Spruce Peak Chamber Music Society: Intimate Letters

Ready to spend a beautiful evening listening to music that will melt your heart? Bring your favorite Valentine and join us for a special night at the Theater!  

Artistic Director, Jia Kim, will explore the relationship between composers, and composers and their compositions, all through the lenses of personal letters written by the composers themselves.  One bond, in particular, is the notable relationships between composer Johannes Brahms and virtuosic pianist Clara Schumann and her husband, Robert. During Robert’s illness and confinement at the asylum, Clara began corresponding directly with Brahms and he grew to be her closest confidante and most beloved friend.  Quotes from their letters will be recited before each piece of music, and Jia and her exceptional group of musicians will use them to explain what they meant to each other.  This additional component to the program will help create a beautiful, multi-sensory experience on this Valentine’s Day weekend!

*Yang and Dugan were praised by The Boston Globe and others for being a creative, soulful, and powerful duo, arranging and improvising classical to many other genres, so you may just hear a bit of their blues/jazz influenced songs as an encore! 

Repertoire: 
Exploring the friendship & letters between the Schumann’s and Brahms 

…”he strengthened the heart that threatened to break, he uplifted my spirit, brightened my soul any way he could. He was, in short, my friend in the fullest sense of the world” – Robert Schumann about Brahms

Robert Schumann – Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces) Op.73
I. Zart und mit Ausdruck (Tender and with expression)
II. Lebhaft, leicht (Lively, light)
III. Rasch und mit Feuer (Quick and with fire)
Yoonah Kim/Peter Dugan

…”I think I can no longer love an unmarried girl; at least I have quite forgotten about them. They but promise heaven while Clara shows it revealed to us..” –Brahms

 Brahms Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano 
II. Adagio
Yoonah Kim/Jia Kim/Peter Dugan

…”the last movement is what I would wish to accompany me on my journey to the other world” – Clara Schumann

Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 G Major Op.78 
I. Vivace ma non troppo & III. Allegro molto moderato
Charles Yang/Peter Dugan

…”I should have to inscribe all my best melodies, ‘really by Clara Schumann’. If I just think of myself, nothing clever or beautiful occurs to me. I have you (Clara) to thank for more melodies than all the passages and such things you might take from me” – Brahms

Clara Schumann – 3 Romances Op. 22
I. Andante molto
II. Allegretto
III. Leidenschaftlich schnell
Yoonah Kim/Peter Dugan

…”if only your things were not so often beyond my physical strength. It is so painful for me because I know that I understand and feel them better than so many others do, and yet I must resign myself.” – Clara Schumann, after an illness attempting to play Op. 101

Brahms Piano Trio No.3 Op. 101 in C minor – 
I. Allegro energico
II. Presto non assai
III. Andante grazios
IV. Allegro molto
Charles Yang/JiaKim/Peter Dugan

Intimate Letters Musicians