Donor Acknowledgement

This event is made possible by the David and Irmgard Dobrow Fund. Classical music was a passion of the Dobrows, who established a generous endowment at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music to make programs like this possible. We are proud to celebrate this program as part of the 2024 – 25 Dobrow Series.

Program Notes

Peter Golub – 2 out of 3 for 2 in 3

Kaitlin and Emily Webster-Zuber (Musical Traces), piano duo

To translate the title:  here are 2 out of 3 pieces (the third is on the way) for 2 pianists;  in 3, meaning they all explore different kinds of threes (metrically).  The first is a Barcarolle, rolling along and luxuriating in the sound of the 2 pianos.  Halfway through there appears a familiar theme from a famous Barcarolle that wafts in and out.  The second piece is a collection of waltzes, with much appreciated help from Shostakovich.  The third will be a barbaric, relentless and possibly nauseating 6/8.

I’m grateful for Kaitlin and Emily for their musicianship and pianism and look forward to the upcoming record. (PG)

Kay Rhie – Minyo

Regina Brady, oboe

Alyssa Park, violin

Jonah Sirota, viola

Charlie Tyler, cello

Minyo (= “folk songs” in Korean) Fragments weaves distant and close memories of the centuries-old folk tunes from Korea. The tunes initially appear in small broken pieces only to be fully realized in their recognizable shapes later in the piece. Even then, the folk tunes often meet formidable clashes with the familiar harmony and rhythm of the western classical traditions. The piece, in its layered structure, depicts as much about displacement as reconciliation of memories from different lands.

Richard Danielpour – Seven Mysteries

Daniel Horn, piano

I. Annunciation

(“Behold, a young woman shall conceive shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name

Emanuel  —  God with us.”  —  Isaiah 7:14)

II. The King’s Wrath

(“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD.”  —  Psalm 2:2)

III. The Star and the Astronomers

(“Arise, shine, for thy light has come.  And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you”  —  Isaiah 60:1)

IV. Bethlehem

(“And you, o Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah;  from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.”  —  Micah 5:2)

V. Shepherds and Angels

(“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among all people of good will.”  —  Luke 2:14)

VI. The Slaughter of the Innocents

(“A voice is heard in Ramala, lamentation and bitter weeping,  Rachel is crying for her children, she refuses to be comforted.”  —  Jeremiah 31:15)

VII.      Mother and Child

(“But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”  —  Luke 2:51)

Richard Danielpour’s Seven Mysteries for solo piano emerged from the same well of inspiration that informed his 2017 oratorio, The Passion of Yeshua, a re-imagined Passion narrative in Hebrew and English that recounts the Crucifixion through the composer’s Persian Jewish sensibility, with texts in both Hebrew and English.  A sense that he was not yet done with this project led Danielpour to propose to pianist and long-time friend Daniel Paul Horn a cycle of piano pieces about Yeshua’s nativity, considered from a similar perspective, as a companion to his 2008 Piano Fantasy (“Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden”), itself an homage to Bach.  The resulting work, dedicated to Horn, and made possible by a gift to Wheaton College from his close friends David and Rebekah Hazelton, was premiered at the College in October 2020 to celebrate the opening of the Armerding Concert Hall, and has recently been published.

Seven Mysteries is like a seven-paneled Medieval altarpiece, allowing the listener to ponder the central mystery of Incarnation.  While the Fantasy and the Passion are about Yeshua, his mother is at the heart of Seven Mysteries.  It begins and ends with her, starting with the angelic announcement that she would conceive the Son of the Most High, and ending in rapt contemplation of the child in her arms.  The central three movements, rather like the Petrarchan sonnets in Liszt’s Deuxième Année de Pelèrinage in their initial quietness and intense climaxes, focus on specific moments in the story:  the Magi drawn from Persia by a celestial phenomenon, the journey to the birth at Bethlehem, and the mystic music of angels and shepherds.  On either side are two movements depicting the cruel violence of dark earthly powers, who cannot overcome the Light.  For all its otherworldliness, Seven Mysteries tells a very human story.  As we consider our present darkness, there is something profoundly relevant about God breaking into history, the futile nature of human might, and communion in the midst of pain between mother and child, God and humanity.  Beyond this narrative is the End of the story, when all tears will be wiped away.

