Bargemusic Classical Concerts in New York

Piano Trios by Shostakovich, Haydn, and Brahms with Mark Peskanov, violin; Julian Schwarz, cello; Marika Bournaki, piano

Piano Trios by Shostakovich, Haydn, and Brahms with Mark Peskanov, violin; Julian Schwarz, cello; Marika Bournaki, piano

“Poetics of Music” Two “melodramas” for reciter and piano Richard Strauss “The Castle By the Sea”, Franz Liszt “Lenore” Charles Ives from Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860” * Before each movement David Rockefeller will read from Ives’s remarkable essays about the Concord writers* Movement 3: “The Alcotts” Mvt. 4 “Thoreau” with David Rockefeller, reciter; Kathryn Knight, voice; Joel Sachs, piano

Music and Words David Rockefeller, Jr., narrator Kathryn Knight, mezzo-soprano Joel Sachs, piano Richard Strauss (1864-1969) Melodrama: Das Schloss am Meere (The Castle by the Sea) (1899) Text: After a poem by Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862); new English rendering by Joel Sachs Franz Liszt (1811-1886 ) Lenore (158, rev. 1860) Ballade (1733), by Gottfried August Bürger (1747-1794) with melodramatic accompaniment by Franz Liszt. Translator unknown. Charles Ives (1974-1952) Autumn (1908); Text: Harmony T. Ives The Housatonic at Stockbridge (Text: Robert Underwood Johnson), 1921, after the orchestra piece of the same name) The New River (1921, after an instrumental piece, 1912); Text by Ives Tom Sails Away (1917 ); Text by Ives Nov. 2, 1920 (1921): Text by Ives Charles Ives: Two movements from Piano sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860” Revised edition ca. 1940-47 Preceded by excerpts from Ives’s “Essays before a Sonata” read by David Rockefeller Jr. III The Alcotts (1915) IV Thoreau (1915) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Today’s program, highlighting the interaction between music and the written word, originated in the desire of David and me, college friends, to work together, and gradually expanded to include our English friend Kathryn. Having David read from Ives’s own brilliant essays about his sonata honoring the literary stars of Concord, Massachusetts, seemed like an improvement on the traditional program note, and having him read the texts of a group of Ives’s songs seemed appropriate to Ives’s careful fusions of words and music. It remains to say a word about the centuries-old tradition of “melodrama,” a genre fusing the spoken word with music. The most enduring example is Schoenberg’s masterpiece for actress and ensemble, Pierrot Lunaire, but the idea of fusing spoken poetry with musical accompaniment had originated in the 18 th- century German-speaking world and probably stemmed from operatic recitative. (Actually, reciting the Greek dramas with musical accompaniment goes back at least 3000 years.) The idea of melodrama is unfortunately obscured by the related adjective “melodramatic,” with connotations of cheesy sentimentality. Since Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss were among the finest composers of the late period of melodrama, we chose one by each. They were not peripheral compositions: Strauss built his early reputation on extensive touring that featured his first melodrama, “Enoch Arden,” a huge piece whose text

Four Hands Piano Recital Selections from music of Brahms, Dvořak, Schubert, and more with Jonathan Feldman and Rita Sloan, piano Rita Sloan is acknowledged internationally as a leading teacher of piano, collaborative piano and chamber music. Ms. Sloan retired this past July from being a piano faculty member and director of the collaborative piano program at the University of Maryland, positions she has held since 1999. As an Artist Faculty Member at the Aspen Music Festival, Rita Sloan founded their Collaborative Artist Program from which she retired in 2022. She has performed as soloist with both the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony as well as in chamber music with many of Aspen’s distinguished guest artists. Teaching residencies and master class presentations have included Tainan National University of the Arts and National Normal University in Taiwan, China Conservatory in Beijing, China, leading universities in Seoul, Korea, London’s Royal College of Music, American universities and conservatories including the Juilliard School in New York. RIta Sloan has performed with orchestra, in recital, and in chamber music throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. She has been a guest in many chamber music venues and has performed with members of the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. Born in Russia to Polish parents, Ms. Sloan graduated from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Martin Canin and Rosina Lhévinne. Further studies were with Leon Fleisher, Aube Tzerko, Herbert Stessin and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Recognized by colleagues and critics worldwide as a leading chamber musician and collaborative pianist, Jonathan Feldman has performed with some of the world’s most legendary musicians, including violinists Nathan Milstein, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Kyung Wha Chung, Joshua Bell, Yehudi Menuhin, Augustin Hadelich, cellists Pierre Fournier, Zara Nelsova, Harvey Shapiro, and flutists James Galway and Emanuel Pahud.A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Feldman joined its faculty in 1989 and became chairman of the school’s collaborative piano department from 1991 until 2015. He was invited to join the collaborative piano faculty of New England Conservatory in 2010 and completed his tenure there in 2024. He was asked to help out, and is currently teaching, at the USC Thornton School in Los Angeles for the 2024-25 year. He has given master classes throughout the United States and the Far East and has lectured at international fes

