Mahler's 150th Birthday

Celebrating the composer's 150th birthday, Orion performs Gustav Mahler's Piano Quartet in A Minor for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano (1876), the sole authenticated surviving work of his early creative output (he was perhaps 15 or 16 years old). This single-movement work in sonata form demonstrates the renewed influence of Classicism during the late Romantic era; classical influences, however, in no way detract from the piece's dramatic Romantic spirit and poignant emotions.

William Bolcom's Little Suite of Four Dances for E-flat Clarinet and Piano (1984) pairs seemingly light and entertaining music with technically difficult playing for the clarinetist. Each of the movements is based on early 20th-century popular dance music genres, including ragtime and the apache, a violent dance associated with Parisian street culture. The third movement, Quasi-Waltz, is an homage to Joseph Kosma, composer of many popular songs with Jacques Prevert, including "Autumn Leaves." The final movement, Soft Shoe, mimics a style of tap dancing in soft-soled shoes that was popular in vaudeville shows.

Pre-eminent film composer John Williams composed Air and Simple Gifts for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano for the swearing-in ceremony of Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration in 2009. The work consists of a short original melody by Williams, followed by his arrangement of the well-known mid-19th-century Shaker song "Tis the Gift to Be Simple" by American composer Joseph Brackett, Jr.

Two special guests join the Ensemble for Dvorak's Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 for Two Violins, Viola, Cello and Piano (1887): CSO Second Violinist Baird Dodge, who plays the viola on this program, and violinist Stefan Hersh, a founding member of Callisto Ensemble and faculty member at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. This work shows Dvorak's mature compositional style, which let form develop from content and content flow from the depths of his human soul. The piece begins with one of the most beautiful themes in chamber music literature, played by one instrument after another, then transformed into other themes. The second movement is a Dumka, a folk genre; the third movement scherzo is a Furiant, a Czech dance; and the finale is short but intense, again reminding the listener of folk material.