TRILLIUM QUARTET

Martha Brownell, violin

Charlyn Wilson, viola

MaryAnn Campbell, cello

Pat Zagelow, piano

The origins of the Trillium Piano Quartet go back to 2011 when Charlyn, MaryAnn, and Pat started playing quintets with two other musician friends. Since then we have been privileged to explore the rich chamber music repertoire that includes piano. The ensemble has morphed back and forth between quartet and quintet over the years. Martha is the newest member of the group, having joined in 2019, after retiring from a 35-year career as violist with the Oregon Symphony.

We take our name from the trilliums that adorn the landscaping of our rehearsal space, which is our pianist’s home. The Trillium has performed for appreciative audiences in Portland and Astoria, including music from Fauré, Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, and Schubert to more recent composers such as Bohuslav Martinu, Florence Price, Peter Schickele, and Kenji Bunch. We enjoy the process of learning each piece and the teamwork that it takes to put together a program, all with the goal of sharing this music with you!

INDIVIDUAL BIOS

Martha Brownell recently retired from a 35-year career as a violist with the Oregon Symphony. Previous to that, she was a member of the Cincinnati Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the Cecília String Quartet, at that time Canada’s only full-time professional female quartet. A native Oregonian, Martha likes being in the woods and on the beach, particularly if she is hiking; and spending time with her extended family.

Charlyn Wilson is member of the Portland Columbia Symphony and also played in the Portland Opera Orchestra for many years. However, she most enjoys playing chamber music. In her other life she is a nurse, recently retired from Legacy Health where she worked both in pediatrics and the cancer program.  Charlyn shares her home life with husband Jeffrey and their cat; she enjoys cooking, travel, beadwork, long walks, and backyard birds.

MaryAnn Campbell recently retired as director of the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA) Classical Orchestra and Classical Alive!, a chamber music group at ACMA.  Prior to returning to the Portland area MaryAnn was a member of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico and a professor of cello at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico.  Mary Ann enjoys traveling, gardening and reading books, but what she loves doing most is playing chamber music. She lives with two guard cats in Portland, Oregon.

Pat Zagelow has been Executive Director of Friends of Chamber Music since 1991. She was also Executive Director of Portland Piano International from 1991 to 2008 and managed Oregon Repertory Singers, The Florestan Trio, and the Contemporary Dance Season at Portland State University at various times in her career. When not presenting chamber music concerts or playing chamber music herself, Pat loves spending time with her husband, John, and doting on their two granddaughters.

PROGRAM

robert schumann (1810 –1856)

Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47

Sostenuto assai — Allegro ma non troppo

Scherzo: Molto vivace — Trio I —Trio II

Andante cantabile

Finale: Vivace

Danny elfman (b. 1953)

Piano Quartet

Ein Ding (A Thing)

Kinderspott (Children’s Mockery)

Duet fur Vier (Duet for Four)

Ruhig (Quiet)

Die Wolfsjungen (The Wolf Cubs)

PROGRAM NOTES

Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major Op. 47

Robert Schumann, 1810—1856

Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany. As a young man, Schumann entered Leipzig University with majors in law and music including piano lessons with Friedrich Wieck. It was at Wieck’s home that Schumann met his future wife, Clara Wieck. Shortly thereafter, Schumann left his study of the law to concentrate on music and piano performance. He hoped to become a virtuoso pianist as Clara Wieck already was. Due to over-practicing, numbness occurred in one of his hands and he had to stop playing the piano. Schumann turned to composing and music criticism.

Schumann and Clara Wieck were married in 1840. The beginning of the marriage started several years of a large output of musical compositions. It was also the first indication of Schumann’s bipolar disorder. Schumann seemed to concentrate each year on a specific musical genre. In 1840 he wrote 140 songs (lieder); 1841 many symphonic compositions;1842 was the year of chamber music including the piece we are playing today, Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major Op. 47. By 1854 Schumann had begun to hear voices in his head and tried to committ suicide. He entered a mental asylum in Bonn, Germany and died two years later of pneumonia. Schumann is considered one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.

The music you will hear today is considered one of the most outstanding chamber music works of the 19th century. Like the earlier piano quintet, the piano quartet is also written in the key of E-Flat Major. The quartet has four movements. The normal second slow movement followed by a scherzo (or a minuet/trio) have been reversed. The fourth movement features the unusual use of simultaneous melodies played by the various instruments.The piano quartet was created for Schumann’s patron, Count Mathieu Wielhorsky, an amateur cellist. Many of the beautiful melodies throughout the quartet feature the cello. The piece was first played in Leipzig. Clara Schumann was the pianist. We hope that you love the excitement and beauty of this quartet as we do.

Piano Quartet

Danny Elfman b.1953

Danny Elfman is best known for his film scores, including Beetlejuice, Nightmare before Christmas, Men in Black and Spiderman. In recent years he has also composed for television (including the 2022 TV series Wednesday), stage productions and the concert hall.

His Piano Quartet was suggested by and written for the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet; it was co-commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic and the University of Nebraska, premiering in the US in 2018. His main idea for the work stems from a familiar children’s playground taunt, which can be heard in the second of the five movements. The work playfully cycles through a variety of moods and textures, from the agitated intensity of the first movement (reminiscent of Elfman’s iconic film music), to the delicate Adagio, and culminating in his energetic and impassioned finale.

The first movement explores “Ein Ding” (A Thing), the melody introduced first by the viola. “Kinderspott” (Children’s Mockery) captures the whispering, tension and chases stemming from the apparently universal taunt “Nya, nya nya, nya, nya!”. The energetic 3rd movement is simply titled “Duett fur Vier” (Duet for Four). The calm adagio of the “Ruhig” movement then provides a short respite. Finally, you can just picture the antics of frisky wolf pups playing together in “Die Wolfsjungen.” Enjoy!