Welcome to Music for Life, enhancing the Armstrong concert experience. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. In today's episode, we will explore the internationally acclaimed Zuckerman Trio and the magnificent program they are bringing to Armstrong Auditorium on Thursday, April 29th. The Zuckerman Trio is comprised of violinist Pinka Zuckerman, his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth, and for this Armstrong concert, pianist George Lee. This concert finishes the abbreviated 2021-22 season that we've had here at Armstrong, and their program will consist of two major works, the Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor and the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor. So stick around as we explore these renowned musicians and outstanding compositions today on Music for Life.
Regular listeners of Music for Life hear Pinka Zuckerman every time they tune in. The recording I play as the theme music for this program is the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart, and it features violinist Itzhak Promann and violist Pinka Zuckerman. Zuckerman has made quite a name for himself, both as a violist and violinist, and he's the namesake for the Zuckerman trio, for which he is the violinist. His wife, Amanda Forsyth, is the cellist. Usually their pianist is the wonderful Angela Chang. But given the current pandemic environment, she won't be able to make the concert at Armstrong, and in her place at the piano bench will be George Lee.
The Chicago Tribune says this trio plays with an uncommon passion. Its namesake, again, Pinka Zuckerman, reigns as one of today's most sought-after and versatile musicians, violin and viola soloist, as I mentioned a moment ago, conductor and chamber musician. He's renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums, for which he has gained two Grammy Awards and 21 nominations. Born in Tel Aviv, Zuckerman came to America in 1962, where he studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian. Today, he is a devoted...
an innovative teacher who chairs the Pinka Zuckerman performance program at the Manhattan School of Music. He has been an inspiration to young musicians throughout his adult life. In a continuing effort to motivate future generations of musicians through education and outreach, the renowned artist teamed up in 2002 with four protégés to form a string quintet called the Zuckerman Chamber Players. Despite limited availability during the season, the ensemble amassed an impressive international touring schedule with close to 200 concerts and four discs on the CBC, Altara, and Sony labels. Beginning in 2011, Zuckerman, along with cellist Amanda Forsyth and pianist Angela Chang, began offering trio repertoire as an alternative to the quintet world.
Thank you. chamber musician appearing with leading orchestras in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Again, she is the cellist for the Zuckerman Trio and also Pinkhouse Zuckerman's wife. And again, for this concert, the couple will team up with pianist George Lee, who has been praised by the Washington Post for combining, quote, staggering technical prowess, a sense of command, and depth of expression, unquote. Since winning the silver medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Lee has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world's leading orchestras and conductors. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Marinsky Orchestra, including various venues throughout Russia and Europe.
Prises include being the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the first prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In summer 2018, Lee graduated from the Harvard University slash New England Conservatory Joint Program. He gave his first public performance, though, at Boston Steinway Hall at the age of 10, and in 2011 performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel. So that's a little about the Zuckerman Trio and the three specific artistic masters performing here at Armstrong on Thursday, April 29th. For the first half of their program, they're going to be playing the Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, op. 67, by Dmitry Shostakovich. This is turning into one of my favorite piano trios, which I'll try to sell you on here today. I might remind newer listeners that a piano trio is generally the term used for a trio which includes a piano, not three pianos. Usually it means violin, cello, and piano, which is the combination we'll hear in these piano trios today. Shostakovich lived from 1906 to 1975. He wrote his second piano trio in 1944, toward the end of World War II. It was premiered in November of that year. Shostakovich dedicated the trio to his close friend, Ivan Solartinsky, who had died that previous February.
at the mere age of 41. The trio is, as typical, in four movements, the first movement begins in a completely captivating way. It starts with the two-stringed instruments playing in harmonics. This is an effect created by the instrument by not putting the finger completely down on the string, rather just touching it, to where a higher overtone of the note is heard, as opposed to the usual, what we call fundamental. These higher frequencies have a glassy effect, or sometimes it can sound like a whistle. In Shostakovich's piano trio, this continues for more than the first two minutes of the movement. Eventually, a quicker tempo is established, what we would expect from a first movement of a chamber work like this, and I'd like to play this first movement...
in its entirety. We'll be hearing a recording from the Eroica Trio. That was the first movement of the Piano Trio in E minor by Dmitry Shostakovich. We are hearing a recording by the Eroica Trio as we explore this work today, a work that will be performed by the Zuckerman Trio on April 29th at Armstrong Auditorium. As I mentioned before we heard that movement, Shostakovich wrote this work during World War II and dedicated it to a highly educated and well-rounded scholar and musician who had died a few months earlier. His name was Ivan Solartinsky. That same year, a Russo-Jewish ethnomusicologist published a thesis on Jewish folk music, which Shostakovich examined and let influence his music.
especially influencing this trio since the man to whom it was dedicated was also Jewish. We hear this very prominently in the fourth and final movement of the work. With this influence, with the death of Solartinsky, with the rumors of the Holocaust spreading to the Soviet Union, Shostakovich used this Jewish-style melody for the final movement of the trio. Shostakovich uses this melody again in his string quartet No. 8. That shows how much he liked that melody and put it in another piece. But there's another Jewish-like theme in here that reminds me a lot of the opening of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof.
