The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, dc

www.nga.gov

Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery of Art through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development 

office at (202) 842-6450 or circh@nga.gov for more information.

The Seventy-third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

3,018th Concert

National Gallery ofArt Piano Trio

Luke Wedge, violin

Benjamin R. Wensel, cello

Danielle DeSwert Hahn, piano

October 19, 2014

Sunday, 3:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Piano Trio no. 1 in B Major, op. 8

Allegro con brio

Scherzo: Allegro molto 

Adagio

Allegro

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

Cuatro Estaciones Portenas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)

Otono Porteno (Buenos Aires Autumn)

Invierno Porteno (Buenos Aires Winter)

Primavera Portena (Buenos Aires Spring)

Verano Porteno (Buenos Aires Summer)

The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART PIANO TRIO

Formed as a resident ensemble in 2008, the National Gallery ofArt Piano

Trio has since played in numerous Gallery concerts as well as other venues, 

under the name West Garden Trio. In 2009 the Trio performed a special

program at the residence ofthe Belgian ambassador; in 2010 it played a

complete program ofmusic by early twentieth-century American composers 

in honor ofthe exhibition American Modernism: The Shein Collection; and in

2014 it performed lesser-known works by Jewish composers for a Hanukkah

concert. It regularly contributes piano trios to the annual concert in memory

of Milton M. Gottesman, which features music by Mozart and J. S. Bach.

DANIELLE DESWERT HAHN

Pianist Danielle DeSwert Hahn is an active freelance collaborative pianist.

As an opera repetiteur, she has worked with the Ash Lawn Highland Opera

Festival, New York Opera Society, and Baltimore, Chautauqua, Indianapolis,

Kentucky, North Carolina, Portland, Sarasota, Washington Concert, and 

Washington National opera companies. Hahn regularly performs in chamber

music and voice recitals, partnering with members ofthe National Symphony

Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and vocal soloists.

In addition to numerous appearances at the National Gallery, Hahn has

performed at leading venues throughout Washington, DC. She is a principal 

pianist with Inscape Chamber Music Project and has performed in concert 

and recorded with the contemporary ensemble New Music Raleigh. She

holds a master ofmusic degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,

and a bachelor ofmusic degree from the University ofCalifornia, Santa

Barbara. Formerly an apprentice coach with the Washington Opera under

Placido Domingo, since 2006 she has held the position ofmusic program

specialist at the National Gallery ofArt, where she assists in programming

and coordinating the concerts and musical programs. In addition to her

work with the nga Piano Trio, she performs with the nga Chamber Players.

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LUKE WEDGE

Originally from Kansas, violinist Luke Wedge is an active chamber musician

who frequently serves as concertmaster of orchestras in the Washington

metropolitan area. A participant in the Juilliard Quartet seminar, he has

given master classes at the Eastern Music Festival and at Gettysburg College.

An experienced orchestral musician, he has performed with the Chicago

Philharmonic, National Symphony, and Ravinia Festival orchestras. Since 

2003 he has been a member ofthe United States Air Force Strings, performing at the State Department, the Vice President’s residence, and the White

House. Outside Washington, he has played for the Grand Ole Opry and has

been featured on several nationally televised programs and various recordings. Having begun violin studies at age five, he holds degrees from the

University of Kansas and Northwestern University.

BENJAMIN R. WENSEL

A native of New York State, Benjamin Wensel earned degrees from the

Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music. Equally

important to his musical education were performances in seminars and

master classes for members ofthe Cleveland, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, 

and Ying quartets; chamber music studies with Peter Salaff and members

ofthe Audubon and Cavani quartets; and solo master classes with Clemens

Michael Hagen, Steven Isserlis, David Soyer, and Michel Strauss.

A member ofThe United States Army Orchestra, Strolling Strings,

and String Quartet since 2003, Wensel regularly appears with many ofthe

local ensembles in the National Capital region. Dedicated to the creation

and promotion of new music, he has performed the world premieres of

more than twenty works written by established and emerging American

composers. In addition to his work with the National Gallery ofArt Piano

Trio, Wensel is a founding member ofthe Tarab Cello Ensemble and the

New Orchestra ofWashington. He is also cellist ofthe bar Piano Trio and

“Pershing’s Own” Contemporary Music Ensemble (pocme).

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Program Notes

In late 1853, soon after becoming close friends with Robert and Clara 

Schumann, twenty-year old Johannes Brahms began to compose his first

piano trio. Extremely self-critical, the young composer had drafted and

destroyed numerous chamber music works, yet felt inspired by his weeks

with the Schumanns to take another stab at the genre. Several months later,

in January of 1854, while still working on the trio, he received word that

Robert had attempted suicide. Brahms returned to the Schumanns’ home

in Diisseldorfto comfort Clara and the couple’s seven children. During this

stay he completed the work. It may be that the tragic circumstances influenced the piece, which begins in a warm and luminous B major but ends

in a dark and stormy B minor. The trio was published by Breitkopf & Hartel

in February 1854.

Some thirty-five years later, when Brahms’s new publisher, Fritz Simrock, 

purchased the rights to all ofthe composer’s published works, he offered 

Brahms a chance to revise some ofhis earliest works. Ever the perfectionist,

Brahms took the opportunity to refine this trio, his first published chamber

work. In a letter to a friend, he wrote, “Do you still remember the B major

trio from our early days, and wouldn’t you be curious to hear it now, as I have

(instead of placing a wig on it!) taken the hair and combed and ordered it a

bit... ?” Only the second movement remains the same in both versions. The

first movement was reduced in length, and the first, third, and fourth movements underwent significant rewrites in their middle sections. The revised 

version, performed in today’s concert, retains its youthful, romantic passion

while incorporating the refinement and wisdom that comes from experience.

Astor Piazzolla was born in Argentina but spent his early childhood in

New York City. Raised on his father’s albums ofArgentine tango orchestras,

as well as recordings ofjazz and classical music, Piazzolla began to play

the bandoneon at an early age. His family returned to his birth city, Mar del

Plata, when he was fourteen, and he spent the next eighteen years in Argentina building his professional career in music. During this time, he took

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orchestration lessons from composer Alberto Ginastera, honed his classical

music skills, and grew in stature as a bandoneonist and bandleader. His

later studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris continued to develop his career. 

After he shared with her his early compositions, she encouraged him to

employ his greatest gift of composing tangos.

Piazzolla singlehandedly reinvented the tango during the second halfof

the twentieth century. He melded tango’s popular style with his knowledge

of classical composition to produce a new type of art music. Although his

compositions are considered cafe music, their exceptional craft shows Piazzolla’s deeper understanding ofform and style. Composed between 1967

and 1970, Piazzolla’s Four Seasons ofBuenos Aires pays tribute to Vivaldi, yet

clearly highlights the culture and environment ofhis native country. The four

movements were written as separate entities, each for a different purpose.

The original orchestration for the Four Seasons is violin, electric guitar, piano,

bass, and bandoneon. The arrangement for piano trio was made by Piazzolla’s

good friend, Argentinian cellist and composer Jose Bragato.

Program Notes by Danielle DeSwert Hahn

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Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Alexander Shonert, violinist

Natalia Shonert, pianist

Music by Czech composers

Presented in collaboration with the Mutual Inspirations Festival

October 26, 2014

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Prague Philharmonic Choir

Music by Brahms and Dvorak

October 31, 2014

Friday, 3:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court