Beethoven, Montgomery, Puccini, Dvorak
The Age of Reason shares the stage with the Romantic Era: A quintet by Beethoven, a sextet by Dvorak, and two short string quartet gems: Puccini’s “Crisantemi” and “Strum” by the young, brilliant African American composer, Jessie Montgomery.
For our Valentine concert this year, the Age of Reason shares the stage with the Romantic Era in a program that includes Beethoven’s sunny String Quintet Op. 29 in a new flute arrangement, Dvorak’s expansive String Sextet in A major, and two short string quartet gems: Puccini’s delicate “Crisantemi,” and the ground-breaking “Strum” by the brilliant young African American composer, Jessie Montgomery.
The Beethoven Quintet, Op. 29, is his only full-scale, original composition in the string quintet genre; it is a richly melodic and elegant work, and its blustery finale, and occasional flashes of lightening have given the work its nickname, “Storm Quintet.” It is a pleasure to have made it a newish work by transcribing the first violin part for flute. You know me by now! The contrast of the flute timbre and resonance against the four strings enhances its innate beauty.
Jessie Montgomery, Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year, is a GRAMMY-winning, acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator whose music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of twenty-first century American sound and experience.
The Dvorak String Sextet was composed in the middle of the composer’s Slavic period, in which the composer introduced folk elements into his music. When conductor Václav Talich heard Dvořák’s sextet in 1941, he declared: “Oh my word! This is so beautiful! Beautiful musical ideas, a beautiful structure and a beautiful sound! God himself must have been walking the Czech Lands when his humble servant Dvořák bequeathed to us a work of such excellence and sanctity.”
Appropriate for Valentine’s Day, among the featured performers will be two married couples—Mistral member violinist Sarita Kwok and her husband, BSO cellist Alexandre Lecarme, and returning guest artists hailing from the Chicago Symphony: violist Lawrence Neumann and violinist Qing Hou; Mistral members violist Stephanie Fong, flutist Julie Scolnik, and frequent guest cellist Raman Ramakrishnan complete the roster.
