THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701220108
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 96 lines
When you combine fine musicians, top notch equipment, a good venue and music by one of history's greatest composers, it could make for a perfect evening.
The Hardwick Chamber Ensemble's free tribute concert to Johannes Brahms may be just that, says John Winsor, the Chesapeake based chamber music ensemble's clarinetist and chief composer.
The concert is 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Chesapeake Central Library.
``The room we play in at the library is very nice with good acoustics and offering an intimate enough setting for chamber music,'' Winsor said. ``We've played there several times and always enjoyed it.''
Winsor's wife Jeanette, who is the ensemble's pianist, will be playing a dynamic new keyboard, he said. During the concert's piano-oriented pieces, Jeannette Winsor will perform on a Steinway on loan from Jordan Kitt's Temple of Music.
And then to round things off, the quartet of the Winsors, along with violinist Suzanne Schreck and horn player Marlene Ford, will perform choice music by a revered composer.
But why Brahms and not Beethoven, Mozart or Bach?
``This year is the centennial anniversary of his death,'' Winsor said. ``So we thought it fitting to offer a program of all Brahms. This should be a very big year for Brahms everywhere.''
Winsor considers the German to be one of the top classical composers, right up there with Mozart and Bach. He said his wife thinks Brahms is THE greatest composer of all time.
Brahms lived from 1833 to 1897. He is generally recognized as the leading composer of romantic symphonies, concertos and chamber music. He was influenced by such leading musicians/composers of the day as Franz Schumann and Schumann's famous piano-playing wife, Clara. Noted for his unkempt hair and beard, Brahms was gruff and full of humor. A lifelong bachelor and noted pianist, his music was full of sentiment and emotion, though he was often accused of trying to force his own passionate style onto the classical styles forged by Beethoven.
Winsor said Brahms' work is romantic classical music that is very compact and concise and full of passion.
``He says exactly what he means to say and he says it very carefully,'' he said. ``And with chamber music he had a special knack for weaving multiple instruments together. He was also one of the giants in the clarinet classical literature and I'm grateful for that.''
Winsor said Tuesday's concert will start on a gentle note and end with a bang.
The program begins with Brahms' famous Wiegenlied of Lullaby, which will be performed by Schreck and Jeanette Winsor. That will be followed by his Hungarian Dance No. 5, also on piano and violin.
``The dance is an excellent example of his passion, it's an energetic contrast to the Lullaby,'' he said.
The program will include the well-known Scherzo for Violin and Piano and the Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2 for Clarinet and Piano.
``Very late in his life he wrote two clarinet sonatas,'' Winsor said. ``They're two giants in classical clarinet literature. They form THE core of great clarinet works.''
The concert will end with Brahms' very famous major work, the Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 40 for Piano, Violin and Horn.
``This is a big sounding piece for chamber music,'' he said. ``It's scored very heavily. It's really brilliant, showing off very flashy writing. It will be the most difficult piece on the program.''
Although a tough work, Winsor assures that his wife, Schreck and Ford are all up to the task.
``They've played it before,'' he said. ``It is beastly hard and a virtuosic piece but they'll do it well.''
Winsor said the work will be a fitting way to end this Atomic Brahms concert.
``He even wrote that he wanted that last movement to be played as if it were shot out of a cannon,'' he said. ``The audience will be able to hear and feel that crescendo.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
The Hardwick Chamber Ensemble, from left: John Winsor, clarinetist
and chief composer; Marlene Ford, horn player; Suzanne Schreck,
violinist; and Jeanette Winsor, pianist.
Graphic
ATOMIC BRAHMS
What: All Brahms chamber music concert sponsored by by the
National Endowment for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the
Arts and the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission.
Where: Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Road.
Who: Hardwick Chamber Ensemble, Chesapeake-based classical and
contemporary chamber music group.
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday.
Why: To celebrate the centennial of Brahms' death.
Call: For more information about the concert or the group or to
receive a regular Hardwick Chamber Ensemble newsletter, call
424-4277.
Reprise: The Hardwick Chamber Ensemble will repeat this
all-Brahms concert at 7 p.m., Feb. 25 at the Oak Grove United
Methodist Church, 472 N. Battlefield Blvd.