkins.

This trio shows him at his lyrical best. The reason I chose it rather than its companion in B flat major is the rhythmic and dignified theme of the slow movement given to the cello. This is another one of those pieces which stick in one’s head long after the music stops. There are those who complain that Schubert goes on too long and repeats himself. I refer them to Emmanuel Ax, who commented that the key to playing Shubert well is understanding the way he used time. The music cannot be played in a hurry.

Other, crabby musicologists also fuss about his “mistakes”. There are no mistakes. He understood more than anyone how to shift keys invisibly. It happened under your eyes before you knew it like beads of mercury on a slippery surface.

His music survived because of a legion of devotees who did their best to see he had enough to eat and somewhere to compose. For several years they held “Schubertiades” in Vienna, heroic weekends when they played almost everything he had written. Remember, Beethoven lived just across town. That was enough to make anybody think twice about composing.


Judith Taylor