PROGRAM NOTE BY DANIEL PAUL HORN

Ian Krouse – Two Japanese Songs

Debussy Trio

Two Japanese Songs

Two Japanese Songs was commissioned by the Debussy Trio – for whom the composer has written often – and completed in 2001. It was subsequently revised, the 3^rd time as recently as 2025. As with many of Krouse’s works of this period, it was inspired by his wife and children.

I. HORA NERO, NEN NERO

           Sleep, Baby, Sleep

Hora Nero, Nen Nero is a komori uta (charming song) from the town of Aizu Takadamachi in Fukushima Prefecture.

                                    “Hora nero nen nero

hora nero nen nero ya ya.”

Literal translation:

“Sleep, baby, sleep.”

II. HITORI DE SABISHII

         Alone and Sad

This hauntingly beautiful melody comes from the Sendai area in Tohoko district and can be classified as a tedama (ball juggling) and counting song.

“Hitori de sabishii,

futari de mairi ma sho.

Miwatasu kagiri,

yomena ni tanpo.

Imōto no sukina

murasaki sumire.

Nanohana saita

yasashii chōchō.

Kokonotsu komeya

tō made maneku.”

Literal translation:

    “I feel lonely all by myself.

           Shall we two go together?

As far as the eye can see there is grass and dandelion.

            We can also see the violets my younger sister loves.

       The flowers bloom and beautiful butterflies flutter about.

            The rice shop welcomes us.”

From “Folk Songs of Japanese Children”, compiled and annotated by Donald Paul Berger, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan, 1969.

Ian Krouse – Two Sephardic Songs

Debussy Trio:

Marcia Dickstein, harp

Angela Wiegand, flute

David Walther, viola

Leela Subramaniam, soprano

Two Sephardic Songs was commissioned by the Debussy Trio and first performed with soprano Diana Tash in 2014 on the occasion of the Trio’s annual ‘musicale.’ The work exists in two versions, one for soprano and one in a key a whole step lower for mezzo soprano. The lower version was performed many times by the Debussy Trio with mezzo soprano, Suzanna Guzman. The melodies and texts for these songs are ancient and date back to the time (prior to 1492) when Spain hosted a vibrant and flourishing Jewish community speaking a dialect of Spanish called ‘Ladino.’ Both songs are set as dialogues between a mother and daughter, with a cameo appearance in the second by the young lady’s frustrated lover. Although the mother only listens in the second and does not sing, her theme can be heard plainly towards the very end. There are two melodies associated with the first text.  I used both in my version. As in my earlier ‘Cinco Canciones Insolitas’ the transformations I made to these simple pieces are significant enough that they occupy some realm between arrangements and fully original compositions.

Noah Meites – Book of Beasts

Vicki Ray, piano

A kind of encyclopedia of animals, the bestiary was among the most popular illuminated texts in northern Europe during the Middle Ages. Bestiaries presented animals as living allegories whose physical and behavioral characteristics symbolized central aspects of the Christian faith while providing entertainment for medieval readers. The combinations of descriptive text and iconic image found in these bestiaries also provided the basis for the emerging field of natural history in the late Middle Ages.

Each short movement of BOOK OF BEASTS musically depicts a different creature from the bestiary accompanied by its associated text and image.  The images are taken from the “Northumberland Bestiary” (Ms. 100 [2007.16]). Created in England around 1250 by an unknown maker, the expressive naturalism of these images is a testament to the artistic heights achieved by English Gothic illumination. My special thanks to Elizabeth Morrison and Larisa Grollemand of the Getty Museum’s Manuscripts Department for introducing me to this volume and for their generous assistance in developing my initial idea for this project.

-Noah Meites, February, 2024

Shahab Paranj – Diār

Alyssa Park, violin I

Xenia Deviatkinah-Loh, violin II

Jonah Sirota, viola

Charlie Tyler, cello

I.   Dotāri

III. Persian Garden

V.  Choopi

Commissioned by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music 2024.

Diār is a five-movement piece for a string quartet. It embarks on a musical journey through five diverse traditions in Iran: Lorestan, Khorasan, Isfahan and Kashan (center), Bushehr and Kurdistan.

The composition reflects on how these musical traditions, while distinct, connect through the essence of Iranian music in the form. This journey mirrors the unity found in the diversity of Iran, where people from various backgrounds—different religions, languages, and ethnicities—have coexisted organically for thousands of years, unaffected by political forces.

Duration: 10’ 30”