Boston Symphony Chamber Players Programs

Boston Symphony Chamber Players
Earl Lee, conductor (Mahler) 
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Randall Hodgkinson, piano

LOEFFLER Timbres oubliés, for clarinet and harp
KOECHLIN Two Nocturnes for flute, horn, and piano 
SAINT-SAËNS Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs, for flute, oboe, clarinet, and piano 
BEACH Three pieces for violin and piano
MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer (arr. SCHOENBERG)

To parallel our celebrations of Symphony Hall’s 125th anniversary, frequent guest pianist Randall Hodgkinson joins the Chamber Players for a program featuring composers active at the time of the hall’s opening in 1900. Amy Beach and Charles Martin Loeffler were both prominent in Boston’s musical community at the turn of the last century. Charles Koechlin and Camille Saint-Saëns represent two generations of Parisian music, while Mahler (and his younger colleague Schoenberg) were both active in Vienna.

Boston Symphony Chamber Players
Inon Barnatan, piano

Divertimento for string trio, K.563
Sonata in C for flute and piano, K.14
Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, K.452

The Boston Symphony Chamber Players leans into the intimacy, lightness, and intricacy of Mozart’s chamber music. The cheery tunefulness of the Divertimento for string trio, K.563, Mozart's only completed string trio, blends sonata and serenade forms, illustrating Mozart's mastery of counterpoint and variation, with each instrument given an equal voice. The Quintet for Piano and Winds, K.452, which Mozart himself declared one of his finest works, showcases his evolving approach to the use of woodwinds in his music from supporting players to main characters.

Valerie COLEMAN Rubispheres, for flute, clarinet, and bassoon
Carlos SIMON New Work (world premiere; BSO commission)
BRAHMS Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Opus 25

DEBUSSY Sonata for flute, viola, and harp 
Esa-Pekka SALONEN Memoria for wind quintet 
CHAUSSON Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet

Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat was born from the upheaval of war and revolution, a razor-sharp fable of fate and temptation with jagged rhythms and biting dissonances.