Brahms, Bruch, Bartók, Bacewicz (SALES SUSPENDED)

Johannes Brahms
Sonata in E minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 38 (1862–65)

Max Bruch
Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, Op. 83 (1910)

Béla Bartók
Contrasts, for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Sz. 111 (1938)

Grażyna Bacewicz
Piano Quintet No. 1 (1952)

Featured Musicians:

Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet
Yura Lee & Joanna Kurkowicz, violins
Marcus Thompson, viola
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
Max Levinson, piano

The Cello Sonata in E minor, the first of Johannes Brahms’s extant sonatas for two instruments, sets the blueprint for future works of the same form with balanced instrumentation and scrupulous attention to structure. Uniquely lacking a slow movement, this somber piece weaves Bach’s fugal influences with Romantic lyricism.

Seventy-year-old Max Bruch wrote the Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano with his son, a gifted clarinetist named Max Felix, in mind. Sentimental Romantic melodies come alive through the clarinet and viola’s dialogue, all encased within eight mellow miniatures.

Béla Bartók’s Contrasts were originally requested by Joseph Szigeti and commissioned by Benny Goodman in 1938. From an atypically tuned violin to the use of 13/8 meter, this masterpiece brims with technical challenges for each instrument. Bartók ensures plenty of opportunity for soloistic expression, especially in the clarinet and violin’s cadenzas.

The strings open Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1 in unison, patiently at first, but growing increasingly insistent before the piano launches into an energetic allegro. One of the Polish composer’s best-loved chamber pieces, this quintet is a folk-influenced yet sophisticated assertion of Bacewicz’s abilities.