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Violinist Marka Young, director of string ensembles at Lafayette, will perform in concert at Carnegie Hall 2 p.m. tomorrow.
In a duet with pianist Ishmael Wallace at Weil Recital Hall, she will play Maurice Ravel’s ‘’Posthumous” Sonata of 1897, Alfred Schnittke’s Sonata #2 ‘’quasi una sonata,” the Vitali Chaconne, Charles Ives’ Sonata #4 ‘’Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting,” and Johannes Brahms’ Sonata #3 in d minor.
The pair presented the same program Sept. 10 at Lafayette’s Williams Center for the Arts.
Says Young, ‘’I was interested in performing repertoire that explored historical context in different ways: Ravel’s adherence to classical form filled with his new tonal colors, Schnittke’s use of musical quotes as a tribute to the past and the west, the neo-über-baroque Vitali Chaconne, perhaps written by a 19th century violin virtuoso, newly written for the tastes of 20-century audiences, Ives’ nostalgic nod to his childhood through popular and sacred song quotes, and finally Brahms’ interest in blurring the lines of traditional compositional forms to make them more musically organic and less a mere vessel for sound.”
Young performs as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the northeastern United States. She has appeared as concerto soloist and chamber musician at the Banff Festival, Blossom Festival, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Maverick Concerts, and at Music Mountain. She performs with the ensembles Artek, Rebel, New York Collegium, and Hudson Valley Philharmonic. She has played on recordings for Albany Records, Newport Classics, and the Trinity Church label. As a member of Rebel, she has appeared on NPR’s ‘’Performance Today” and WQXR’s broadcast of the Trinity Church Messiah this past December. She has appeared twice in recital on Maine Public Radio.
”I consider Marka Young to be a unique talent with an original and intuitive musicality,” says Joyce Robbins, former violin faculty member at State University of New York, Stony Brook. ‘’Her performances hold compelling interest, and she is at home on stage.”
Wallace is a member of Orfeo Duo, whose other member is his sister, violinist Vita Wallace. He has given recitals across the Americas and in Italy, and recorded for Marquis Classics, VAI, Vienna Modern Masters, and Tzadik. Wallace is the composer of four operas, all of which have been performed, as well as chamber and orchestral works.
Ravel (1875-1935) wrote his ‘’posthumous” Sonata in 1897, at the end of his two-year hiatus from the Paris Conservatory. He had quit the conservatory in 1895 because he could not decide between a career as a pianist or as a composer. He returned to the conservatory to study with Gabriel Fauré in 1898. By all accounts, the Sonata was not performed in Ravel’s lifetime. It was discovered in Ravel’s papers in the 1970s and published in 1975.
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) spent much of his career in Russia at odds with the Soviet Composers’ Union, a position shared by his predecessor Dimtry Shostakovitch. He was interested in the work of Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg and incorporated their musical systems into his work. Schnittke’s compositions were considered ‘’modern” and ‘’western” by the powerful Composers’ Union and therefore he had trouble having his works rehearsed and performed in Russia and abroad. Despite this considerable obstacle, he was a prolific composer and was admired for the subversive symbolism that his works contained. His Sonata #2 ‘’quasi una sonata” was written in 1968. It is his first polystylistic work, a dramatic patchwork of tonal and atonal material.
It has been determined that the Vitali Chaconne was not composed by Tomasso Vitali (1663-1745). This popular work was first presented to the public by Ferdinand David, Mendelssohn’s concertmaster in Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, then arranged and recomposed by Leopold Charlier, and finally edited for 20th-century virtuostic tastes by Leopold Auer.
Charles Ives (1874-1954) is and was known as a composer ahead of his time. He was one of the first to enjoy polytonality in his works, and in his Sonata #4 “Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting, ” he uses well-known songs, replicates the sounds of nature, and uses the clash of two musical activities going on at the same time to conjure up a sonic picture of a boyhood moment
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) finished his third and final violin sonata in 1888, and dedicated it to Hans von Bülow, a fellow conductor and great supporter of Brahms’ work. In four taut movements, the sonata is symphonic in texture and musical line. It also shares melodic elements with Brahms’ fourth symphony, written three years before.
For more information on the recital, call Lafayette’s music department at 610-330-5356.