Boston Symphony Chamber Players Are Joined By Pianist Inon Barnatan April 3 For A Program Of Schubert, Brahms, And Two Works By

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DATE:

March 17, 2011

Two works by Hungarian contemporary composer György Kurtág join music by two giants of Romantic chamber music for the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’ Sunday, April 3, program at 3 p.m. in Jordan Hall, for which they will be joined by Israeli-born pianistInon Barnatan. Occupying the entire second half of the program is Schubert’s massiveTroutQuintet for piano and strings, D. 667, which the composer completed when he was just 22 years old, and leading into the interval is Brahms’s Trio in E-flat for violin, horn, and piano, Op. 40. Kurtág’sHommage à R. Sch, for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 15d, and Bagatelles for flute, double bass, and piano, Op. 14d begin the evening.
One of the world’s most distinguished chamber music ensembles sponsored by a major symphony orchestra and made up of that orchestra’s principal players, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players feature first-desk string, woodwind, and brass players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  The April 3 concert features Boston Symphony Orchestra players Malcolm Lowe, violin; Steven Ansell, viola; Jules Eskin, cello; Edwin Barker, double bass; Elizabeth Rowe, flute; William R. Hudgins, clarinet; and James Sommerville, horn.

György Kurtág (b. 1926) completedHommage à R. Schin 1990, and as its title indicates, the piece is inspired by and a tribute to Robert Schumann. Using the same instrumentation as Schumann’sMärchenerzählungen, Kurtág’s piece is in six movements: “Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler’s Curious Pirouettes,” which refers to the title character of Schumann’sKreisleriana; “Eusebius: the Delimited Circle…,” which invokes the most reserved of Schumann’s famed alter-egos; “…and again Florestan’s lips tremble in anguish…,” which turns to Eusebius’s choleric foil; “I was a cloud, now the sun is shining…,” a short, brooding interlude; “In the Night,” which harkens back to a movement of the same title from Schumann’sFantasiestücke; and “Farewell (Master Raro discovers Guillaume de Machaut),” longer than all of the other movements combined, which is charged with the spirit of both a third of Schumann’s alter-egos and the musical style of Machaut, the Medieval master. Kurtág’s Bagatelles for flute, double bass, and piano, similar in length toHommage à R. Schat 10 minutes, dates from 1981 and is also rife with the Hungarian comper’s unique wit and ingenious assimilations of diverse stylistic influences.
Straddling intermission are two firmly established members of the standard chamber repertoire from two of most accomplished Romantic-period composers of chamber music. Brahms’s 1865 Trio in E-flat for violin, horn, and piano, Op. 40, was written in response to the death of the composer’s mother and musically portrays four stages of grief. It is written for the natural (rather than valved) horn, which Brahms played as a youth. Schubert’s expansive and adventurousTroutQuintet, written in 1819, eschews the standard piano quintet instrumentation of a string quartet and piano, replacing the second violin with a double bass. It takes its nickname from the fourth movement’s theme-and-variations on Schubert’s song “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”).

INON BARNATAN

Pianist Inon Barnatan is rapidly gaining international recognition for his poetic and passionate music making, communicative performances and engaging programming. Since moving to the United States in 2006, he has quickly made his mark in debuts with the Cleveland, San Francisco, and Houston Symphony Orchestras, performing at New York’s Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Metropolitan Museum and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, touring throughout the United States and appearing at the festivals of Aspen, Vail, Music@Menlo, Santa Fe and Spoleto USA. His career has taken him to some of Europe’s most illustrious venues, including the Royal Festival, Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Salla Verdi in Milan, Musikverein in Vienna and Salle Gaveau in Paris, as well as the Delft, Lanaudière and Verbier Festivals. In 2009 he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, one of the most prestigious prizes in classical music.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at the age of three. He made his orchestral debut at eleven, and studied with Professor Victor Derevianko. In 1997 he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Maria Curcio (a student of the legendary Arthur Schnabel) and Christopher Elton, and Leon Fleisher was an influential mentor. In 2006, Barnatan moved to New York City, where he resides today.

BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS

One of the world’s most distinguished chamber music ensembles sponsored by a major symphony orchestra and made up of that orchestra’s principal players, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players include first-desk string, woodwind, and brass players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 1964 during Erich Leinsdorf’s tenure as BSO music director, the Chamber Players can perform virtually any work within the vast chamber music literature, expanding their range of repertory by calling upon other BSO members or enlisting the services of such distinguished artists as BSO Music Director James Levine (as both pianist and conductor), Emanuel Ax, and André Previn. The Chamber Players’ activities include an annual four-concert series in Boston’s Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, regular appearances at Tanglewood, and a busy touring schedule. In addition to their appearances throughout the United States, they have performed in Europe, Japan, South America, and the Soviet Union. In September 2008, sponsored by Cunard Line, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players performed on the Queen Mary 2’s transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton, England. Among their many recordings are the Brahms string quintets and works by John Harbison, Aaron Copland, and Leon Kirchner, all on Nonesuch; and the quintets for clarinet and strings by Mozart and Brahms with former BSO principal clarinet, the late Harold Wright, on Philips. Their latest recording, on BSO Classics, is of Mozart chamber music for winds and strings (the Clarinet Quintet in A, the Horn Quintet in E-flat, the F major Oboe Quartet, and the Flute Quartet in A, K.298). An all-American CD of works by Lukas Foss, William Bolcom, Michael Gandolfi, and Osvaldo Golijov was released in January, also on the BSO Classics label.

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscriptions to the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’ 2010-11 series are priced at $72, $92, and $128, and are available from the BSO’s Subscription Office by calling 617-266-7575. Single tickets for the individual concerts are priced at $21, $28, and $37, and are available until the day of the performance through SymphonyCharge at 617-266-1200, onwww.bso.org, at the Symphony Hall Box Office, or at the Jordan Hall Box Office at 30 Gainsborough Street. On the day of the concert, tickets may only be purchased at Jordan Hall. Jordan Hall is wheelchair-accessible.

All programs are subject to change. For current program information, dial 617-CONCERT (617-266-2378).

PRESS CONTACTS:

Bernadette Horgan, Director of Public Relations (bhorgan@bso.org) 617-638-9285
Kathleen Drohan, Associate Director of Public Relations (kdrohan@bso.org) 617-638-9286

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News Source : Boston Symphony Chamber Players Are Joined By Pianist Inon Barnatan April 3 For A Program Of Schubert, Brahms, And Two Works By György Kurtág, On April 3 In Jordan Hall