May – Reflections

May 17th, 2026 • 3:00pm
Hotel Leo

TICKETS:

REBECCA CLARKE
Dumka (1941) ~12 min.

Lenelle Morse, Violin
Lisa Humphrey, Viola
Jeffrey Gilliam, Piano

Rebecca Clarke was an English violist and composer. She was a pioneer of women in music, graduating from the Royal College of Music in London as one of the first female composition students of Sir Charles Stanford’s. As a young woman she supported herself as a musician in London, playing in orchestras and chamber ensembles where she worked with musicians such as Casals, Heifetz, and Rubinstein. In 1913 Clarke was hired by the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, making her one of the first women to gain regular employment in a professional London orchestra.

Clarke’s viola sonata, written in 1919, is considered a staple in the viola literature and is what launched her international success. When it was entered into a competition, the judges were so taken with it they thought it was a submission by Ravel. To their shock it was revealed to be a woman composer. By 1925, Clarke was so highly regarded that she could prepare a concert of her own compositions and sell out London’s Wigmore Hall.

Dumka, in Ukrainian, means “thought.” Musically, a dumka is a dreamlike, melancholy dance. Listen for a quote of the gypsy-rondo from Brahms’s Piano Quartet Op. 25 in the opening and again at the conclusion of Dumka!

Read more about Rebecca Clarke and listen to her music

In the composer’s own words:
“The viola is an exhausting instrument at the best of times”

MIKHAIL GLINKA
Trio Pathétique (1832)~16 min.

Erika Block, Clarinet
Pat Nelson, Bassoon
Jeffrey Gilliam, Piano

Mikahil Glinka’s work is considered the cradle of Russian classical music. Tchaikovsky spoke of Glinka as the founder of Russian opera and orchestral music and among the “greatest symphonist of the 19th century”. He also considered Glinka somewhat of a dilettante in that he felt Glinka did not take seriously his enormous gifts or pursue the study of composition in enough depth. Glinka’s compositional output is considered relatively small though it includes 3 operas, several orchestral works, solo piano works, many works for voice and piano, and 8 chamber works. This trio was originally scored for this unique wind/piano combination but is also played as a traditional piano trio with violin and cello. The lyrical writing for the clarinet and bassoon is gorgeous.

In the words of the composer:
“I understand, people create music. It’s time for Russian composers, who are still at the same level of randomly using folk song motives, to go one step higher”.”

JOHANNES BRAHMS
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25 (1861) ~40 min.

Erin Furbee, Violin
Eric Kean, Viola
Christine Lee, Cello
Milica Jelača Jovanović, Piano

Brahms’ Piano Quartet Op. 25, was composed in the late 1850s. The premier was heard in Hamburg in 1861 with Clara Schumann as the pianist. Brahms visited Vienna in the early 1860s and eventually settled in that city. The musical people of Vienna were introduced to this young composer through this piano quartet. Brahms read the work (with himself at the piano) with members of the Hellmesberger Quartet, one of Vienna’s most prominent chamber ensembles of the era. The violinist, Joseph Hellmesberger, leapt from his chair at the conclusion, exclaiming “This is the heir of Beethoven!”.