Arts at Tenri presents

Tenri Chamber Players

A program to honor Reverend Okui's installation at the Tenrikyo Mission New York Center

Friday, November 7, 2008, 7:30 pm

Albert Lotto, piano
Theodore Arm, violin
Jeanne Mallow Kim, viola
Barbara Mallow, cello
Masataka Odaka, Double Bass

The opening concert for this season at Arts at Tenri will be particularly festive! Reverend Toshihiko Okui has stepped down as Executive Director of Tenri Cultural Institute and has been appointed as the Minister of Tenrikyo Mission New York Center in Flushing, Queens. Rev. Okui who possesses rare qualities which particularly qualify him for leadership roles in both religious life and in the arts is deserving of our warmest congratulations and this concert will celebrate his latest successes.

The choice of the Trout Quintette of Schubert brings into focus the joy of life which Reverend Okui brings to both Arts at Tenri and to Tenrikyo. The performers have all known one-another and worked together for their entire lives and take particular joy in acknowledging Rev. Okui, and the achievements and bright future of Arts at Tenri.

Program

Beethoven opus 121a: Trio Number 11 in G Minor-Major

Beethoven published the Adagio and ten variations on "I am the Tailor Kakadu" in 1823, although he may have written it as early as 1816. He had already composed his trio masterpiece The Archduke op 97 in 1811, so the Kakadu Variations is very much a mature work, but chiefly light-hearted and exuberant, in a way that massively outshines its source material. Beethoven's choice of theme is that of a once popular aria from The Sisters from Prague by Wenzel Müller (1767–1835), whose main claims to fame are that he composed over a hundred operas, and that he produced one of them on the subject of The Magic Flute, even while Schikaneder was completing his own libretto for Mozart's opera. Perhaps we should not be surprised that the tunes of "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu" and Papageno's "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" from The Magic Flute have striking resemblances.

DVORAK. Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90, "Dumky"

Dvorak's Piano Trio, Op. 90 is a favorite in the piano trio literature. Composed from November 1890 until February 1891, it offers a succession of sharply contrasted moods, sustained by undisguised folk music. The nickname derives from the Ukrainian dumka (plural: dumky), a melancholy lament in ABA (slow-fast-slow) form. Structurally intriguing, Dvorak's Op. 90 was a musical experiment.

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major Op.114 D. 667 "Trout" (1819)

Schubert would have had a lot in common with Jazz musicians. Why even one of his nicknames "Schwammel" could be translated as "Chubby" or maybe at a stretch, "Fats". Conversely, can you imagine Stravinsky, Schoenberg, or Boulez playing their works at parties, hot dog or otherwise? His was a Bohemian lifestyle; he was a party boy, and could improvise dance tunes for hours, yet he didn't even own a piano. He was a prolific composer of songs, and song remained at the core of all his works.

The Place
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street, New York, NY
(212) 645-2800

Tickets
$25 general / $20 students