The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will perform a program structured around Franz Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet Tuesday, March 18 at 8 p.m. in Kobacker Hall on the BGSU campus
Presented through the auspices Hansen Musical Arts Series, the public performance is free.
The first half of the program will feature works by W.A. Mozart, opening with his arrangement of a fugue by W.F. Bach and including his Adagio and Fugue for string quartet and bass and Piano Quartet in E-flat.
In an interview posted on the ensemble’s website, pianist and co-artistic director Wu Han explained that these pieces laid the foundation for Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet.
The “Trout” features the unusual instrumentation of piano, violin, viola, cello, and bass.
Mozart’s piano quartets “have the conversational intimacy of chamber music but also the dramatic flair of his piano concertos,” Han said.
The addition of the bass in the Schubert quintet, changes the roles of the instruments. “A lot of the writing for the piano part is in the higher register. It’s bell-like and singing, with pearly scales”
The structure, she said, is also different. “The ‘Trout’ is five movements of glorious songs and dances. As a result, rhythm is very important and must be performed correctly to convey the joyous nature of the dances. If you do it right, the audience will confirm with a smile,” she said.
The ensemble is in the midst of a tour with this program before it presents it March 28 and 29 in Alice Tully Hall in New York City.
“I’m very passionate about this program; Mozart and Schubert, in this particular program, just have that magic of whatever they touch turning to gold,” Han said.
Joining Han will be Arnaud Sussmann and Julian Rhee, violins, Paul Neubauer, viola, Sterling Elliot, cello, and Anthony Manzo, double bass.
According to the BGSU website: “The Dorothy E. and DuWayne H. Hansen Musical Arts Series Fund was established in 1996 to bring to the campus and the Bowling Green community significant representatives of the musical arts to share their talents with undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Musical Arts and with residents of the community.
“Dorothy Hansen is an alumna of the College of Musical Arts, while DuWayne Hansen is a former chair of the Department of Music Education.”
