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Contact: Gabriel Langfur
info@chameleonarts.org
617-427-8200
Chameleon Arts Ensemble presents “of melody yet unknown”
February 24, 2010 – Boston, MA – The fourth program of the Chameleon Arts Ensemble’s 2009-2010 season is entitled of melody yet unknown, an exploration of the paths to and from the pivotal figure of Arnold Schoenberg. The concert is on Saturday, March 27, 8 PM at the Goethe-Institut Boston, 170 Beacon Street in the Back Bay. The program will include Beethoven’s Quintet in E-flat Major for piano & winds, Op. 16; Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 in E-flat Major for viola & piano, Op. 120; Anton Webern’s Vier Lieder for soprano & piano, Op. 12; Leon Kirchner’s Piano Trio No. II; and Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie No. 1, Op. 9 (1906) in Webern’s arrangement for flute, clarinet, violin, cello & piano.
Very rarely, an artist emerges who transforms an art form forever. A revolutionary thinker and iconoclast for sure, Arnold Schoenberg nevertheless considered himself a successor in the tradition of Beethoven and Brahms. He made the case in his famous 1947 essay “Brahms the Progressive,” that looking to Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart as progressive composers who wrote music for “adults…[who] think in complexes” would lead to a greater understanding of his own music. Strictly regular phrase lengths and repetitions of thematic material with only insignificant surface variation, such as one finds in any form of “popular” music, he characterizes as “senseless prolixity” essentially on the intellectual level of nursery rhyme. Brahms in particular, with his ability to spin large-scale forms from the development of very simple melodic and harmonic cells, was clearly an inspiration for Schoenberg’s serial techniques. The Kammersymphonie of 1906creates an “axis” for the program. It is a vividly expressionist, seminal work that pushes traditional tonality to the very brink and marks the turning point in his compositional style and the beginnings of his move toward the 12-tone technique.
Leon Kirchner passed away just last September at the age of 90 after a long and distinguished career as a leading composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. For 28 years until his retirement in 1989, he was the Walter Bigelow Roser Professor of Music at Harvard. Kirchner studied with Schoenberg as a young man, and although he never adopted the most rigorous aspects of the serial technique, the aesthetic of his teacher – the “Gestalt” of what Schoenberg referred to as “form-building” so central to the Viennese tradition – was clearly represented in his compositions. The Piano Trio No. II, composed late in his career in 1993, is in many ways a reflective work, freely using Romantic gestures and hints of 19th century musical language in a way that, in his words, “seemed to recapitulate the past in an effort to empower an alternative future.”
Since its founding in 1998, Chameleon and artistic director Deborah Boldin have earned unqualified praise for integrating old and new repertoire into unexpected chamber music programs that are themselves works of art. They were recognized nationally with 2009 and 2007 ASCAP/CMA Awards for Adventurous Programming. The Boston Globe praised Ms. Boldin’s “carefully curated blending of classic and contemporary repertoire,” and her “discerning ears and cosmopolitan tastes,” and remarked, “during intermission, concertgoers could be heard marveling at the program’s breadth and wondering why other groups aren’t as adventurous. Chameleon makes daring seem easy.”
This innovative ensemble now draws capacity audiences of those who love the adventure of music—classic and contemporary. A Chameleon concert is a multifaceted experience in an intimate environment joining audience and musicians in an exuberant celebration of music. The musicians are among Boston’s most highly-respected and sought-after performers, with growing national and international reputations. Their superb artistry and finely honed collaborative skills ensure luminous performances and dynamic musical dialogues.
For tickets or more information, concertgoers can call 617-427-8200 or visit www.chameleonarts.org. Individual tickets are $38, $28 and $18. $5 discounts for students and seniors are available. The Goethe-Institut is a wheelchair accessible venue.
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