Upcoming Concert

Larsen-Choi Duo

Works by Fauré, Alice Parker, and Brahms

Sunday, March 17th, 2024, at 5:00 pm

St. John’s Park Slope

Cellist and artistic director Benjamin Larsen, and pianist Hyungjin Choi form a dynamic husband-wife duo in their yearly appearance in Concerts on the Slope! Come hear sonatas by romantic favorites, Fauré and Brahms, as well as a seldom-performed cello sonata by famed 20th century choral composer and arranger, Alice Parker!

Buy tickets HERE


Program and Notes

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Cello Sonata no 2 in g minor, op. 117

      I. Allegro
      II. Andante
      III. Finale - Allegro vivo

Alice Parker (1925-2023)

Cello Sonata

      I. Fast, firm
      II. Slow, singing
      III. Cheerfully dancing

*intermission*

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Cello Sonata no 2 in F Major, op. 99

      I. Allegro vivace
      II. Adagio affettuoso
      III. Allegro passionato
      IV. Allegro molto

Program Notes:

This program features three different works that I love to present: a masterpiece of the repertoire, a fine, but underperformed, work of the repertoire, and a contemporary work with a personal connection. I hope you take the time to read to the end, as this will be interesting, and hopefully, entertaining as well.

The first work on the program is the second cello sonata by Gabriel Fauré. While Fauré is himself a well known composer, his cello sonatas never got the most attention. His works in the cello piano repertoire that traditionally get the most attention are his Sicilienne, Elegy, and a transcription of ‘Après un rêve’, but his second cello sonata in particular is a deeply romantic work, full of rich and complex harmonies in the piano part.

When I was recently graduated from Manhattan School of Music, but still often around the school, I happened to pass the library on one of the days they were giving away old and seldom-used scores. Once I found some cello music, I looked through it and found some pieces that were not incomplete, and one of them was a manila folder, on which was written, ‘Sonata for Molly, Alice Parker, 1982’. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know who Alice Parker was at the time, but it had a complete cello and piano part, so I took it home, and it sat on a bookshelf collecting dust for a couple years. When I eventually went through organizing my music, I took a closer look at it; both parts were photocopies of a handwritten manuscript, with notes, sometimes lines, scribbled out or changed. I then Googled the sonata, and found the most unexpected result: no such piece existed, even in her catalog on her website. I found her email, and contacted her; she was 89 at the time, and responded quite promptly, saying she was ‘amused to find that a copy was at MSM - - how on earth did they get it?’

Fast forward to today, and it is still unpublished, though I have performed it several times to date. Alice was renowned for her choral works and arrangements, and for her collaborations with Robert Shaw. The work was written for her daughter, who commissioned it and performed it at Oberlin before she decided to pursue cello in favor of singing. As it was relayed to me, her daughter said something to the effect of ‘Why have a mother who’s a composer if she doesn’t write for me?’

Finally, the Brahms Cello Sonata in F Major is a masterpiece of the repertoire, loved by performers and audiences for decades. I believe the piece speaks for itself, but I wanted to leave you with a translation of an early review of the work, courtesy of Hugo Wolf, as found in Nicolas Slonimsky’s Lexicon of Musical Invective:

‘To write down, to print, to have performed anything like the new Cello Sonata by Herr Dr. Johannes Brahms and not to be infected by this madness is no longer a trifle—and upon my heart, I am beginning to acquire respect for myself. . . What is then nowadays music, harmony, melody, rhythm, meaning, form, when this rigmarole seriously pretends to be regarded as music? If Herr Dr. Johannes Brahms intends to mystify his admirers with this newest work, if he wants to make fun of their brainless veneration, then it is of course something else, and we marvel at Herr Brahms as the greatest bluffer of this century and of all future millennia.’

Hugo Wolf, Salonblatt, Vienna, December 5, 1886