1) (a piano solo movement)...Radiance, but of

a subdued sort;

2) the most‘human’ movement- perhaps Intimacy, again ofa sub­

dued sort;

3) at last some Speed, falling into an ABA shape, in this case, de­

fined as such mostly by soft, LOUD, soft;

4) the return of movement no. 1, the piano being joined by the

other three instruments, thus altering somewhat the percep­

tion;

5)a good-natured finale. The title of the movement, Coda-the

Players Gossip, pretty well describes one way of looking at it.”

Robert Helps, American pianist and teacher, studied piano in New

York with Abby Whiteside and composition with Roger Sessions

(1943-1956). In addition he took courses at Columbia University

(1947-1949) and the University of California at Berkeley (1949—

1951). In 1966 Helps received

a Guggenheim fellowship. He has

taught at Princeton University, the San Francisco Conservatory of

Music, the University of California at Berkeley, the New England

Conservatory of Music in Boston, the Manhattan School of Music,

and since 1978 at the University ofSouthern Florida. He has writ­

ten works in many musical forms: Symphony; Cortegefor Orchestra,;,

Recollectionsfor Piano', GossamerNoonsfor Soprano and Orchestra; Fan­

tasyfor Violin andPiano; Quintetfor Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, andPiano', and two piano concertos, among others.

Brahms’ Piano QuartetNo.3 inCMinor, Opus 60, was begun by the

composer in 1855, but was not completed and performed until 1875.

Brahms himselfwas at the piano, performing with members ofthe

Helmesberger Quartet. The chamber music of Brahms possesses

such symphonic qualities that Schoenberg (who saw Brahms in the

role of

a“futurist”) wrote an essay on him with the alluring title

Brahms, the Progressive. In his essay, Schoenberg delves into Brahms’

motivic interrelationships and complexity of phrase rhythm, all

pointing toward an“unrestricted musical language.” That language

culminated, in Schoenberg’s view, in the twelve-tone music of his

own creation. Schoenberg did not write about Brahms’ piano quar­

tets in his essay, but paid them the ultimate honor of orchestrating

one of them in 1937.

The presence ofa Sturm undDrang period in Brahms’ life is quite

evident in the first movement ofthe Piano Quartet,a fact reiterated by

Brahms himself ina contemporary reference to Goethe’s Werther on

the verge ofsuicide. The second movement,a Scherzo in minor key, is

so concise that there is no space for development ofa regular trio. This

is replaced by a briefepisode in major key. The most startling feature

ofthe work appears in the Andante movement, where a soaring passage

ofWagnerian bliss is left ina cadence that is unresolved in C minor. - Program notes by Elmer Booze

Concerts at The National Gallery ofArt

Under the Direction of George Manos

December 1997

21 Columbia Collegiate Chorale Christmas concert

James Bingham, conductor

28 Gottlieb 'WaWisch, pianist

January 1998 4 National Gallery Orchestra

George Manos, conductor

11 The Pelerinage Duo

Jerry Wong and Shih-yu

Cheng, duo-pianists

Beethoven: Sonata, Opus 81a

Debussy: Estampes

Chopin: Sonata No.2

Gala Viennese New

Year concert

Rachmaninoff: Suite No.2

Schubert:FMinor Fantasie

Stravinsky: Sonata

Milhaud: Scaramouche

18 Hakan Hagegard, baritone

Warren Jones, pianist

Schubert: Songs from

Schwanengesang

Songs by Brahms, Sibelius,

and Ravel

Throughout the month ofDecember, highlightsfrom the Gallery's

1996-1991 concertseason can be heard on ilMusicfrom Washington,”

broadcast on Wednesdays at 9:00pm on WETA, 90.9 FM.

The use ofcameras or recording equipment

during theperformance is not allowed.

Forthe convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30pm.

The Fifty-sixth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery ofArt

2250th Concert

DUNSMUIR PIANO QUARTET

Margaret Batjer, violin

Jennifer Culp, cello

Roxann Jacobson, viola

Justin Blasdale, piano

Sunday Evening, December 14, 1997

at SevenO’Clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission Free
PROGRAM

Joseph Haydn

(1732-1809)

Piano Trio in E Major

Hob. XV/28

Allegro moderato

Allegretto

Finale: Allegro

Robert Helps

(b. 1928)

Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola,

and Cello (1997)

Prelude

Intermezzo

Scherzo

Postlude

Coda - The Players Gossip

WorldPremiere Performance

Written for the Sergei Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the

Library of Congress and Dedicated to the Memory of Sergei and

Natalie Koussevitzky

INTERMISSION

Johannes Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor, Opus 60

(1833-1897) (1855-1875)

