Boston Chamber Music Society Performs Mozart, Coleridge-Taylor, and Dvořák: An Electric Afternoon of Music

On Nov. 9, the Boston Chamber Music Society presented a concert at Sanders Theatre, featuring Wolfgang Amadeux Mozart’s “Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478,” Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Clarinet Quintet in F Sharp minor, Op. 10,” and Antonín Dvořák’s “Piano Trio in F minor, Op. 65.” Throughout the three pieces, the musicians masterfully used dynamics, balance, and style to create a truly electric performance.

Mozart’s Piano Quartet, featuring David Bowlin on the violin, Marcus Thompson on the viola, Zvi Plesser on the cello, and Max Levinson on the piano, set a beautiful tone for the concert, starting with powerful, dramatic unified string parts whose first few moments were interspersed with light, soaring piano solo lines. Throughout the first movement, “Allegro,” the piano maintained the soaring quality with long, light scales. During this movement, the musicians seamlessly moved between different keys, making the music more interesting and varied.

This movement was very motif-heavy, with the main musical motif passing around different instruments. However, the instrumentalists did a tremendous job at making each and every interpretation of the different motifs interesting. Sometimes a motif was dramatic, loud, and expressive — demanding the attention of the audience — but at other times it could only be heard from one instrument, lightly rising above the other parts.

The second movement, “Andante,” continued to showcase the musicians’ outstanding work with dynamics. The consistent crescendos and decrescendos helped to give the music shape, which made it easy to stay fully engaged throughout the piece.

The four instruments were all perfectly in balance with each other, with each part being clear but not overpowering. The musicians were musically — and physically — in sync. The violin, viola, and cello’s bowing all matched up incredibly well during the unison sections, which made those sections even more commanding.

Coleridge-Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet, featuring Romie de Guise-Langlois on the clarinet, Bowlin on the violin, Jennifer Frautschi on the violin, Thompson on the viola, and Audrey Chen on the cello, provided a nice contrast to Mozart’s Piano Quartet. This piece was ripe with texture, with the strings frequently employing pizzicato, a technique in which strings are plucked instead of bowed. This snappy playing technique contrasted the typical smooth playing, making such sections as well as the piece as a whole stand out among the other parts of the concert.

All the musicians — but especially Bowlin, Frautschi, and Chen — were incredibly expressive with their physicality and bowing, giving the piece visual as well as musical interest. The first movement, “Allegro energico,” featured light, soaring string parts as well as gorgeous clarinet solos by De Guis-Langlois. The second movement, “Larghetto affettuoso,” had a soft, delicate opening that led into the smooth, dreamlike body of the song. The fourth movement, “Allegro agitato,” kept a masterful balance between different dynamic levels and tempos, concluding with a fun ending of pizzicato in unison.

After a short intermission, Dvořák’s Piano Trio, performed by Frautschi, Plesser, and Levinson, hinted at both a slight Czech style as well as a Brahmsian influence. The piece began with a slightly melancholic duet for violin and cello. Frautschi’s violin playing was a high point of the first movement, “Allegro,” as she evoked a haunting sound. This whole movement was masterfully done, with several highly intense sections contrasting with softer measures. Continuing with the well-coordinated motifs throughout the night, the third movement, “Poco adagio,” began with a gorgeous cello solo which was soon parroted on the violin.

The final movement, “Allegro con brio,” gave an intense finish to the concert — with the bow hairs of the violin and cello clearly flying off with the vigor of their playing. The movement featured frequent and suspenseful dynamic buildups, going from extremely piano measures to fortissimo in an enlivening ending deserving of praise.

Throughout the afternoon, the Boston Chamber Music Society gave an enthralling concert, filled with dramatic, textural music that truly showed the mastership of the musicians both as individuals and as members of a chamber group.