Program Notes: John Adams to César Franck

John Adams (1947) is among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music. In spite of his incredible reputation and talent, Adams has expressed hesitation in navigating chamber music, specifically the string quartet. Adams believes “string quartet writing is one of the most difficult challenges [for] a composer… unless one is an accomplished string player and writes in that medium all the time — and I don’t know many these days who do — the demands of handling this extremely volatile and transparent instrumental medium can easily be humbling, if not downright humiliating.” Fortunately, Adams overcame this trepidation to produce his First Quartet, premiered by the St. Lawerence Quartet in 2009. Since its premiere, the work has gained notoriety and enjoyed performances by some of the world’s greatest quartets. The Attacca Quartet, which recorded the complete string quartet works of John Adams on its 2013 album Fellow Traveler, feels strongly that Adams’ First Quartet “should (and will) eventually become an integral part of the standard string quartet literature.”  

Adams’ music is usually categorized as minimalist or post-minimalist, although Adams has stated in interviews that his music is best described as part of the “post-style” era at the end of the 20th century. While he employs minimalist techniques, such as repeating patterns, he is not a strict follower of the minimalist movement. His First Quartet is a perfect example of Adams’ extraordinary ability to borrow and blend various musical styles and elements to express something truly unique and authentic to his compositional voice.  

The string quartet is written in two movements. The first, which comprises two thirds of the entire work, features familiar minimalist gestures. Against a dense harmonic and rhythmic background, a dialog between upper and lower voices plays out in fervent and frenzied passages. The middle of the movement shifts and wanes to explore more tranquil and lyrical material before building back to the textures presented at the start of the movement. The final moments present fragmented melodic ideas from each member of the quartet that resemble embers floating above a smothered fire before the work is reignited by intense syncopations in the second movement. Its relentless motion builds to a homorhythmic and exhilarating conclusion.  

Angelique Poteat (1986) is a native of the Pacific Northwest. She is an accomplished composer and clarinetist whose works have been performed by established ensembles on four different continents to date. She served as Artist in Residence with the Seattle Symphony during the 2022/2023 season. Her music has been described as “engaging, restless … extremely accomplished and vividly picturesque.” Many of her works are influenced by the natural world around her, often referencing the ocean and the Puget Sound region. The Meditation on Providence, written for cello and piano, is a perfect example of such inspired writing. The work was premiered in 2024 at a live concert and party for the release of Poteat’s Six Seasons, an album of original chamber music for clarinet and strings. Meditation on Providence was composed to commemorate Providence Heights, a religious institution of higher learning for women built on the Sammamish Plateau that was recently demolished and replaced with a football field.  

César Franck (1822–1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist and music teacher known for his remarkable improvisational talent. For a career that spanned impressive appointments and a catalog of almost 100 compositions, Franck’s fame and legacy come from a small number of works written in the later years of his life. Among these is Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major (later adapted into the Cello Sonata in A Major), written in 1886 when he was 63, just four years before he passed away. Franck wrote the sonata for the legendary violinist Eugène Ysaÿe and presented it to him as a wedding gift. The sonata has been described as “an amalgam of [Franck’s] rich naive harmonic language with the Classical traditions he valued highly, held together in a cyclic framework.” Many of Franck’s works employ “cyclic form,” which describes a method of writing that strives to achieve unity across multiple movements by recalling established thematic material throughout the work. The composer Vincent d’Indy described this work as the “first and purest model of cyclical use of themes in sonata form,” referring to it as a “true musical monument.”  

The sonata is written in four movements. The first, in 9/8 meter, provides a gentle rocking theme, played by the soloist after a short introduction from the piano. This initial theme serves as the core of the entire work’s thematic material. Convinced by Ysaÿe to allow the movement to be performed faster than Franck originally intended, it is labelled Allegretto ben moderato. The turbulent second movement is easily perceived as the real opening of the sonata, with the first movement serving as an extended introduction. The third movement, marked Ben moderato: Recitativo-Fantasia, is free in both structure and expression, and reminiscent of the improvisatory skill Franck was known for. The final movement presents the main melody in canonic imitation between the soloist and piano. James Harding described this movement as “a magnificent example of canonic writing, simple, majestic and irresistible in its ample, beautifully wrought proportions.”  

The rendition you will hear this evening, Cello Sonata in A Major, was the only alternative version sanctioned by Franck, though its popularity has generated (and continues to generate) a number of transcriptions and arrangements for various instruments. The arrangement was completed by the French cellist Jules Delsart in 1887. Delsart begged Franck for permission to arrange the piece for cello and piano after hearing it in a concert he himself performed in with a string quartet. Delsart kept his arrangement as close to the original as possible. The few differences that do exist are adapted purely to accommodate the technical playing conditions of the cello. The piano part was left exactly the same. It is speculated, based on historical correspondence, that the work was originally conceptualized for cello and piano before Franck decided to dedicate it to Ysaÿe. Regardless of its lineage, the sonata remains one of Franck’s best known and beloved works. 

Dr. Christopher T. F. Hanson © 2025