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

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off'.

Please note that late entry or reentry ofthe 

West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

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 Caller)7 of Art through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development

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

The Seventy-first Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,946th Concert

Members ofthe Vlach Quartet Prague 

with

Helena Sucharova-Weiser, pianist

Presented in collaboration with the 

Delegation ofthe European Union to the United States

May 12, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Music by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

Piano Quartet no. 1 in D Major, op. 23 (1875)

Allegro moderato

Andantino con variazioni

Finale: Allegretto scherzando

INTERMISSION

Piano Quartet no. 2 in E-flat Major, op. 87 (1889)

Allegro con fuoco

Lento

Allegro moderato, grazioso

Finale: Allegro ma non troppo

This concert is made possible in part by the

Embassy ofthe Czech Republic.

The Musicians

V1ACH QUARTET PRAGUE

In 1982 the Czech violinist Jana Vlachova founded the Vlach Quartet Prague,

more than thirty years after her father, violinist, conductor and teacher Josef

Vlach, established the original Vlach Quartet with musicians from the Czech

Chamber Orchestra. Known initially as the New Vlach Quartet, the ensemble

soon established an individual tone and sound, enabling it to expand beyond

the Czech romantic repertoire it had inherited. In addition to successful

appearances in Denmark, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, and Sweden, the

Vlach Quartet Prague has toured Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, 

Its debut concert in Japan was broadcast by NF1K, the country’s largest television station, and in 1997 the ensemble was the quartet-in-residence at Gifu 

University. The Strad magazine praised their 2004 New York City debut as

one ofthe “musical highlights” ofthe season.

For tonight’s concert, first violinist Jana Vlachova, violist Karel Stadtherr,

and cellist Mikael Ericsson form a piano quartet with Helena Sucharova-Weiser.

A native of Brno, Czech Republic, she studied piano at the Conservatory of

Music and the Music Academy in Prague before continuing her studies at

Roosevelt University in Chicago.

In 1993 the Vlach Quartet Prague began a long-term project with Naxos

to record the complete chamber music ofAntonin Dvorak. Their recording

of Esquisses Hebraiques: Clarinet Quintets on Jewish Themes with clarinetist

Dieter Klocker received the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2000.

In addition to Klocker and pianist Sucharova-Weiser, the quartet collaborates

with cellist Maria Kliegel, clarinetist Eduard Brunner, guitarist Maximilian

Mangold, and pianists Jeno Jando and Ivan Klansky. Its master classes have

inspired students at universities in Gothenburg and Ingesund, Sweden, as 

well as high schools in Japan and the United States. In 2009 the quartet was 

invited by the Royal Palace in Madrid to play a concert on the palace’s famous

collection of Stradivari instruments.

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Program Notes

Tonight’s concert continues a series generated by the Delegation ofthe European Union to the United States in collaboration with the National Gallery 

ofArt and the Katzen Arts Center at American University, the Kennedy Center,

and the Phillips Collection. Dubbing the month of May as “The European

Month ofCulture,” the Delegation is presenting twenty-nine concerts in

the above-mentioned venues that represent all twenty-seven countries in the

European Union. Focusing on the music of Antonin Dvorak, this evening’s

concert represents the Czech Republic. The next concert in the series to take 

place at the Gallery will feature performers and music from Finland. On May 22,

at 12:10 pm, soprano Meri Siirala and pianist Marja Kaisla will perform music

by Saariaho, Sibelius, and other Finnish composers.

Dvorak composed his first piano quartet in 1875, when he was thirty-four.

In spite of a great deal ofhard work, he was still a few years away from his

international “breakthrough” with the Slavonic Dances. Nevertheless, within

the first few measures ofthe quartet, Dvorak’s distinctive musical personality

emerges. Along with his gift for lyricism and color, this early quartet demonstrates his ability to evoke the Slavonic national character in music. The

initial themes ofthe first movement suggest the folk-like modal simplicity

that some associate with his “American” phase, which occurred nearly two

decades later. Ifone looks for any particularly youthful trait in this quartet,

it might be sheer, undaunted ambition: even though it has only three movements, the quartet is grand in scale, prompting some musicologists to place 

Dvorak in the same category with Franz Schubert, as composers who

delighted in going to “heavenly lengths.”

The opening movement, in expanded sonata form, has a wealth of

themes that range from briefmotifs to melodies that surge with stormy

romantic bravado. Due to the overall integration ofvoices and strong

independence ofindividual string parts, the quartet works as a unified

whole, rather than a division between piano and strings, which characterized the work ofsome earlier composers.

4

The central movement is a theme and variations in minor key that

establishes a somber and melancholy mood. Variety is provided by a progressively growing sense ofrhythmic lilt, a heartwarming bloom into a

major key, and, toward the end, a darkening, cooling effect that leads to

a coda that bears only an oblique relation to what came before it.

The Finale, marked allegretto scherzando, appears at first to be a rather

conventional rondo in a moderate allegretto triple meter with a light, easygoing theme. Emphasizing the word scherzando (playfully) in his movement title, Dvorak places quasi-humorous strong offbeat accents, rhythmic

displacements, and disintegrations that summon the flavor ofvigorous

eastern European folk dances and rustic, virile humor, such as is found in

Beethoven’s music. A deft use ofrapid scale passages and Dvorak’s uncanny

gift for varying textures and tone colors add yet additional layers to this

cornucopia ofmusic, which leaves the listener almost reeling.

Composed fourteen years later, the Piano Quartet no. 2 in E-flat Major,

op. 87, reveals a more mature Dvorak. The introduction to the first movement is a powerful statement by the unison strings, and the movement continues with considerable division between the strings and the piano, almost

as ifthe composer is recalling the approach to chamber music with piano that

typified the early classical period. After positing a second theme in G minor

(as opposed to the traditional dominant key for a second theme), Dvorak

carries the listener through a development and a recapitulation. These are

replete with unison passages that push the instruments into an almost

severe outpouring oftone.

The second movement, marked Lento, is one of Dvorak’s most purely

lyrical, with a sequence offive themes, each presenting a shift in mood.

Choosing an unusual key relationship for this movement, Dvorak opts for 

G-flat major, a key that has six flats and is not particularly comfortable for 

string instruments. The cello takes the lead in this movement, which is at

times pensive and at other times as dramatic.

5
In the third movement, a graceful waltz in the strings is contrasted

with a melody in G minor. Introduced by the piano, its frequent use of

the augmented second gives it a Middle Eastern flavor. Opening, as did the 

first movement, with a dramatic passage in unison, the Finale features a

dense texture, providing a rich dessert for a very satisfying musical meal.

Notes on Piano Quartet no. 1 by Danielle DeSwert Hahn, music program

specialist, National Gallery ofArt; notes on Piano Quartet no. 2 by

Stephen Ackert, head, music department

6

Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Robert Berkman, pianolist

Music from ballets performed by

the Ballets Russes

Presented in honor of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, igog-ig2g:

When Art Danced with Music

Sponsored in part by the

Billy Rose Foundation

May 15, 2013

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

East Building Mezzanine

Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

Kim Allen Kluge, music director

with Bowen McCauley Dance

Music by Rimsky-Korsakov

and Stravinsky

Presented in honor of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 3909-1929:

When Art Danced with Music

Sponsored in part by the 

Billy Rose Foundation

May 19, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

East Building Atrium