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.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the 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

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,813th Concert

Poulenc Trio

Irina Kaplan, piano; Vladimir Lande, oboe

Bryan Young, bassoon

With guest musicians:

Sally McClain, violin; Anton Lande, violin

Nicholas Citro, viola; Steven Honigberg, cello

Rie Suzuki, clarinet

December 5, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Performed without intermission

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34, for clarinet, piano, and string quartet

Jakov Jakoulov (b. 1954)

Yiddish Lexicon for oboe, bassoon,

A vach nacht

Shofar

Dybbuk

Job’s Lament

Meshugeneh Valse

Washington Premiere Performance

Gideon Klein (1919-1945)

Triofor Violin, Viola, and Cello

Allegro 

Lento

Molto vivace

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)

Divertissementfor Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon

Burleska

Romanzero

Charleston

Florida

Rondino-Finale

and piano (2010)

Golem

Scapegoat’s Lament

Jacob’s Ladder 

Shiksa and Yeshiva bocher

Klezmers
A Terezin Collection for String Quartet

Viktor Kohn (1901-1944)

Pradudium

David Grunfeld (1915-1963)

Uv’tzeil K’nofecho (In the Shadow of Your Wings) 

Arranged for string quartet by Zikmund Schul

Egon Ledec (1889-1944)

Gavotte

Frantisek Domazlicky (1913-1997)

Lied ohne Worte (Song without Words)

Andre Previn (b. 1929)

From Triofor Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano

Jaunty

The Musicians

POULENC TRIO

Founded in 2003 by pianist Irina Kaplan, oboist Vladimir Lande, and bassoonist Bryan Young, the Poulenc Trio's instrumentation makes it unique as an

active touring chamber music ensemble. The Trio has performed throughout

the United States and at music festivals around the world, including the

Amalfi Coast and Ravello Festivals in Italy; the San Miguel de Allende Festival

in Mexico; and the White Nights Festival in Russia, where the group toured

and premiered two new works with violinist Hilary Hahn.

In a recent review, the Washington Post proclaimed that the Trio “does

its namesake proud” in “an intriguing and beautifully played program” with

“convincing elegance, near effortless lightness, and grace.” One ofthe Trio’s

recent performances in Florida has been rebroadcast on American Public 

Media’s nationally syndicated radio program Performance Today. The Trio has

been featured in a profile for Russian television, which declared the three

musicians to be “virtuosos of classical and contemporary chamber music.”

The Poulenc Trio is committed to commissioning, performing, and

recording new music. The ensemble has greatly expanded the repertoire

available for the oboe, bassoon, and piano, with twenty new works

written for and premiered by it, including compositions by Afro-Cuban

jazz clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera and Russian-American composers

Natalyia Medvedovskaya and Jakov Jakoulov.

The Trio’s “Music at the Museum” concert series pairs musical performances with exhibitions and curatorial presentations. The series has

included concerts at the Baltimore Museum ofArt, the Hermitage State 

Museum in Saint Petersburg, the National Gallery of Art, and the Walters 

Art Museum in Baltimore. Guest performers in the series have included

violinist Hilary Hahn, clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein and Anthony McGill,

the Thibaud Trio of Berlin, and soprano Hyunah Yu. The Trio’s outreach to

new audiences includes Pizza and Poulenc, an informal performance and

residency series for young people, and master classes at colleges throughout

the country.

5
SALLY MCLAIN

Violinist Sally McLain received her bachelor and master ofmusic degrees 

with high distinction from Indiana University, where she studied with and

was assistant to James Buswell. Raised in Washington, DC, McLain is a

graduate ofthe DC Youth Orchestra Program. She has participated in the 

Bach Aria Festival, the New York String Orchestra, and the Tanglewood

Music Center and Institute. As violin soloist, McLain has performed at the 

Corcoran Gallery, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Lisner Auditorium, 

and the National Gallery, among other venues. A member ofthe Potomac

String Quartet, her chamber music activities include the Embassy Series,

National Musical Arts, and the Twentieth Century Consort. She served for

ten years as concertmaster ofthe Washington Chamber Symphony.

