Program 

 Program is subject to change

 Program Notes 

Stacy GARROP:                   Silver Dagger (2009)

                                                                       
Stacy Garrop composed Silver Dagger as a piano trio for the Lincoln Trio in 2009 and this setting of two variations of the folk tune for a piano trio has become a popular program piece ever since. The trio starts with an open-palm-strike on the piano strings which opens Silver Dagger in a dark, mysterious tone.

From Stacy Garrop:
“In 1994, I heard for the first time an Appalachian folk song called Silver Dagger at a folk festival. The simplicity of the melody joined with a cautionary love tale enthralled me, and I spent the next several years researching the song. What emerged from my research were dozens of variants of the song, both in terms of text as well as melody and title. The variants that I discovered could be grouped more or less under three different titles: Silver Dagger, Drowsy Sleeper, and Katie Dear. All of these versions revolve around the same Romeo and Juliet premise: a boy asks a girl for her parents’ consent to marry.  The story has various endings: the parents won’t give approval, so the girl and boy each end their lives with a silver dagger; the girl turns the boy down and sends him away to find another love; the girl forsakes her parents and runs away with the boy; and so on. In my trio, I incorporate two complete versions of the folk song, one of Katie Dear and one of Silver Dagger, as well as motives from a variant of Drowsy Sleeper.”

Debra KAYE:        Time is the Sea We Swim In (2020)

“Time is the Sea We Swim In is an exploration of our changing perceptions of time. How it can seem to speed up as we get older, or slow down during times of intense “being in the now”.  I think of it as a life-cycle piece. I wrote it after my mother died. The overall form is an ashes to ashes crescendo-diminuendo. The music begins similarly with a slow breathing in and breathing out gesture. Cello emerges with a pleading call in high harmonics. Slow phrases speed to faster rhythmic patterns, and then twice as fast. Palindromes echo the crescendo-diminuendo form in miniature, for me this gives a sense of something familiar, yet different this time, like memory. The music emerges from its dark/stark realities to life affirming celebration and acceptance. “

• Debra Kaye

Astor PIAZZOLLA:             Spring (1970)

Astor Piazzolla is widely recognized as the greatest composer of tango music. Born in Argentina in 1921, Piazzolla spent much of his childhood in New York City, where he was exposed to both jazz and classical music. As a young composer, Piazzolla studied with Alberto Ginastera who introduced him to the music of great composers of the early 20th century such as Stravinsky, Ravel and Bartok.  When Piazzolla enrolled in the class of legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris who, after hearing one of his tango compositions, exclaimed “…you fool! THIS is Piazzolla!.  She strongly encouraged him to stay within this idiom which he took to heart and dedicated himself almost entirely to composing tangos, creating the style of Nuevo Tango.

Unlike Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (or “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”) were initially conceived as four separate pieces rather than a set. Piazzolla composed these pieces his own quintet comprised of violin/viola, piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument of which Piazzolla himself was a renown virtuoso. The word porteño in the title refers to the natives of Buenos Aires and suggests that Piazzolla had in mind the four seasons particularly in the context of the energetic city that he loved so much, and its passionate people. 

This arrangement for piano trio was done by José Bragato, who was the cellist in many of Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tango ensembles, Bragato pioneered the idea of cello solos in a tango ensemble, a distinction previously reserved for the violin.  The Spring tango dates from 1970.  It opens with a violin solo, with the cello providing percussive as well as harmonic and melodic elements as the movement proceeds.  Piazzolla uses extensive counterpoint technique among the three voices.  Copious glissandi in the violin part add excitement as the work comes to a close.

BEETHOVEN:  Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 (”Archduke”) (1814)        

Beethoven started sketching the so-called “Archduke” Trio in 1810 and wrote the work out by March of the following year.  The trio is dedicated to his pupil and patron Archduke Rudolph, son of the former Emperor Leopold II.  The first performance of the trio was a disaster.  It occurred in 1814 at an inn by an arrangement with the landlord and the renown violinist Schuppanzigh.  Composer Louis Spohr, who attended a rehearsal for the concert, was horrified: the piano was badly out of tune and Beethoven’s obvious deafness lead him to bang on the keys during loud passages or to be totally inaudible during quiet parts.  And yet, Ignaz Moschelez, one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the time, attended the actual concert and commented on the “lack of clarity and precision in playing”, but was full of admiration for the music itself.  What has come to us through generations is a true masterpiece, one of the greatest compositions in the piano trio genre.

The expansive First movement of the Trio is introduced by the piano with the first theme, echoed by the violin.  After some development of the theme, the piano introduces the second theme.  This varied repeat and development of both themes is at the heart of the movement.  The Scherzo Second movement follows which is introduced by the cello with an ascending theme to which the violin adds a descending phrase before giving the expected fugal answer.  The cello starts the middle Trio section, and after an interchange of Scherzo and Trio recurrences, the Scherzo re-appears in a closing coda.  The slow, lengthy Third movement is in a form of a theme and four variations: here Beethoven uses a common practice of increasingly rapid notes to elaborate the theme.  The final variation leads without a pause to the final Fourth movement.  The concluding movement is a freely handled rondo, alternating lighthearted passages with heroic outbursts.  The extended coda is full of surprises, thoroughly and unmistakably Beethovenian.

