The USCB Chamber Music series opens their 47th season on Sunday, November 15, 5:00. The repertoire offers tuneful whimsy, lush elegance, captivating delicacy, trance-like contemplation. It also includes a much loved, perfectly crafted work that exquisitely blends classical balance and order with romantic spontaneity and ardor. Valse Miniature, Serge Koussevitsky's delightful double bass show-piece, leads off. Rebecca Clarke's spritely, passionate, and heroic Viola Sonata (1918) is filled with the woodland warmth of Vaughn-Williams, piquant harmonies of Debussy and Ravel, and sturdy character of its composer. It is now a viola recital staple. Two short pieces, Nocturne and Cantique by sisters Lili and Nadia Boulanger offer peace and reflection. Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer of classical and sacred music. His Fratres (1977) for violin and piano has a meditative tempo, spare texture, and mystical, chant-like sense of suspension. The second half of the program is reserved for Franz Schubert's piano-and-strings Quintet in A Major, "Trout," one of his most sublime and warmhearted instrumental works. Melodies are tuneful, almost rustic, and shared by all, as if in friendly conversation. The "Trout" Quintet's most compelling aspect, however, is its overarching spirit of good cheer, contented peace of mind, warm sunshine, and youthful optimism.
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