Program for Wooden Fish Ensemble – April 27, 2025

Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 4 pm

download a copy of this program here.

Wooden Fish Ensemble

Sue-mi Shin, violin
Rick Shinozaki, violin
Sarah Lee, viola
Thalia Moore, cello
Thomas Schultz, piano

Program

Ruth Crawford (1901–1953)
String Quartet  (1931)
   III. Andante
   IV. Allegro possibile
       Rick Shinozaki, violin; Sue-mi Shin, violin
Sarah Lee, viola; Thalia Moore, cello

Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Three Albumleaves
   I. (Zürich)
   II. (Roma, 1921)
   III. (Berlin)

Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Elegies (1907, 1909)
   IV. Turandots Frauengemach
       Thomas Schultz, piano

Intermission

Hyo-shin Na (b. 1959)
Autumn Study (2023)
Thomas Schultz, piano

Ruth Crawford
String Quartet  (1931)
   III. Andante
   IV. Allegro possibile

Hyo-shin Na
Song of the Beggars (1998)

Hyo-shin Na
Living on Fire (2024)
World Premiere
Sue-mi Shin, violin; Rick Shinozaki, violin
       Sarah Lee, viola; Thalia Moore, cello

Hyo-shin Na
Joy of Beginning  (2024)
World Premiere
Sue-mi Shin, violin; Rick Shinozaki, violin
      Sarah Lee, viola; Thalia Moore, cello
      Thomas Schultz, piano

Louis Moreau Gottschalk/Schultz (1829–1869)
The Banjo (1853)
Thomas Schultz, piano

About the music

Ruth Crawford String Quartet
Ruth Crawford wrote many of her best-known, most radical pieces between 1928 and 1932. These include the Piano Preludes 6 – 9, her songs to texts by Carl Sandburg, the two striking Ricercare (Sacco, Vanzetti and Chinaman, Laundryman, with texts by H. T. Tsiang) from 1932, and the String Quartet. She wrote no more of her own compositions until 1939 (Rissolty, Rossolty for orchestra) and the Suite for Wind Quintet, 1952. Instead, she was deeply involved in collecting and arranging anthologies of folk songs (American Folk Songs for Children, Animal Folk Songs for Children, American Folk Songs for Christmas, Let’s Build a Railroad) and raising her children, Michael, Barbara, Peggy, and Penny, and those from her husband’s first marriage, Charles, John and Peter (the folk musician Pete Seeger). Yet another challenge she faced was the teaching of 20 to 30 private piano students each week.

Crawford’s String Quartet is probably her most well-known and most frequently played piece. A good example of one of its many innovations: in the third movement, the harmony changes one note at a time and Crawford thought of each new note as the “melody”. She wrote: “As for melodic line … it travels from instrument to instrument; there is only one line.”

It was also necessary for Crawford to deal with the prejudices of her husband (initially her composition teacher), the musicologist Charles Seeger. He believed that “women can’t compose symphonies” and wrote about “the curse of the woman composer, always to follow, never to lead.” Although, it should be mentioned, he was quite open about his critical feelings about many composers – about Varese, he wrote: “very poor composer”, Gershwin: “a flop… a fake”, Ruggles: “very disappointing”. When Seeger began meetings of the New York Musicological Society, he banned his wife from attending the meetings but allowed her to sit outside the door, which would be left open a bit so that she could listen…

Crawford died of cancer in 1953.  (TS)

Ferrucio Busoni Three Albumleaves and Turandots Frauengemach
Although these three pieces were published as a group in 1921, the first Albumleaf was written in 1917 as a solo piano version of the Albumleaf for Flute and Piano. All three are in E minor and possess a predominately subdued character with occasional flashes of light. The second Albumleaf is possibly the most enigmatic. Reading through the third, one finds the notations “dolce, cantabile”, “dolce, non troppo”, “dolcissimo”, and “più sotto voce”.

Busoni wrote his six Elegies in 1907 (he added a seventh in 1909) giving the initial piece the title Nach der Wendung (After the Turning Point). In 1914 he’d written in his diary “In the case of a significant artist the first period is one of seeking oneself, the second is that of discovering oneself, while the third and conclusive period often seems to be a new search for the benefit of later discoverers.” The Elegies seem to have initiated Busoni’s second period, and the fourth Elegy, Turandots Frauengemach, is full of sudden, surprising shifts of tonality, a kaleidoscope of virtuoso passages, and some shockingly new scales in the right hand. This fourth Elegy is a re-working for solo piano of the original orchestral piece. (TS)

Hyo-shin Na Autumn Study (2023) Song of the Beggars (1998) Living on Fire (2024) Joy of Beginning (2024)
Autumn Study for piano solo was inspired by Anna Kamieńska’s poem A Prayer That Will Be Answered; also by the autumnal weather and light when I wrote the piece in the fall of 2023.