Despite the considerable contributions of Haydn and Mozart, it remained for Beethoven to give the piano trio genre an importance it had not enjoyed before.  The crowning masterpiece of Beethoven's cycle of piano trios, the “Archduke” Trio remains one of the most popular chamber music work.

 About the Artists 

Lincoln Trio

Desirée Ruhstrat, violin
David Cunliffe, cello
Marta Aznavoorian, piano

Described by STRAD Magazine as “Sensational” “Bewitching” and “Models of vibrancy and control” GRAMOPHONE Magazine, the celebrated GRAMMY nominated Chicago-based Lincoln Trio—made up of Desirée Ruhstrat, violin, David Cunliffe, cello, and Marta Aznavoorian, piano—takes its name from their home, the heartland of the United States, the land of Lincoln.

The trio, formed in 2003 has been praised for its polished presentations of well-known chamber works and its ability to forge new paths with contemporary repertoire. The group's reputation as a first-rate ensemble draws an eclectic audience of sophisticated music lovers, young admirers of contemporary programs and students discovering chamber music for the first time.

Bringing together performing experience spanning the globe, each member is an artist of international renown. Violinist Desirée Ruhstrat has performed throughout the US and Europe, appearing at the White House and performing on live radio broadcast heard around the world with the Berlin Radio Orchestra; cellist David Cunliffe has performed with the BBC and Royal Scottish orchestras as well as touring as a member of the Balanescu Quartet; pianist Marta Aznavoorian has garnered critical acclaim for her engagements with orchestras and concert halls worldwide including Chicago Symphony Center, John F, Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House.

The trio has performed throughout the United States, including appearances at Carnegie's Weil Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bryant Park Festival, Ravinia Festival, Green Center, Barge Music, Poisson Rouge, the Indianapolis Symphony Beethoven Chamber Music Series, University of Chicago, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series and in Springfield, Illinois, where the trio was chosen to celebrate the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial celebration with President Barack Obama.

International engagements include performances throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

Champions of new music, the Lincoln Trio has performed numerous compositions written especially for them, including premieres of seven Trio’s by members of the Chicago Composers Consortium, an award winning work dedicated to the trio by young ASCAP winner Conrad Tao, Chamber Music America Award commission with composer Laura Elise Schwendinger and works by Stacy Garrop, Mischa Zupko, Janice Misurell-Mitchell, Ravinia commissioned works for the Lincoln Bicentennial by James Crowley, Eric Sawyer and Lawrence Dillon and most recently a commission from Colombia, South America, for a Trio by the reknowned composer Juan -Antonio Cuellar.

Valuing the importance of cultural diversity in music, the trio are strong supporters of the Chinese Fine Arts Society and the Korean Sejong Cultural Society which has commissioned three works based on Korean themes to be premiered at the University of Chicago and recorded by the Lincoln Trio in 2013.

The Trios extensive discography for the Cedille label includes the entire works for Strings and Piano by Joaquin Turina and their debut album "Notable Women”, which features Grammy and Pulitzer prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon, Joan Tower, Lera Auerbach, Stacy Garrop, Augusta Read Thomas and Laura Schwendinger. Their CD's have received numerous accolades including NAXOS CD of the Month, Baker and Taylor CD Hotlist, Byzantion Recording of the month, TPR Classical Spotlighted album, WQXR/Q2 Music Album of the week, UK Observer Hidden Gems and was listed on Alex Ross of the New Yorker Magazine “Nightafternight playlist for summer's end” and Fanfare magazine “Want List” Other releases on the Cedille label include "Composers In the Loft", "In Eleanors Words: Music of Stacy Garrop" and "The Billy Collins Suite". August 2016 saw the release of their latest CD “Trio’s From Our Homelands” featuring the works of Rebecca Clarke, Arno Babajanian and Frank Martin. The CD was nominated for a 2017 Grammy in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance Category.

2013 saw the critically acclaimed and GRAMMY nominated release on the NAXOS label of "Annelies" based on the Diary of Anne Frank with Westminster Williamson Voices, Clarinetist Bharat Chandra and soprano Arianna Zukerman. The Midwest premiere was given at the Ravinia Festival in February 2013 with the Chicago Children's Choir and was the featured concluding event of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's 20th Anniversary Tour of the United States in Chicago at the Harris Theatre.

Winners of the 2008 Master Players International Competition in Venice, Italy and recipients of the 2011 prestigious Young Performers Career Advancement Award, the 2016-17 season will see the trio performing throughout the US and Canada and travels to Germany and South America where they will tour throughout Colombia and Ecuador performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto.

Staunch proponents of music education, the Lincoln Trio has had residencies at the Music Institute of Chicago as well as San Francisco State University, University of Wisconsin Madison, and SUNY Fredonia and is currently Artist-In-Residence at the MERIT School of Music.

Individual member biographies at www.lincolntrio.com/about .

Lincoln Trio appears by special arrangement with Lisa Sapinkopf Artists