Philomusica Quartet Tackles Rare Fare

Philomusica String Quartet. Photo from Facebook.

Music by two pupils of César Franck and a rarely played string quartet by a composer better known for choral and symphonic works are on the Philomusica Quartet’s Winter Masters program. The quartet and two guest artists will perform Monday evening, Feb. 12. Members of the quartet, in residence at Wisconsin Lutheran College, are violinists Jeanyi Kim and Alexander Mandl, violist Nathan Hackett and cellist Adrien Zitoun.

Pianist Melinda Lee Masur and newly appointed Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Jinwoo Lee join the quartet for the major work of the evening: Concerto in D major for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Op. 21, by Ernest Chausson (1855-1899). The Philomusica has long wanted to perform the piece, and, Mandl said, Masur and Lee are “a wonderful match” for the demands of the solo parts.

A composition student of both Franck and Jules Massenet at the Paris Conservatory, Chausson wrote the only known work for violin and piano soloists playing with a string quartet. Mandl describes the four-movement composition as a “whirlwind of harmony,” showcasing many characters and tonal colors. He compares the myriad combinations in which the six instrumentalists play to a continuing game of musical chairs. Music critic David Hurwitz calls the concerto “a unique musical creation that remains one of the chamber-music repertoire’s best kept secrets.”

The first half of the program features two other gems that may be new to the audience: one of the two string quartets written by Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), and a short piece by Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894). Because the manuscripts provide little guidance regarding phrasing and dynamics, both works have challenged the quartet to establish its own interpretation. Mandl describes that process as both tedious and exciting for the players.

A renowned organist and primarily a liturgical and symphonic composer, Bruckner wrote the String Quartet in C minor, WAB111 in 1862, during a brief period of study with German conductor and cellist Otto Kitzler. Unpublished during Bruckner’s life, the manuscript was unearthed in 1950 and first performed publicly in 1951. Though Bruckner was “testing the waters of chamber music composition” with this early work, Mandl says, the listener can detect the seeds that grew into the symphonies and choral works for which Bruckner became known.

Lekeu’s Molto adagio, sempre cantante doloroso for String Quartet interprets the deep pain and sorrow of Christ’s words, “My soul is sad unto death,” recounted in the Passion story in the New Testament books of Matthew and Mark. Lekeu, who once wrote to a correspondent that “Joy is a thousand times harder to paint than suffering,” was a Belgian-born composer of great talent whose works were significantly influenced by his time of study with Franck. Lekeu’s life was cut short by a bout of typhoid fever; he died the day after he turned 24.

The Philomusica Quartet with Jinwoo Lee and Melinda Masur will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, at Schwan Concert Hall at Wisconsin Lutheran College, 8815 W. Wisconsin Ave. Tickets are available online and by calling the box office at 414-443-8802.