Beethoven String Quintet, Op.29 (1801)
Britten Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and Strings (1932)
Brahms Piano Trio #2 in C Major Op. 87 (1880-82)
“It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful.”
Benjamin Britten
BCMS Season 36 opens with three masterworks that in hindsight gave hints of even greater works to come.
Beethoven’s String Quintet Op. 29 in C Major, written just after the earliest string quartets and before middle period quartets, reminded many players of the best part writing and intimacy of Mozart’s great string quintets. However, it also looked forward with the driving rhythmic motif of the Scherzo to many later works that were to be powered by a single motif.
Britten’s Phantasy Oboe Quartet, played for the second time in our history, is one of several works commissioned for Leon Goosens, the great British oboist from the early 20th century. As a single movement work it stands as a brilliant testament to Britten’s ability to frame and contain a wide range of emotion, soaring melody, driving march and virtuosity within a dramatic arc. The Phantasy was one of many commissioning efforts undertaken at the behest of a patron bent on bringing the art of creating intimate music making into the new century. Such is the goal of our own BCMS Commissioning Club that in recent seasons has fostered works by local greats, David Rakowski and Daniel Strong Godfrey that also feature the oboe.
Our program closes with Brahms’s second of three Piano Trios, which for its time was a greater work than his first effort, the Op.8 (1854) in B Major, which he revised in 1889. A perennial favorite of BCMS audiences, it has been performed more than half a dozen times in our history and admired for its heroic opening, Hungarian flavored variations, soaring trio melody in the Scherzo, and rousing conclusion.
Our program is also the first of two this season that feature music by the three B’s. Bach will make his appearance among Beethoven and Brahms in February, as will beautiful works from Bruckner through Harbison, that show our intimate medium to be as personal and vital as ever.
Enjoy!
Marcus
Buy tickets:
Sat. 9/22 at Arlington St. Church | 11:30 am
Sun. 9/23 at Sanders Theatre | 7:30 pm
