One of America’s most eminent black composers of the early twentieth century, H. T. Burleigh wrote hundreds of art songs and introduced Antonin Dvořák to the spiritual. Southland Sketches, his suite for violin and piano, illustrates the American style that Burleigh did much to promulgate. By contrast, Dohnányi’s C minor Piano Quintet radiates high drama from first note to last. Britten’s second String Quartet, commissioned in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Henry Purcell’s death, was coincidentally composed following Britten’s recital tour of the newly-liberated concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. Britten’s admiration for Purcell’s “clarity, brilliance, tenderness, and strangeness” as well as his horror of war’s depravity find voice in this deeply emotional work.

Trifecta

St Peter's Episcopal Church

St Gabriel's Church

The addition of a second viola lifts the string quartet into a symphonic stratosphere, as we shall hear with Mendelssohn’s impassioned Second Quintet, Op. 87, and Dvorak’s sublime Third Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 97. Between these two blockbusters, the piano offers an amuse-bouche with selections from Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano by the arch-iconoclast John Cage. Bid midwinter doldrums adieu with this infusion of daring and delight.

Ethan Wood

Events

9 - 10 Mar, 2024

Trifecta · New Bedford Symphony Orchestra

3 - 4 Feb, 2024

Viva Viola · New Bedford Symphony Orchestra

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