Here's the song Tradition that opens the show. And here's a moment of the Shostakovich piano trio in the fourth movement that sounds almost like that. So for now, let's go ahead and skip movements two and three and hear this exhilarating fourth and final movement of the Shostakovich piano trio number two in E minor, opus 67. Again, we're hearing a recording by the Eroica trio.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we are exploring the acclaimed Zuckerman Trio and the magnificent program they are bringing to Armstrong Auditorium on Thursday, April 29th. The Zuckerman Trio finishes the abbreviated 21-22 season that we've had here at Armstrong, and their program will consist of two major works, one for each half. In the first half, the Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor by Dmitri Shostakovich. We just heard the thrilling fourth and final movement of that trio. For today's episode, we've been listening to an outstanding recording made by the Eroica Trio. The second half of the Zuckerman Trio's program will consist of the Piano Trio...
Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, by Peter Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky lived in the heart of the 19th century, from 1840 to 1893, and this work really embodies the musical traditions of this century, what's known as the Romantic Era. You might recall from a previous episode that Tchaikovsky had a strange patron, a Nadezhda von Meck, who funded his ability to compose full-time as long as they never met face-to-face. They exchanged letters and had a deep friendship for many years, however. In 1880, Tchaikovsky told her, You ask why I have never written a trio? I simply cannot endure the domination of piano with violin or cello.
To my mind, the timbre of these instruments will not blend. It is torture for me to have to listen to a string trio or a sonata of any kind for piano and strings. To my mind, the piano can be effective only in three situations, alone, in context with the orchestra, or as accompaniment. Then strangely, a year later in Rome, Tchaikovsky completed over 40 minutes of music for his one and only piano trio. He told von Meck that though he still disliked the combination, he wanted to diversify his skills and embrace the challenge. He dedicated this work to Nikolai Rubinstein, an early mentor, supporter, and close friend of his who had recently died.
On the day it premiered, Tchaikovsky told Von Meck, And that's a quote from Tchaikovsky. Well, it's a wonderful work, and we'll hear a little of it here today. Diverging from the typical four-movement format for chamber music, Tchaikovsky writes this work in two large movements. The first movement is marked with the tempo, a piece in the style of an elegy. Here's the opening to this movement in a recording by pianist Yevgeny Kissen, violinist Joshua Bell, and cellist Misha Maisky. So that was a little of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's piano trio in A minor in a recording by Yevgeny Kissen piano, Joshua Bell violin, and Misha Maisky cello. Again, this trio is not in the traditional four-movement format, though it still takes up the same length as a typical chamber work with two epic movements to fill the time. The second movement...
is in what's called theme and variations form, meaning the composer has the instruments play a theme simply, so the ear becomes acquainted with that melody, and then over the course of the movement, the composer varies the tune in a number of ways. I'll play you the opening of the movement, the statement of the theme, and then the first variation, so you can hear what a variation of that theme would sound like, and then after that, for the sake of time, I'll cut right to the exuberant final variation and coda, or the tail end of the piece. You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we have been exploring the acclaimed Zuckerman Trio and the magnificent program they are bringing to Armstrong Auditorium on Thursday, April 29th. The Zuckerman Trio finishes the abbreviated 2021-22 season that we've had here at Armstrong, and their program will consist of two major works, one for each half. The Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor for the first half, and the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor in the second half. We just heard the final moments of that two-movement Tchaikovsky Trio, the second movement being in theme and variations form, and that was the exciting final variation.
For today's episode, we heard pianist Yevgeny Kissen, violinist Joshua Bell, and cellist Misha Maisky. More information about this event and all Armstrong Auditorium events can be found at armstrongauditorium.org. Special thanks to Seth Malone for helping produce today's episode. And to finish today's episode, I want to go back to that wonderful Shostakovich piano trio and listen to the short, sprightly second movement, which we'd skipped. I think it's the perfect length and energy with which to finish today's program. Again, this is a recording of the Eroica Trio here on KPCG. I hope you enjoy, and I hope to see you soon at Armstrong.
You have been listening to Music for Life, a production of KPCG 101.3 on the FM dial in Edmond, Oklahoma. From the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, I'm Ryan Malone. Thanks for joining me.