Captivating Quartets

The opening piece on this program by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich was composed just over five years ago and features an unusual instrumentation: a clarinet alongside a piano trio. The work, split into two movements begins with Abgang, which makes use of a Hebraic melody as well as a foxtrot drawing reference to the work of composers once held in German concentration camps as a memorial and tribute to their lives. The second movement, Kaddish, serves as the final prayer full of hope for peace. Brahms’ Quartet in C minor marks the composer’s first published work in the genre, though it stands on the backs of what is likely dozens of scrapped quartets. After being publicly hailed by Schumann as the next leader of German classical music, Brahms was both elated and intimidated. To be compared with the likes of Beethoven was to have a world of expectation placed upon you. The result is this first quartet which contains adventurous rhythms, somber themes, and Brahmsian drama.