ANTON LANDE

Hailed as “a brilliant young violinist” and praised for his “upfront emotionalism ofthe Russian tradition,” Anton Lande is currently an undergraduate

at the Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Conservatory, majoring in

violin performance and economics. A student ofVictor Danchenko, Lande

is a member ofthe Johns Hopkins Debate team, the Peabody Symphony

Orchestra, and the Cantabile Quartet. He has performed at the Baltimore

Museum of Art; the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida; the Kennedy

Center; and the Walters Art Museum. In 2005 he received a full scholarship 

to attend the Tanglewood Institute quartet program.

6

NICHOLAS CITRO

A recent graduate ofthe Peabody Conservatory, violist Nicholas Citro studied

under Victoria Chiang. He completed his bachelor ofmusic degree at Baylor

University, where his teacher was Kathryn Steely. At both conservatories, 

he merited the honor ofserving as principal violist in the conservatory 

orchestra. He has also studied with Jeffrey Irvine and Stephen Wyrczynski.

Citro has participated in numerous summer festivals including the Aspen

Chamber Music Festival; the Garth Newel Chamber Music Festival; the 

National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland; and the National

Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.

STEVEN HONIGBERG

Heralded as a “sterling cellist” by the Washington Post, Steven Honigberg 

is a member ofthe National Symphony Orchestra. His New York debut

recital in Weill Hall in New York City was a prelude to an active career as a

recitalist and concerto soloist, performing the 1988 world premiere of David

Ott’s Concertofor Two Cellos with the nso—an event that was repeated on

the orchestra’s 1989 and 1994 United States tours—as well as 2008 performance with the same orchestra of Erich Kongold’s Cello Concerto. Performing a wide range ofrepertoire in his frequent recitals, which include two at

the National Gallery, he is noted for his explorations ofimportant new works

by Lukas Foss, Benjamin Lees, Robert Starer, and Robert Stern, as well as

David Diamond’s Concert Piece (1993), written for and premiered by Honigberg. A graduate ofthe Juilliard School of Music, where he studied with

Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins, Honigberg also studied with Pierre

Fournier and Karl Fruh. From 1994-2002, he served as chamber music

series director at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which 

produced under his direction a four-volume set of concerts recorded at the

museum, “Darkness & Light.” He has recorded Homage to Rostropovich, a

cd ofsolo cello works for which he also contributed an essay, “Homage 

to Slava”; the complete cello repertoire by Beethoven, Chopin, and Ernst 

Toch; and an album oftwentieth-century American cello works.

7
RIE SUZUKI

Born in Japan, clarinetist Rie Suzuki made her Tokyo debut as a winner of

the Japanese Clarinet Society recital series while a conservatory student at

Musashino Academia Musicae, studying under Yuji Murai. She continued

her studies at the Peabody Conservatory, earning the doctor ofmusical arts

degree. Suzuki’s American clarinet teachers include Loren Kitt and Robert

Coleman, and she studied chamber music with the late Samuel Sanders.

Currently a member ofthe Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and principal clarinetist ofthe Princeton Festival Orchestra, she is an active chamber

musician and founding member ofthe Eastwinds Quintet and the Tripod 

Trio. Suzuki has recorded with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the

Philadelphia Philharmonia under JoAnn Fellatta, the Philadelphia Virtuosi,

and soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson. She teaches at Rowan University in

Glassboro, New Jersey.

Program Notes

Serge Prokofiev rarely used folk music or themes by other composers in his

scores. Early in his career he decided that he would employ only his own 

melodies in his music. When clarinetist Simeon Bellison approached him in

1919 with a proposal for a chamber work based on Ffebrew themes, Prokofiev 

initially rejected the proposal. Several days later, after playing through and

improvising on some ofthe themes, Prokofiev decided to compose the piece 

after all. The work is cast in a single movement featuring two main themes,

both Middle Eastern in character. The composer’s adroit handling ofthe

source material has led some listeners to assume that he was Jewish; he

was, in fact, born to Russian Orthodox parents and aligned himselfwith no 

religious movement.

