On Sunday, April 12th Concerts in the Village presents chamber music from the late-18th, mid-19th, and early-20th centuries: Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, Gabriel Fauré’s String Quartet, and Louise Farrenc’s Nonet for Strings and Winds. Encompassing only somewhat more than a century of music history, this program illustrates both the disciplined requirements of classicism and the much freer musical language embraced by late romanticism and impressionism. Experiencing such creative variety in one program will prove especially appealing – and a listening journey well worth taking!
Performing will be 11 principal players drawn from CITV’s all-professional Broad Street Orchestra, joined by guest pianist Bethany Pietroniro, and comprising the Broad Street Chamber Players. In order the works programmed feature winds and piano, then strings, and in conclusion all winds and strings in full ensemble.
Composed in 1796 when Beethoven was a relatively young 26 years old, his Quintet for Piano and Winds proved an immediate success – a bright, spirited work certainly inspired by the identically scored and similarly structured quintet of Mozart (composed only twelve years earlier). The piano part, likely written by Beethoven with himself in mind, contrasts warm lyricism with dramatic virtuosity, and is at times suggestive of the composer’s early piano concertos.
Although the number of chamber works written by Gabriel Fauré is significant, as his sole string quartet, op. 121 is unique. Completed only a month before his death, and by his own admission only with much effort, this work seems to have been held in special regard by its composer. As has been remarked, this final compositional statement is “ethereal and other-worldly with themes that seem constantly to be drawn skywards.” Fauré’s quartet represents a notable combining of late 19th-century romantic richness with the more daring harmonic ambiguities soon to follow in the early 20th. For the listener, what could be more enticing!
Following intermission the afternoon’s string and wind ensembles are brought together for Louise Farrenc’s memorable Nonet, a large-scale four-movement work written in 1849. Farrenc was both a pianist renowned throughout Europe and a very accomplished pedagogue and composer; she was also the first woman granted a professorship at the Paris Conservatoire. The premiere of the Nonet is said to have made Farrenc a “near-celebrity” and to have caused the Conservatoire to raise her salary in line with that of her male colleagues!
Once again wishing to recognize Farrenc’s brilliance as a composer, this program follows CITV’s earlier performances of her Sextet for Piano and Winds and Third Symphony. Not surprisingly listeners will find Farrenc’s Nonet to be truly symphonic in effect – and a grand conclusion to a fine afternoon of chamber music!
Van Buren Hall, 6 Chatham Street, Kinderhook NY 12106. Lift available.
Suggested contribution $ 25, with students and children free.
For reservations and further information: www.concertsinthevillage.org
