Part I

The Vast and Wonderful World of Chamber Music

CMS’s repertoire and programming highlights

With few exceptions, history’s greatest composers wrote some of their most significant works for chamber ensemble. As a result, the literature of chamber music is rich and diverse, rivalling the orchestral, operatic, and solo repertoires. Over its 50 years, the Chamber Music Society has curated this vast and varied literature in creative and compelling ways. Part I highlights a selection of CMS’s notable repertoire projects throughout its history, illustrating the limitless potential of chamber music as a sustainable music diet.

Mendelssohn’s Glorious Octet (1825)

Allegro moderato ma con fuoco

Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings (Op. 20), composed at the age of 16, is one of the most exciting and ingeniously crafted works in the chamber music literature. Expressly for this exhibition, musicians from the Chamber Music Society assembled to capture the first movement of Mendelssohn’s octet using nine individual high definition cameras. This installation reveals chamber music’s intimacy and intricacy, and the intensity of visual communication that goes into chamber music performances at the highest levels of artistic excellence. The unique role played by each member of the ensemble can be observed, while the sum of all eight parts may be viewed on the center panel.

Sean Lee, Jeffrey Myers, Aaron Boyd, Arnaud Sussmann, violins
Matthew Lipman, Paul Neubauer, violas
David Finckel, Dmitri Atapine, cellos
Recorded at the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio
Tristan Cook, director

Percussionists Ayano Kataoka, Christopher Froh, and Ian David Rosenbaum perform Nebojša Jovan Živković’s “Meccanico” from Trio per uno for Percussion Trio, Op. 27 (1995, 1999), February 3, 2015.

Brandenburg Concertos

Paul Huang, Erin Keefe, Joseph Conyers, Richard O’Neill, Daniel McDonough, Daniel Phillips, Kenneth Weiss, Julie Landsman, Jennifer Montone, Stephen Taylor, Randall Ellis, James Austin Smith, and Marc Goldberg perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046 (1720), December 13, 2015.

An array of flyers illustrates the breadth of the Chamber Music Society’s programming

The Essence of Ligeti: January 11-17, 2006

Olivier Messiaen, From the Canyons to the Stars

Winter Festival 2018: Chamber Music Vienna

A Celebration of Titans: Franz Schubert & Johannes Brahms, 1997

The Brandenburg Concertos: December 22, 2001

A Great Day in New York Pass: January 14, 2001

US Premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's Pulse Shadows

Winter Festival 2016: The Beethoven Cycle

Spring at CMS Flyer featuring the Cellists of Lincoln Center, 2017

Ultimate Beethoven: The Takács Quartet performs the Complete String Quartets of Beethoven

Step into the 20th Century with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Winter Festival 2007: An English Musical Renaissance

International String Quartet Series, 2008-09 season

New Music in the Kaplan Penthouse, 2014-15 Season

Winter Festival 2015: Intimate Expressions

Spring at CMS 2019: Featuring George Crumb at 90 Festival

Winter Festival 2017: The Spirit of Mendelssohn

Beethoven: A Few Days in New York, January 9-14, 1996

Student Producers presents Cello Unchained

Bach: A Musical Offering, September 9-15, 1984

Bach Fall Festival, September 9-15, 1984

Violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Juho Pohjonen perform Schubert’s Fantasy in C Major for Violin and Piano, D. 934, Op. 159 (1827), March 20, 2015.

The Jerusalem Quartet performs Beethoven’s Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6 (1800), February 2, 2016.