The recipient ofsix annual awards from the American Society ofComposers, Authors, and Publishers and a holder of a doctorate in music from

Boston University, Jakov Jakoulov has written three ballets; five instrumental

concertos; five string quartets; music for theatrical, television, and cinema

productions; and numerous symphonic, chamber and choral works. Among

the ensembles that have performed his music in recent years are the Armenian, Dallas, and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras, the Bachanalia Festival

Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, and the Tanglewood Contemporary Music

Festival Orchestra. FTis work has been recognized by commissions and

performances in Armenia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Russia, 

Scotland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

9
As a complement to his score, Yiddish Lexicon, Jakoulov provides the 

following notes:

Vach nacht (“watch night”): the night before a circumcision,

considered a spiritually dangerous time for the baby.

Shofar: one ofthe earliest instruments used in Jewish music,

made from the horn of a ram or a goat.

Dybbuk: a malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated 

soul of a dead person.

Book ofJob: one ofthe books ofthe Hebrew Bible. It relates the story

ofJob, his trials at the hands ofthe Satan, his challenge to God, and

finally a response from God.

Meshugeneh: crazy, nuts, loony-tunes.

Golem: an artificial creature created by magic. According to the 

legend, to make a golem come alive, one would shape it out of

soil and walk around it, reciting a combination ofletters from the

Hebrew alphabet and the secret name of God. To “kill” the golem,

its creator would walk and recite the words and letters in reverse.

Scapegoat: as defined in the Book ofLeviticus, a goat that was driven 

off into the wilderness, carrying the sins ofthe people that had been

ritually placed on it.

Jacob’s Ladder: a ladder to heaven, described in the Book ofGenesis in 

a vision seen by the patriarch Jacob.

Shiksa: Yiddish slang for a woman who is not Jewish, especially one

who is attracted to a Jewish man.

Yeshiva bocher: a boy enrolled in a Yeshiva (Jewish school).

Typically applied to boys who are very studious, shy, sheltered,

and somewhat naive.

Klezmers: Jewish musicians who perform at joyful events, particularly 

weddings.

10

In 1939 Gideon Klein enrolled as a doctoral candidate in musicology 

and philosophy at Charles University in Prague while continuing his music

studies with the noted composer Alois Haba at the Prague Conservatory.

In 1940 the Nazi occupation ofCzechoslovakia and the enforcement ofthe 

Nuremberg Racial Laws put an end to these studies as well as to Klein’s

performances as a pianist. He was among the first to be sent to the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp where, incarcerated among many

other artists, composers, and writers, he soon became an extraordinary force

as a pianist, educator, conductor, and composer. Klein was deported from 

Theresienstadt to Auschwitz late in 1944. He completed his String Trio on 

October 9,1944, just nine days before his transport to Auschwitz. It shows

influences of Leos Janacelc and Arnold Schoenberg and ofthe expressive

folk elements of Klein’s Moravian background. Surviving subsequent

internment in several concentration camps, he finally succumbed in

January 1945 at the forced labor camp in Fiirstengrube.

Born in Prague to a musical family, Erwin Schulhoffreceived a solid

education in music at the conservatories in Prague, Vienna, Leipzig, and 

Cologne. In 1919 the twenty-five-year old composer was exploring an “art

jazz” style in piano pieces that incorporated syncopated dances such as the 

foxtrot, the Brazilian maxixe, the one-step, and the rag. In a letter to Alban

Berg in 1921, Schulhoffwrote: “I have a tremendous passion for the fashionable dances and there are times when I go dancing night after night with

dance hostesses... purely out ofrhythmic enthusiasm and subconscious

sensuality; this gives my creative work a phenomenal impulse, because in

my consciousness I am incredibly earthly, even bestial....”