A Prayer That Will Be Answered by Anna Kamieńska
Lord let me suffer a lot
and then let me die
Allow me to walk through silence
Let nothing not even fear linger after me
Make the world go on as it always has
let the sea continue to kiss the shore
Let grass still remain green
so a little frog could find

Song of the Beggars is based loosely on the melody of Kahk-seo-ree-ta-ryung, a Korean folk song that has been sung for hundreds of years by traveling beggars, following the open-air markets from one village to the next. The melody is simple, the words light-hearted:

You might have thought that I died
since last you saw me
You’re surprised to see me back so soon
Here I come, poom-bah! Singing better than ever, poom-bah!
Now I’m without my poor parents,
couldn’t I have inherited anything from them besides begging?

It is said that the song is sung well only when one can no longer endure life’s miseries and humiliations. The piece was commissioned by and written for the Kronos Quartet.

Living On Fire for string quartet was inspired by Virginia Adair’s poem with the same title.

Living On Fire by Virginia Adair
Two decades of my youth, I lived on fire,
trapped in a deep delirium of desire.
I was the spirit’s wastrel and fool,
and I have taken fifty years to cool.

This work was composed with the generous support of InterMusic SF and the Elaine and Richard Fohr Foundation.

Joy Of Beginning for string quartet and piano was inspired by a Bertolt Brecht poem.

The Joy Of Beginning by Bertolt Brecht

Oh the joy of beginning! Oh early morning!
The first grass, when we seem to have forgotten
The color green. Oh, the first page of a book,
Long anticipated, utterly surprising! Read it

Slowly, since all too quickly
The un-read portion grows thin! And the first splash
Of water on my sweat-drenched face! A fresh,
Cool shirt! Oh, the beginning of work! Filling oil

Into the cold engine! The first try and the first hum
Of the motor springing into action! And the first drag
Of tobacco that fills the lungs! And oh, you,
You new thought, new idea!

This work was composed in 2024 with the generous support of InterMusic SF and the Elaine and Richard Fohr Foundation.  (HSN)

Louis Moreau Gottschalk/Schultz The Banjo
I’ve played Gottschalk’s The Banjo since the 1980s, always enjoying its unique, highly inventive evocation of the sound of the banjo and its, at times raucous, high spirits. I was always a bit disappointed, though, by what seemed to me to be a rather superficial ending.

While looking, a few years ago, through the piles of music in our library, I found a few loose pages of something I must have sketched out between Stanford piano lessons. It was a sort of continuation and new ending for The Banjo, using my own version of a well-known “political” American folk song (with a nod to Gottschalk!). Since then, I’ve had time to work it into the version that you’ll hear on today’s concert. (TS)

About the musicians

In Korea Hyo-shin Na has twice been awarded the Korean National Composers Prize (for Western instrumental music & for Korean traditional instrumental music), and in the west she has been commissioned by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Argosy Foundation, the W & F Hewlett Foundation, the Elaine and Richard Fohr Foundation, InterMusic SF, the Other Minds Festival, and the Los Angeles International New Music Festival among many others. Her music has been played worldwide by ensembles as varied as the Barton Workshop, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Kronos Quartet, the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, the National Gugak Center Orchestra of Korea, the Del Sol String Quartet, the Ives Quartet, the Earplay Ensemble, New Music Works, the Pacific Chamber Orchestra and the Korean Traditional Orchestra of the National Theatre among many others. Numerous groups and individual musicians, such as New Music Works in the US, the Barton Workshop in Europe, and the Jeong Ga Ak Hoe Ensemble in Asia have presented portrait concerts devoted solely to her music.

Hyo-shin Na has written for western instruments, and for traditional Korean and Japanese instruments and has written music that combines western and Asian instruments and ways of playing. Her music for traditional Korean instruments is recognized by both composers and performers in Korea (particularly by the younger generation) as being uniquely innovative. Her writing for combinations of western and eastern instruments is unusual in its refusal to compromise the integrity of differing sounds and ideas; she prefers to let them interact, coexist and conflict in the music.

She is the author of the bilingual book Conversations with Kayageum Master Byung-ki Hwang (Pulbit Press, 2001). Her music has been recorded on the Fontec (Japan), Top Arts (Korea), Seoul (Korea) and New World Records (US) labels and has been published in Korea and Australia. Since 2006 her music has been published exclusively by Lantro Music (Belgium). She is currently working on a piece for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello commissioned by Earplay.

Sue-mi Shin has been performing in the violin section with the Monterey Symphony for the past nine seasons. Ms. Shin holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Yale School of Music. She is also candidate for DMA at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Her major teachers include Ariana Bronne, Syoko Aki and Donald Portnoy. She has been coached by the members of the American String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet and Verdehr Trio and has performed in master classes for Charles Castleman and David Kim.

The winner of the Henry Janiac Competition, Ms. Shin appeared as soloist with the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic. She has given numerous solo and chamber music concerts in New York, New Haven, and Columbia; plus concerts in Spain, France, and her native Korea. As an active member of chamber and orchestral musicians, Sue-mi is a founder of Yule Piano Trio, currently performs with Opera San Jose, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and Oakland East Bay Symphony.

