2025 Concert Set 1: Music for Strings & Clarinet
- loonlakelive
- May 14
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 16
July 12, 10:30am, Saranac Lake Free Library
July 13, 7:30pm, Loon Lake Jewish Center
July 14, 7:30pm, Historic Saranac Lake Laboratory
PROGRAM
Trio Op 1 No 3 by Maddalena Laura Sirmen (1745-1818)
Allegro cantabile
Menuetto grazioso
Allegro assai - Menuetto - Allegro assai
Robyn Sosa and Catherine Beeson, violins
Sara Fierer, cello
Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979)
Prelude
Allegro
Pastorale
Alexander Kollias, clarinet
Catherine Beeson, viola
Aubade Op 133 by Benjamin Godard (1849-1895)
Andante quasi adagio
Andantino
Robyn Sosa, violin
Sara Fierer, cello
Quartet by Natalie Hunt (1985- )
I.
II.
Alexander Kollias, clarinet
Robyn Sosa, violin
Catherine Beeson, viola
Sara Fierer, cello
MUSICIANS
Catherine Beeson, violin/viola
Sara Fierer, cello
Alexander Kollias, clarinet
Robyn Sosa, violin
(Shown above in alphabetical order)
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Click on the name of the piece below to skip right to it!
Maddalena Laura Sirmen (1745-1818) was an Italian composer, violinist, and opera singer from the Classical era. Exceptionally gifted at a young age, she studied violin with the infamous Giuseppe Tartini, and composition with Ferdinando Bertoni. In an age when women had little ability to be financially independent or treated as career professionals, she was able to tour as a performer and be published as a composer. To put this into perspective, Franz Joseph “Papa” Haydn is widely regarded as the “father” of the string quartet but Maddalena Sirmen had been composing and publishing string quartets at roughly the same time. Should we refer to her as Maddalena Laura “Mama” Sirmen? ;)
Trio, Opus 1 Number 3 in D major is a composition in three movements, or musical chapters, for two violins and cello. The first movement is a lively tempo with loads of close harmonies like a late 1700s doo-wop group. The second movement is a light and charming dance form based on the popular Minuet, making it a 1700s TikTok sensation. The final movement is a driving quick tempo piece filled with energetic outbursts that is soon interrupted by another Minuet. Just when you’re hooked on this Minuet it smashes right back into the original energetic outburst music. The whole piece is a joy filled experience.
A typical performance lasts 10-12 minutes.
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was a British composer and, more importantly because of course it is, a VIOLIST. :) She was internationally renowned as a performer and prize winning composer during her lifetime despite the disruption to travel caused by World War 2. In fact, she was stranded in the United States at the start of the war and ended up settling in New York for the duration of her life. Clarke was often referred to as an ‘important woman composer’, to which she responded "I would sooner be regarded as a 16th-rate composer than be judged as if there were one kind of musical art for men and another for women.”
Rebecca Clarke composed Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale in 1941. It is a duet for clarinet and viola composed in the neoclassical style. At the time she composed it she had been in the United States for 3 years, unable to return home after her intended short summer vacation stay due to the outbreak of World War 2. Although she was able to live with her brother’s family in the US she missed home and was denied a visa to return, being classified by the British Embassy as ‘an unproductive mouth’. The Pastorale movement has a deeply nostalgic sensibility, likely due to her feeling far from home and country.
Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale was premiered at a festival in California in 1941 to critical praise for having “the greatest individuality”, Clarke’s “ingenuity and resource in developing intricate patterns from the two voices”, and in specific reference to the Pastorale movement described it as “a singularly lovely example of the nostalgic English style”. Even with this positive reception, the work wasn’t published until 1999.
A typical performance lasts about 14 minutes.
Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) was a French violinist and composer of Jewish heritage, operating primarily in the Romantic era. He is not well known despite having composed eight operas, five symphonies, two piano and two violin concertos, string quartets, sonatas for violin and piano, piano pieces and etudes, and more than a hundred songs, possibly because he died relatively young at 45 of tuberculosis. He enjoyed success as a composer and performer during his lifetime, and we are pleased to present his Aubade on the series in the hope that you will be ignited with curiosity to find more of his music wherever you listen!
Aubade, Op. 133 is a duet for violin and cello in two movements. The first movement, Andante quasi adagio, is a lilting walking pace featuring lush gentle melodies handed back and forth between the two instruments. The second movement, Andantino, is some of the most charming and delightful music you’ll ever hear, with character changes and dramatic moments typical of the Romantic era compositional style.
A typical performance lasts about 7 minutes.
Natalie Hunt (1985- ) is an New Zealander (Kiwi) composer and multi instrumentalist with degrees in Music and Political Science & International Relations. She has been composer-in-residence for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and has already produced at least 30 compositions for orchestra and for various smaller ensembles. Her music is heavily influenced by harmonic and rhythmic jazz style expressions.
Quartet is a two movement work for clarinet and string trio. She writes “This piece was written in the weeks following the November 2017 Kaikoura earthquakes. Originally intended as a light-hearted work fusing classical and jazz, it became quickly influenced by the images of Canterbury, the experience of working in a "safe" multi-storey building on Lambton Quay, the reactions of those around me, and the prevailing uncertainty: "is this an aftershock or The Big One?”
The two movements elide into one another, so from the listener’s point of view it may seem like a single movement, but the character changes in such a way that you may also think it’s three movements worth of expression. It progresses in a narrative-like way, with cinematic drama, and NO SPOILERS be sure to pay attention to something special about the cello…
This will be the New York premiere of Quartet.
A typical performance lasts about 15 minutes.
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