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Telegraph Quartet Recital
Wednesday, February 28 2024, 07:30 PM at

Telegraph Quartet Recital

Chamber Music
Wednesday, February 28 2024, 07:30 PM
telegraph quartet

Program

Stephen Prutsman: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) (Film by Robert Wiene)
Eric Chin, violin I
Joseph Maile, violin II
Pei-Ling Lin, viola
Jeremiah Shaw, cello

- Intermission -

Alban Berg: Lyric Suite
     I. Allegretto gioviale
    II. Andante amoroso
    III. Allegro misterioso – Trio estatico
    IV. Adagio appassionato
    V. Presto delirando – Tenebroso
    VI. Largo desolato
Joseph Maile, violin I
Eric Chin, violin II
Pei-Ling Lin, viola
Jeremiah Shaw, cello

 

About the Telegraph Quartet

Known for their technical prowess and appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet brings a concert program to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music that is both steeped in the history of the 1920s but also grounded in writing from the present day and reflective of two very different styles of music. Though Stephen Prutsman –– known for his film scoring –– is an active musician and composer of today, The Cabinet of Caligari is a silent horror film from the dawn of the 1920s that’s considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema. Conversely, Alban Berg found inspiration for his Lyric Suite in Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, with whom Berg began a love affair in 1925. Despite the affair being clandestine, the Lyric Suite itself served as Berg’s manifestation of the excitement, trepidation, and suffering of the secret relationship, with Berg going so far as to include their initials in musical cryptograms throughout.

Violinist Joseph Maile says of the emotional contrast found in this program and performing Prutsman’s film score:

“We programmed both of these works for their use of the incredibly overwrought and distorted lens of expressionism that was such a hallmark of this era of the early 20th Century.  The stark shadows and harsh lighting cast on the crooked scenery of Robert Wiene’s “Caligari” create one of the first psychological thrillers of film, and Stephen Prutsman’s outstanding score draws on the styles of Bartók and the Second Viennese School (of which Alban Berg was a seminal figure) to underscore the dark expressionism of the film.

Alban Berg’s seminal chamber work and ‘latent opera’ as he called it, was inextricably tied to and pulled out of his deeply personal, secret affair and spiritual relationship with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, which, in his own words, caused his world to be turned upside down and continued via letter until his death 10 years later.  It expresses through the newly created 12-tone language, that same degree of delirium, passion, and mysticism of the ‘Caligari’, but through a purely musical medium.”
 

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Wednesday, February 28 2024, 07:30 PM to Wednesday, February 28 2024, 09:30 PM

About SFCM’s String and Piano Chamber Music Department

The String and Piano Chamber Music degree and diploma programs are a year-round focus on chamber music, providing the same atmosphere of a summer festival. Performance opportunities are wide-ranging through workshops, masterclasses, and concerts for the public—all while playing regularly with acclaimed industry professionals and faculty. SFCM created the nation’s first graduate String and Piano Chamber Music program and the musical excellence continues to this day.

The String and Piano Chamber Music program is one of SFCM’s most selective. Intentionally small, the program allows for several talented individuals each year, meaning that students in the program enjoy unrivaled access to learn from and perform with top faculty and accomplished guest artists.

Chamber Music Students will experience high profile performance opportunities through SFCM’s unique Chamber Music Residency Series, giving members of the program the opportunity to intensely and perform closely with exciting and world renowned chamber musicians. Recent artists-in-residence include Marcy Rosen, Tessa Lark, Donald and Vivian Weilerstein, and the Miro Quartet.

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