Reflecting the composer’s love for dance, SchulhofFs Divertissement

contains a Charleston; a Florida, a dance named after an exclusive nightclub

in Paris that flourished in the late 1920s; a burlesca; and a romanzero, juxtaposed with traditional forms (overture, theme with variations, and rondo).

He composed this witty and jocular piece in just four days in March 1927.

Long active in radical politics as well as being Jewish, Schulhoffwas doubly

threatened by the Nazi takeover ofCzechoslovakia in 1939, and was soon

11
imprisoned for political and racial reasons. One of his final compositions—

a setting for chorus and orchestra of The Communist Manifesto— stands as

a tribute to Schulhoffs spirit and determination: the work was smuggled

to the outside world shortly before the composer was tortured to death on

August 18,1942, in the Wiilzburg concentration camp.

The four pieces presented in this program as “A Terezin Collection for

String Quartet” have a unique history. They were composed and originally

performed at the Jewish concentration camp in Terezin in Nazi-occupied

Czechoslovakia between 1942 and 1944. Like most ofthe incarcerated

musicians in Terezin, the violist and flutist Viktor Kohn was forced to

participate in several ensembles. His only preserved composition, Praeludium, is dedicated Jakob Edelstein, head ofthe Council of Elders that ran the

internal affairs ofTerezin, and is based on the notes E-D-E. Kohn perished at 

Auschwitz in October 1944.

The author ofthe melody that serves as the basis of Uv’tzeil K’nofecho

was probably the cantor David Grunfeld, another ofthe Terezin prisoners.

A survivor ofthe camp, after liberation Grunfeld immigrated to the United

States and became a cantor in New York City. Zikmund Schul, a young 

composer and fellow prisoner from Kassel, Germany, arranged the tune for

string quartet. Schul died in Terezin in June 1944 at age twenty-eight.

Before the Nazi invasion, Egon Ledec was the associate concertmaster

ofthe Czechoslovak Philharmonic Orchestra. He enjoyed writing music in

quasi-classical style, and his cheerful Gavotte is his only known piece written

in Terezin. Like so many of his colleagues, Ledec became a victim ofthe

Auschwitz gas chambers in October 1944.

By the time he was incarcerated at Terezin, Frantisek Domazlicky had

enjoyed considerable success as composer of popular music. His charming

Song without Words was premiered in the camp by the Ledec String Quartet.

With Cantor David Grunfeld, Domazlicky was one ofthe few composers and

musicians who survived the horrors ofTerezin. After the war he completed

his studies at the Prague Conservatory and Academy of Musical Arts as a

violinist and composer ofsymphonic music.

12

Born to a Jewish family in Berlin, Andre Previn immigrated to the United

States in 1939 with his family to escape the Nazi regime. Growing up in Los

Angeles, he completed his education in the United States, composed prolifically, and toured and recorded as a jazz and classical pianist. In 1985 he was 

appointed conductor ofthe Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, a post

he held until 1989. Previn composed his Triofor Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano in

1994. In some ways it shows virtues that might be thought typically French: 

clarity, careful attention to the character ofthe individual instruments, and

a sense ofplay and fun. Yet the piece has a strong American accent, provided

by its vibrant energy, jazz rhythms, and the open harmonies that have distinguished American music since the 1930s, thanks to their frequent use by

Aaron Copland (1900-1990).

Program notes by Irina Kaplan

Yiddish Lexicon definitions by Jakov Jakoulov
Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Ensemble Galilei

With Stephen Ackert, narrator

“A Musical Holiday Card from the National Gallery ofArt”

December 12, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery ofArt Vocal Ensemble

and Chamber Players

Music by J. S. Bach, Buxtehude, and Praetorius

December 19, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

American String Quartet

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven

January 2, 2011

Sunday evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court