Rick Shinozaki is principal second violin of Symphony Silicon Valley and concertmaster of the Nova Vista Symphony. Solo appearances include the world premiere of Viennese composer Zdzislaw Wysocki’s Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra under Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony. Rick has collaborated closely with Bay Area composers Mark Fish and Durwynne Hsieh, commissioning, performing and editing their work, most notably premiering Hsieh’s Concerto for Marimba, Violin and Orchestra with the Marin Symphony. With pianist Irene Jacobson, the Shinozaki-Jacobson Duo has delighted audiences with an eclectic repertoire and interpretations cited as “scintillating” and “in perfect harmony,” resulting in the release of their first recording for the Latin American Chamber Music Society. Rick is a protégé of Serban Rusu of Tiburon; he also studied extensively with legendary pedagogue Josef Gingold and Yuval Yaron at Indiana University, from which he holds a Master of Music degree.

Violist Sarah Lee has performed with numerous orchestras, and chamber ensembles, and internationally performed solo works.  Sarah is a member of the Monterey Symphony, the Santa Cruz Symphony, and performs with several other distinguished Californian symphonies. In addition, she performs in diverse Bay Area ensembles such as Opera Parallele, One Found Sound, and the Lucky Devils Band. Sarah was a featured soloist at Oxford Music Festival and has participated in other festivals, including National Repertory Orchestra, Kent Blossom Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. She’s been Principal Viola at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, National Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and the Orchestra Institute of Napa Valley. She has also performed in orchestras with world-renowned classical soloists Joshua Bell, Jaime Laredo, Elmar Oliviera, and Orion Weiss.

Sarah has a Master’s of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where she studied with Jodi Levitz as well as San Francisco Symphony members Yun-Jie Liu and Jonathan Vinocour. She received her Bachelor’s of Music degree from Indiana University under the tutelage of Stephen Wyrczynski. Sarah is a passionate and dedicated educator of over 10 years. She is Suzuki certified and has experience at Crowden Music Center, where she taught group classes as well as individual lessons. She is also excited to be an Applied Music Faculty for violin and viola at West Valley College. She received Suzuki training from Cathryn Lee and attended a Teacher Workshop Retreat with Mimi Zweig at Indiana University.

Thalia Moore joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra as Associate Principal Cello in 1982. A Washington D.C. native, she began her cello studies with Robert Hofmekler, and after only 5 years of study, appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. She attended the Juilliard School of Music as a scholarship student of Lynn Harrell, and received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in 1979 and 1980. While at Juilliard, she was the recipient of the Walter and Elsie Naumberg Scholarship and won First prize in the National Arts and Letters String Competition.

In addition to her position in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Ms. Moore joined the cello section of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in 1989. She has appeared as a soloist at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco and the San Francisco Legion of Honor, among others. She has also performed as a guest artist at the Olympic Music Festival in Seattle, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Music in the Vineyards Chamber Music Festival. In 1991, Ms. Moore appeared in the last episode of the TV series, Midnight Caller, and in 1993, she was featured as a soloist with San Francisco Chamber Symphony under the direction of Roger Norrington. In 1996, she performed one of the first Bay Area performances of the composer’s version of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. In 1998, she was named a Cowles Visiting Artist at Grinnell College (Iowa) and twice won election to the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Thomas Schultz has established an international reputation both as an interpreter of music from the classical tradition—particularly Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt—and as one of the leading exponents of the music of our time. Among his recent engagements are solo recitals in New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, Ghent, Seoul, Taipei and Kyoto, and at the Schoenberg Festival in Vienna, the Piano Spheres series in Los Angeles, Korea’s Tongyoung Festival, the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento and the April in Santa Cruz Festival. From 2004 to 2011 he gave a series of six recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, playing repertoire ranging from major works by Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Chopin to rarely heard music by Schoenberg, Rzewski, Cage and Na. He has also given recitals in New York at Bargemusic and the Goethe Institute. He has appeared as a soloist at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, and in chamber music performances with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Da Camera Society of Houston, Robert Craft’s 20th Century Classics Ensemble and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

In 2005, 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2023 he gave masterclasses on the piano music of the Second Viennese School at the Schoenberg Center in Vienna and in 2016 gave performances of the complete solo works of Schoenberg in Vienna, San Francisco, Seoul and Taegu, Korea. From 2018 to 2023 he gave an annual series of masterclasses for young artists at Stanford University.

Schultz’s recording of solo works by Cage was released in 2018 on the Mode label and his recording of Christian Wolff’s Long Piano in 2009 by New World Records. Additional solo CDs, (a double CD of the Goldberg Variations of Bach and Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated, a CD of works written for him by Buckinx and Wolff, and recordings of music by Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Liszt, Satie and Busoni) are on the Wooden Fish label. His recordings of works by the Korean composer Hyo-shin Na on CDs from the New World, Seoul and TopArt labels have received special recognition. Schultz’s recording of Stravinsky’s Concerto for Two Solo Pianos is on the MusicMasters label and he can be heard in chamber works of Earle Brown on a Newport Classics recording.

Schultz’s musical studies were with John Perry, Leonard Stein and Philip Lillestol. He was a member of the piano faculty at Stanford University for 29 years.

– Special Thanks –

This concert is, in part, made possible by the generous support of InterMusic SF and the Elaine and Richard Fohr Foundation.