Allegro non troppo

Scherzo

Andante

Finale: Allegro comodo

Formed in 1986, THE DUNSMUIR PIANO QUARTET performed its first concerts in 1987 at Oakland, California’s historic

Dunsmuir House, from which the ensemble derived its name. The

quartet has received critical and public acclaim for its performances

throughout the Pacific Coast region and for the past five years has 

been the recipient of California Arts Council funding for its Bay

Area resident series. They can be heard on two recently released

compact discs of new American works: Stephen Hartke’s Kingofthe

Sun on the New World Label, and a work written for the ensemble

by Thomas Sleeper on the Master Musicians’ Collective label. The

Dunsmuir Piano Quartet appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with Lisa SapinkopfArtists of Berkeley, California.

As a recipient of the coveted Concert Artist Guild Award, pianist

JUSTIN BLASDALE made his New York debut in 1971. Mr.

Blasdale’s other awards include: prizes from the International Bach 

Competition; the International American Music Competition; the

Artist Advisory Council Competition; the Joseph Lhevinne Scholarship; the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Scholarship; and the

William Kapell Award, with a performance at Carnegie Hall. Mr.

Blasdale’s appearances with American orchestras include concerts

with the Pittsburgh, Seattle, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras. He performed a solo recital in the National Gallery’s 1996-

1997 season and is a frequent guest in chamber music at the State

ofWashington’s Olympia Music Festival and the Sonoma Art Farm

Festival in Glen Ellen, California. In 1994 Mr. Blasdale was appointed to the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

MARGARET BATJER made her solo debut at age fifteen with

the Chicago Symphony. Since then she has appeared with a succession of major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra

and the Dallas, Saint Louis, San Jose, and Seattle Symphonies. She

has also performed as soloist throughout Europe with the Berlin

Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Halle

Symphony, the Flemish Chamber Orchestra, and the RTE Broadcast Orchestra in Dublin, Ireland. Ms. Batjer has performed at the

Marlboro Music Festival, the Naples and Cremona Festivals in Italy,

and the Salzburg Festival with Maurizio Pollini.

Completing her training at the San Francisco and New England

Conservatories ofMusic, where she studied with Bonnie Hampton

and Laurence Lesser, cellistJENNIFERCULP furthered herstudies in England with Ralph Kirshbaum, William Pleeth, and the great

Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh. Ms. Culp has been a guest artist

with Chamber Music West, the International Musician’s Seminar

in England, the Marblehead Festival, Musica de camera de Mexico, 

and the Olympia Music Festival. A founding member of the

Dunsmuir Piano Quartet, she frequently performs with the New

York Philomusica, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Friends of

Brooklyn Chamber Music, and the San Francisco Contemporary

Players. Since 1986 she has been the cellist of the renowned

Philadelphia String Quartet. Ms. Culp is currently on the music faculties of Holy Names College and Mills College in Oakland, California.

Violist ROXANN JACOBSON studied with Donald Mclnnes at

the University ofWashington, earning her master of music degree

while a member of the Spokane String Quartet. Ms. Jacobson has

been principal violist with the Vancouver, British Columbia Symphony, the Pacific Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles, the Spokane Symphony, and acting principal with the San Francisco Opera

Orchestra. In addition to being a founding member ofthe Dunsmuir

Piano Quartet, Ms. Jacobson is principal violist with the Oakland

and California Symphonies.

Published in 1797, Haydn’s Trio in E Major, Hoboken listing XV/

28, has puzzled scholars as to whether it was written during Haydn’s

first visit to England in 1790 or his second in 1794. The trio is

unusual in that all of the movements are in the same key. The

opening Allegro moderato is blazoned with a variety of rich modulations, a feature often found in Haydn’s late piano trios. As the

Finale commences, there is a feeling ofdeja vu created by an atmospheric return of the first movement. Although enveloped in a

leisurely triple-meter rhythm, this movement lacks the minuetlike character one might expect. However, thanks to Haydn’s innate sense of humor, a surprise does surface: a fervid minore with a

resident enharmonic excursion and a fantasia-like flourish near the

end. The excursion recalls the opening movement, and the flourish the closing of the second movement, thus presenting a unified

thematic cycle that complements the unity oftonality in the work.

Robert Helps’ QuartetforPiano, Violin, Viola, andCello, written this

year for the Dunsmuir Piano Quartet, is his second quartet, the

first having been written for strings only. About the piano quartet,

Helps writes: “The quartet, [which is] in five movements, is a bit

like looking at a piece ofjewelry or a painting from five very different angles - getting very different perceptions, but basically just

one new look each time.... A capsule description of the mood of

each movement might read something like...