Our first program of the twenty-ninth BCMS season is full of unusual juxtapositions of youth and age.
Mozart’s Piano Trio in B-flat major, written in 1786, is the mature work of a young composer whose life was to end much too soon in 1791.
The Four Poems for low voice, viola and Piano by Charles Martin Loeffler are among his earliest published works, Op. 5. The instrumentation easily evokes thoughts of the two songs, published late in life for the same forces (albeit for lower voice), by Johannes Brahms–his Op. 91–in 1884.
The Fantasy Pieces (1849) of Robert Schumann (1810-1856) are late works performed by a new young star in the cello firmament, Narek Hakhnazaryan, with BCMS pianist Mihae Lee. Narek won the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Cello Competition last summer in Moscow and will be making his BCMS debut in his first Boston appearance since winning.
Sofia Gubaidulina (so-FEE-a goo-bye-DOO-leen-ah), one of today’s most celebrated composers, will turn eighty on October 24. Her Piano Quintet in C major dates from 1957 when she was just 26. Although considered a student work, it is praised for its mastery of form, clarity of texture, and wit. As if being a great composer at an early age were not enough, she was the pianist at the premiere in 1958 in the small hall at the Moscow Conservatory.
Enjoy!
Marcus
