Happy Holidays 2019
Dear Friend,
No matter what holidays you celebrate (or tolerate) this time of year, music helps make them more beautiful.
As a Methodist preacher’s kid my family's roots include the celebration of Christmas, but like anyone who studied music professionally at the highest level in the United States over the past hundred years, my musical formation is rooted in the great Jewish music-making legacy that immigrated to this country in the early/middle 20th century. So for this week’s update I thought I would keep the Hanukkah lamps burning by offering eight of my absolute favorite pieces or movements of chamber music, along with a Spotify link for each.
(Spotify - an online streaming service - may ask you to sign up, which you can do for free, or choose to sign up for a low-cost ad-free membership.)
Enjoy!
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#1. Felix Mendelssohn, Trio No. 1 in d minor, Op. 49; second movement: Andante con molto tranquillo
This trio was a signature piece for the Beaux Arts Trio, and no one ever played the opening piano solo more beautifully than Menahem Pressler. At 96 years old and still going strong, to this day he has played more times for the Chamber Music Society of Detroit than any other pianist! I studied this piece with him when I was a doctoral student at Indiana University, an experience that was nothing short of magical.
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#2. Johannes Brahms, Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 78; first movement: Vivace a non troppo
I think if I had to spend the rest of my life on a desert island with just one movement of music, this would be it. I first coached this piece with Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet when I was an undergraduate at Eastman, and have since played it more times than I can count.
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#3. Gabriel Fauré, Piano Quartet in g minor, Op. 15; third movement: Adagio
This piece filled the second half of a program during the first season of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, one in which our founding president, Dr. Karl Haas, played the piano. The solo for the piano at the end of the movement is one of the most glorious moments for the piano in the entire chamber music literature.
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#4. Franz Schubert, Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898; second movement: Andante un poco mosso
Another signature piece of the Beaux Arts Trio, on the program of their very last concert in the United States, in the summer of 2008 at Tanglewood. We recently heard it at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit in May 2018 with the Zukerman Trio (fellow former Pressler student Angela Cheng at the piano).
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#5. Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel (mirror in the mirror) for violin and piano
This jewel is perhaps the most mathematically perfect piece of music ever written, but you would never know listening to a performance of it. It is just simply and exquisitely beautiful. We last heard it at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit with Anne Akiko Meyers back in 2015.
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#6. Robert Schumann, Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47; third movement: Andante cantabile
The opening cello solo brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it, and when it returns at the end in a different voice, the subtle change in the harmony beneath it unleashes a torrent of tears even greater than the first. We last heard this at the Chamber Music Society with an all-star group from Lincoln Center led by Daniel Hope – that last violinist to play in the Beaux Arts Trio.
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#7. Robert Schumann, Frauen Lieben und Leben; “Du Ring an meinem Finger”
Like the cello solo in his piano quartet, the melody of this exquisite song brings a tear every time. Is this chamber music? Of course it is! Schumann cared just as deeply about his songs as he did about his small ensemble instrumental compositions, and wrote them for the same close circle of friends.
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#8. J.S. Bach arr. Egon Petri, “Sheep May Safely Graze”
When is solo piano music also chamber music? I think it all depends on what the piece is and who’s playing it. In this case, we have the exquisite jewel that Leon Fleischer played alone on the season finale concert of the Chamber Music Society’s 75
th
Season in Orchestra Hall. Truly that was one of the finest moments in the history of our organization!
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No matter the holiday tradition at your house, all of us at the Chamber Music Society wish you and yours a happy one. We hope you will be able to join us often at concerts in the coming year, where you can hear great music like this live and in person.
With that in mind, we have created a special opportunity now through December 31 to purchase single tickets to any of our upcoming concerts at a special "giving season" discount of 40%. Just use the code: "
giftofmusic
" !
Here's a list of all the concerts:
We’ll see you there!
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Steve Wogaman, President
Chamber Music Society of Detroit
Tickets: 313-335-3300 or
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