Chamber Music by Candlelight

Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Free evening concerts performed in the beautiful, intimate, illuminated setting of Second Presbyterian Church by members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Program

Sonata For Bassoon and Cello K. 292

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

• Allegro
• Andante
• Rondo

Fei Xie, bassoon; Bo Li, cello

Suite for Viola and Piano

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)

• Lento-Allegro-Moderato
• Allegro ironico
• Lento
• Molto vivo

Peter Minkler, viola; Lura Johnson, piano

INTERMISSION

Sonata Da Camera

Ilja Hurník (b. 1922)

• Allegretto
• Quasi marcia funebre
• Allegretto innocente
• Prestissimo

Emily Skala, flute; Michael Lisicky, oboe; Kristin Ostling, cello; Mary Woehr, piano

String Quartet In C Minor, Op. 51, No. 1

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

• Allegro
• Romance-Poco Adagio
• Allegretto molto moderato e comodo
• Allegro

Ivan Stefanovic and Jonathan Carney, violins; Christian Colberg, viola; Dariusz Skora

Bios

NOTES

Bloch’s Suite for Viola and Piano was composed for a U.S. competition held in 1919 by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, a wealthy music patron who had a particular love of chamber music. Clarke’s Viola Sonata was also entered in the competition, but Bloch’s Suite won the prize with Coolidge’s casting vote. The Suite is not one of Bloch’s ‘Jewish’ compositions, but rather an evocation of the Far East. —

Tully Potter

NOTES

Bold and elaborate, and filled with rich harmonic structureand frequent double stopping, the Quartet in C Minor Op. 51, No. 1 has a symphonic sound. The opening “Allegro” presents a restless arching theme, robust, and full of seething energy. The second violin leads the way in the gentle, but strong “Romance”. The viola leads in the third movement. The finale, “Allegro”, returns the drive and arch shape of the first movement, sporting an impatient athletic pace that increases to the end. —

Tully Potter

Composers

Mozart

Bloch

Hurník

Brahms