ACJW Ensemble Performs Samuel Adams, Mozart and Tchaikovsky

This article was originally published on my Typepad blog on October 23, 2012

This was the first in a series that ACJW will be performing this season at Weill Recital Hall, definitely the most intimate setting in NYC to hear chamber music. Sitting in its nineteenth century elegance is a trip back in time to the world of Wharton's Age of Innocence. 

The first half began with twenty four strings, a sextet by Brooklyn based Samuel Carl Adams. The composer himself appeared onstage to explain how he'd come to create the piece. He seemed down to earth and not at all what I'd expected of a "creator of acoustic and electro-acoustic music." The music itself appeared incredibly difficult to play.

The Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A, K. 581, is one of his masterpieces of chamber music. I have an original instruments cd that I play often. Interestingly, the program notes tonight strongly emphasized the music's links to Freemasonry through Mozart's association with the clarinetist Anton Stadler. In this performance, Liam Burke was masterful on clarinet.

Tchaikovsky's passionate string sextet Souvenir de Florence closed the second half. While the entire ensemble displayed great musicianship, Clara Lyon and Grace Park stood out on violin.