Violin and Piano Recital Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor, K. 304 Allegro Tempo di menuetto Beethoven Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Op. 12 No. 1 Allegro con brio Tema con variazioni . Andante con moto Rondo . Allegro Franck Sonata in A Major Allegretto ben moderato Allegro Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato Allegretto poco mosso with Mark Peskanov, violin, and Jonathan Feldman, piano American virtuoso violinist and artistic visionary Mark Peskanov was born in Odesa. Peskanov sang before he could walk or talk, and soon became a star violin student at the famed Stolyarsky school. At fifteen, he emigrated to the United States, where he was immediately accepted at the Aspen Music Festival and the Juilliard School. His phenomenal facility and musicianship won him both the Aspen and Juilliard concerto competitions, bringing him to the notice of Isaac Stern and Mstislav Rostropovich and rocketing him into the top echelons of the music world. Upon his debut with the Chicago Symphony, the Chicago Tribune called him a “sensational soloist.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaimed, “Violinist Adds Glory to Odessa” and the New York Times declared, “Mark Peskanov is a tremendous young violinist and his Friday evening concert at Carnegie Hall was a triumph…He has it all—technique, temperament, and taste.” Peskanov is a staunch champion of American composers. He premiered the John Williams Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony, and the Stanley Wolfe Concerto (written for Peskanov) with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed more than fifty concertos with virtually every major U.S. orchestra and in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, South America and Japan. Peskanov’s major accolades include the Avery Fischer Career Grant, the first Frederick R. Mann Award, and Carnegie Hall’s first Isaac Stern Award. Peskanov inaugurated Tokyo’s Suntory Hall with Yo-Yo Ma and Stern, and Weill Recital Hall with Stern, Midori and Gil Shaham. Collaborating with these colleagues prompted Peskanov to turn intensively to the chamber music repertoire’s more intimate, complex, and dialogical possibilities. His delight in chamber music, his independent artistic vision, and his desire to mentor promising musicians as he had been mentored, led to Peskanov’s present role. Since 2005, he is president and artistic/executive director of Bargemusic, New York City’s cultural icon in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Over more than three decades of artistic involvement with Bargemusic, Peskanov has curated

RESILIENCE Lost and Reclaimed Voices from the Holocaust Desirée Ruhstrat, violin Melissa Reardon, viola Wendy Sutter, cello Program: Erwin Schulhoff Duo for Violin and Cello Gideon Klein String Trio Hans Gál Trio Hans Krása Tanz Resilience is an intimate and deeply moving concert project in which three acclaimed artists of international stature come together to restore music silenced by the Holocaust to the living repertoire. Violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, violist Melissa Reardon, and cellist Wendy Sutter—each a leader in the classical music world—unite in a program devoted to extraordinary chamber works by composers whose lives and careers were shaped, interrupted, or extinguished by Nazi persecution. Through solo, duo, and string trio repertoire, Resilience offers both remembrance and renewal, allowing voices nearly erased by history to speak again with urgency and clarity. The program features music by composers such as Erwin Schulhoff, Gideon Klein, Schul, Hermann, and Hans Gál , including Gál’s String Trio in F-sharp minor, Op. 104 and Serenade, Op. 41. Alongside these recognized works, Resilience incorporates chamber pieces that have only recently resurfaced—some drawn directly from archival sources and private holdings, and in certain cases not performed publicly for decades, if not since the period immediately following the Second World War. These works are presented not as historical artifacts, but as living music—expressive, daring, and profoundly human. The program’s flexible structure alternates between solo, duo, and trio performances, creating contrast, intimacy, and narrative flow while highlighting the individuality of each composer’s voice. Designed for chamber-scale halls and series, the concert can be adapted in length and format to suit a wide range of venues. Violinist Desirée Ruhstrat brings to this project a long-standing commitment to rediscovering suppressed repertoire. As founder of the Black Oak Ensemble, her work on the acclaimed album Silenced Voices—recognized by the Chicago Tribune, Fanfare, and WQXR—has been instrumental in returning forgotten composers to the concert stage. Her scholarship and musical insight form a central pillar of Resilience. She is joined by Grammy-nominated violist Melissa Reardon , a member of the Borromeo String Quartet and Artistic Director of the Portland Chamber Music Festival. Praised for her “elegant” and “virtuosic” performances, Reardon brings a wide-ranging artistic voice shaped by international

Complete Piano Sonatas of Beethoven, Part 6 “Riding the Wave of Power and Fame” Sonata in F major, Op. 54 Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”) Sonata in F# major, Op. 78 Sonata in G major, Op. 79 Sonata in Eb major, Op. 81a (“Lebewohl”) with Jeffrey Swann, piano