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The Seventy-Third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

3,032nd Concert

The Momenta Quartet

Emilie-Anne Gendron and Adda Kridler, violins

Stephanie Griffin, viola

Michael Haas, cello

January 9, 2015

Friday, 3:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court
Program

Eric Nathan (b. 1983)

Multitude, Solitude (2013)

Philip Glass (b. 1937)

String Quartet no. 2 (1983)

Quarter note = 96

Quarter note = 160

Quarter note = 96

Quarter note = 160

Leos Janacek (1854-1928)

String Quartet no. 2, “Intimate Letters” (1928)

Andante; con moto; allegro

Adagio; vivace

Moderato; andante; adagio

Allegro; andante; adagio

is :’9

The Performers

Praised by the Washington Post for “an extraordinary musical experience”

and by the New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence,” the 

Momenta Quartet is celebrated for its innovative programming, juxtaposing 

contemporary works from widely divergent aesthetics with great music from 

the past. Momenta has premiered over eighty works and collaborated with

over one hundred living composers while maintaining a deep commitment

to the classical canon. In the words ofthe New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “few

American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”

In recent seasons, Momenta has appeared at such prestigious venues as

the Bargemusic, the Library ofCongress, the Miller Theatre at Columbia 

University, Le Poisson Rouge, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, 

Roulette, the Rubin Museum ofArt, the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery, and

the Stone. In addition to its long-standing affiliation with Temple University,

Momenta has performed and lectured at Columbia, Cornell, and Yeshiva

universities; Bard (Simon’s Rock), Bates, Haverford, Swarthmore, and

Williams colleges; the Eastman and Mannes schools ofmusic and the 

Boston Conservatory. Festivals include Cincinnati College-Conservatory’s

Accents Festival, Cooperstown, Music at Gretna, and artist residencies at

the Avaloch Farm Music Institute and Yellow Barn. The quartet has performed in England, Hawaii, Indonesia, and Singapore, and has received

grants from the Aaron Copland Fund, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the 

Koussevitzky Music Foundation, New Music usa, and the New York State

Council on the Arts. Tomorrow evening, at 8:00 pm, the quartet plays

Janacek’s String Quartet no. 1 and quartets by Brahms, Webern, and Julian

Carrillo in the Candlelight Concert Series in Columbia, Maryland.

Momenta has recorded for Albany Records, Centaur Records, Furious

Artisans, mrs Classics, parma, and New World Records, and has been 

broadcast on Music for Internets, Austria’s Oei, Q2 Music, wqxr, wwfm,

and Vermont Public Radio. The quartet’s debut album, momenta, will be

released on Albany Records in 2015. The Momenta Quartet appears at the 

National Gallery by arrangement with Serious Music Media.

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Program Notes

ERIC NATHAN

Multitude, Solitude

This piece was inspired by my vivid memory ofAldeburgh Beach on England’s

eastern coast, which I visited in the summer of 2012. Aldeburgh is a small

town, home to both fishermen and Benjamin Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival,

in which I was participating. One dusk I walked alone on the beach with a

few seagulls cawing and circling above my head, their paths gracefully crisscrossing in the sky, while the North Sea beckoned, crashing resonantly on

the pebble shore. I was captivated by the peacefulness and beauty ofthe

moment, the solitude I felt, but also by the sudden multitude that accompanied me, for what had begun as several gulls high in the sky had multiplied

into hundreds, creating a dense constellation ofbirds. Paralleling this sight

was the vast sea, breaking on the shore’s thousands ofshingles.

In Multitude, Solitude, I take these elements as a starting point and develop

them musically, following them to new places. In the opening section you will

hear a lamenting melody, which passes through the quartet, set on top of a background web of delicately shifting harmonic glissandi. As the piece progresses,

the music becomes more passionate, and you will hear a multitude of voices,

fighting for prominence and at the same time working together to create unity.

The phrase “multitude, solitude” is a quotation from Baudelaire’s Paris

Spleen, a collection of prose poems that he wrote describing city life. I moved

to New York City a few months before my trip to Aldeburgh, and Baudelaire’s

line was in my mind as I strolled on the beach. It was my initial intent to 

compose my quartet using Baudelaire’s phrase as a way ofreflecting on my

newfound experiences living in New York—how I find moments ofsolitude

amidst the multitude ofthe bustling city. Instead, my experience on Aldeburgh

Beach inspired the reverse—how I saw the multitude that exists within a

moment of complete solitude. Perhaps my sensitivity to nature’s quiet was 

heightened by months ofliving in New York, where the city sounds are an

enveloping presence.

Program note by Eric Nathan.

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PHILIP GLASS

String Quartet no. 2

After completing his first string quartet in 1966, Philip Glass waited until

1983 to revisit the genre. Originally Glass intended to extract themes from

his music for Samuel Beckett’s Company to form a concert work, but this

piece evolved into his String Quartet no. 2, through his collaboration with the

Mabou Mines quartet. This work is also known as Company, and it is commonly heard in a version for string orchestra. Glass’s second quartet consists

offour movements, each sharing a main theme consisting ofminor-key

arpeggios. The four movements are similar in style and thematic content,

and as a result this piece has been described as a “monochrome” work.

LEOS JANACEK

String Quartet no. 2

Leos Janacek titled his second string quartet “Intimate Letters,” as a tribute

to his lengthy and meaningful correspondence with Kamila Stosslova. Kamila

was married and thirty-eight years younger than Janacek, but they exchanged

over seven hundred letters, some expressing strong feelings oflove and admiration. Janacek indicated that most of his late works were implicitly inspired

by his love for her, but in this quartet, he proclaimed his feelings plainly for 

all to hear.

The viola plays a prominent role throughout the quartet, as it is intended

to personify Kamila. Janacek originally wrote for viola d’amore (viola oflove),

but later reassigned the part to the standard viola to match the modern string

quartet’s texture. Each movement represents a different stage in the couple’s

relationship, whether real or imagined by the composer. The first movement

depicts the day they first met in a health spa in the summer of 1917. The

second movement is a lullaby to the son that they never had together. The

third movement represents the day “when the earth trembled,” or the time

when Janacek first told Kamila ofhis love. The finale is intended to portray

“a great yearning—and, as it were, its fulfillment.”

Program notes on Glass and Janacek by Michael Jacko, Music Program Assistant,

National Gallery ofArt.

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Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery of Art

Members ofthe National Gallery ofArt Orchestra

and the Saint Petersburg (Russia) State Symphony Orchestra

Vladimir Lande, guest conductor

with Marcolivia, violin/viola duo

Music by Bernstein, Mozart,

and Rimsky-Korsakov

January 11, 2015

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Federico Agostini, violinist

Enrico Elisi, pianist

Music by Respighi

and other Italian composers

January 18, 2015

Sunday, 3:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery ofArt Vocal Ensemble and Chamber Players

with Laura Benedetti and Peter Lukehart, lecturers

II Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda

by Claudio Monteverdi

January 25, 2015

Sunday, 6:00 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players

Music by Lorenzo de’ Medici

and other Italian Renaissance composers

In honor of

Piero di Cosimo:

The Poetry ofPainting in

Renaissance Florence

February 1, 2015

Sunday, 3:30 pm

1 West Building, West Garden Court

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