Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony opened its Winstead Chamber Series for 2024 with a program featuring the big one of the hallmarks of early-romantic string quartets plus two lesser known masterpieces straddling the beginning and end of the 19th century. Violinist Rachel Charbel (@rachebeast), violist Christopher Fischer and flutist Rebecca Pancner opened with a jaunty, relaxed performance of Beethoven’s Op. 25 Serenade in D Minor. Dating from around 1801 and cast in six short movements, it features many of the melodic stylings which would later be used in his first two symphonies and other similar works.
Franz Schubert’s string quartet Death and the Makden, written towards the end of his tragically short life, in 1824, was given an emotionally compelling and visceral performance by violinists Philip Marten and Gerald Itzkoff, violist Gabriel Napoli and cellist Nicholas Mariscal, exploring the musical despair and madness depicted in a 40 minute span of music. High praise should go to Marten and Mariscal for their outstanding virtuosic contributions in the first and last movement.
Antonin Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds, written in 1878, closed the concert in a blaze of ebullient joy and folk-like wonder and intimacy. The former was prominent in the first and last movements, with marches and dances evoking the mixing of aristocratic society and the general public. With a compliment of players including oboist Lon Bussell, hornist Elizabeth Freimuth and clarinetist Ixi Chen (@ixichen) filling every corner of the stage in Music Hall’s Wilks Studio, it was a fun and exciting way to end a cold and snowy January evening in Cincinnati.