Buffalo Chamber Players » concerts

Brahms April 15

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:21:48 +0000

As you probably know if you got here through our front page, we have our next concert on April 15 (a.k.a. Tax Day). What better way to celebrate having done your taxes than to listen to the music of Brahms. Or at least to forget about your taxes! Rehearsals are going quite well. I heard the Freudig Singers rehearsing last weekend and they sound great! The Begräbnisgesang is amazing and the Wedding Cantata is quite charming.

Artvoice had nice write up today about the concert, you can read it here (bottom of page). And over at the Buffalo News’ Artsbeat, Mary Kunz Goldman writes about the Two Songs for Voice, Viola and Piano on our program. I was happy to see that she posted our poster art for the Brahms concert:

Brahms in the style of Sheppard Fairey

I’ll buy the paper tomorrow to see if Gusto includes something too. Will keep you posted…

UPDATE: Here’s the link to Gusto.

Start of Season, October 22

Janz — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:41:34 +0000

We are launching our 08-09 season Wednesday, October 22 at Buff Sem! We have a great program planned and should make for a great evening of chamber music. One of the pieces in the program, Roland Martin’s A Rose Beside the Water, was premiered last night at UB’s Slee Hall. It’s a great song cycle, done in collaboration with painter Catherine Parker. Catherine’s paintings for this piece are exquisite! The concert went very well, but unfortunately one of the singers was very ill so it was not a complete performance of the work. You can read a review of that concert over at the Buffalo News. So come hear the work in its entirety at our concert! We will also be doing two other Martin songs, with mezzo soprano Denise Blackmore, with text by Ursula Vaughan Williams.
The rest of the program has a little bit for everyone. Mozart’s transcriptions for string trio (K. 404a) of Bach’s keyboard music are of great historical importance as they represent Mozart’s first acquaintance with the fugal writing of Bach. We will be performing three of the six Preludes and Fugues that Mozart transcribed. And in two of them, the Prelude is not a transcription but an original composition by Mozart preceding the fugue by Bach.
Cellist David Schmude will play Messiaen’s Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus for cello and piano. The piece is the fifth movement of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written in 1940 while the composer was in a German prison camp. If you know David’s playing, you know this will be quite a moving performance! Also, a small piece of trivia, 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of Messiaen’s birth, so we definitely wanted to program a work by this 20th century master.
And finally, Dvořák String Quintet in G Major, op. 77. It is scored for 2 violins, viola, cello and bass. I love playing chamber music with bass! Most quintets of the time either doubled the violas or the cellos, but by instead adding a bass Dvorak adds a new dimension and depth to the sound of the typical string quintet.
So that’s our first concert and we hope to see you there. And if you haven’t yet, be sure to join our email mailing list!

Small Program Change

Janz — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:33:20 +0000

We had to change the program slightly. Because of scheduling issues, we will be playing Puccini’s Crisantemi instead of the Rossini Wind Quartet. But don’t worry, we will reschedule the Rossini for a future concert as it is a fun piece. Plus the Puccini is exquisite! Written in 1890, it was according to Puccini composed in one night, in memory of Duke Amadeo of Savoy. Puccini reused the two main themes of the work in the last act of his opera Manon Lescaut. Dark, somber and beautiful, it is guaranteed to give you goose bumps! So hope you don’t mind the change.

Repertoire for May

Janz — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:21:36 +0000

Finally, the program for May is set:

Rossini Sonata for Wind Quartet in F Major
Faure Piano Quartet in g minor
Strauss String Sextet from Capriccio
Respighi Il Tramonto
Ives Songs: In the Alley, A Christmas Carol, An Old Flame, Berceuse

Should be a great concert! Unfortunately a work by Puccini had to be cut, but the program would have been too long. I’ll post some program notes soon.

May 28 Program

Janz — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:01:37 +0000

The repertoire for our next concert is almost all in place. We actually have a little too much music! Just have to figure out what gets cut from the program which is not so easy to do. I am really excited Alex Hurd will be joining us for the concert. He has a wonderful voice and a great personality. We will be doing Ottorino Respighi’s Il Tramonto, a rarely performed work for voice and string quartet. Respighi is known more for his brilliant large scale orchestrations so we are very happy to present a different side of Respighi. Another great work we are planning to do is Stauss’s Prelude to Capriccio. Capriccio was Strauss’s last opera, an opera about opera. Instead of using the full orchestra, the opera opens with this prelude scored for string sextet. Odd choice for an opera but great for concert piece! The rest of the program is still up in the air, but we are thinking of works by Puccini, Rossini, and/or Faure.

I’ll post more details on the rest of the program as it’s finalized.

March 12 Concert

Janz — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:39:25 +0000

Our concert last Wednesday went very well! Everyone involved did a phenomenal job. I was a little nervous about how the Prokofiev would be received, but afterwards I heard nothing but good things about the piece and the performance. I love the piece and it was great working on it with such talented players. Attendance was not bad, and hopefully will only get better. Luckily it didn’t snow the night of the concert. The weather was actually quite pleasant, just a little cold after the concert.

In case you missed it, the Artvoice had a nice article for the concert. The Chamber Revolution, nice!

And finally I can’t say enough about how much we enjoy playing at Buff Sem. The space is very intimate, perfect for chamber music, and with very good acoustics, and it’s in the heart of the Elmwood Village.

So if you joined us for the concert, thank you for coming, and if you didn’t, come to our next one, May 28!