Once again the Chamber Music Society of San Francisco (CMSSF) is preparing a program for multiple performances. The last such offering, which was given three performances over the course of a single weekend this past October, amounted to a “compare and contrast” of two string quartets from two different periods in the life of Ludwig van Beethoven. This time the comparison will involve two different composers, each from a different country in a different historical setting. The CMSSF players are the members of a string quartet founded by violinists Natasha Makhijani and Jory Fankuchen, violist Clio Tilton, and cellist Samsun van Loon.
Dresden after the firebombing (photographer unknown, provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license)
The program, entitled Endings and Beginnings, will begin with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 110 (eighth) quartet in C minor. Shostakovich composed the piece in Dresden for the film Five Days, Five Nights, a joint project by Soviet and East German filmmakers to document the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. The score was written in only three days, July 12–14, 1960, and was given its concert premiere later that year in Leningrad by the Beethoven Quartet. It consists of five interconnected movements involving an intense rhetoric that recalls Shostakovich’s personal experiences with the Siege of Leningrad, another critical event in World War II.
The second work on the program will be Robert Schumann’s Opus 44 piano quintet in E-flat major. Like the Shostakovich quartet, it was the product of a rapid effort, taking only a few weeks between the end of September and the beginning of October in 1842. That year is known as Schumann’s “Chamber Music Year” due to his intense productivity in that genre. In contrast to Shostakovich, however, Schumann brought a vigorously positive rhetoric to his music. For their performance CMSSF will be joined by pianist Stephen Prutsman.
Three performances have been planned to take place during the first weekend in February. Specifics for the first of these concerts (on Friday) have not yet been finalized. Details for the other two are as follows:
Saturday, February 2, 7:30 p.m., Holy Innocent’s Episcopal Church: CMSSF will return to this familiar venue for the second installment in their set. The church is located in the Mission at 455 Fair Oaks Street. Ticket prices at the door will be $25 with a $5 rate for those under the age of eighteen. Tickets may be purchased online in advance through an Eventbrite event page.
Sunday, February 3, 7:30 p.m.: Once again the final performance will be a “house” concert. The scare quotes are intended to acknowledge that the venue will actually be a condominium in the Clock Tower, the home of Davidson and Edwin Bidwell-Waite. The Clock Tower is located in SoMa (and easily recognized by those headed for the Bay Bridge along Interstate 80) at 461 Second Street. This will be a free concert, but a $50 donation will be collected at the door. Advance registration will be required to make sure that the space does not get too crowded. An Eventbrite event page has been set up for registration (but not for collecting the necessary donation). Doors will open at 7 p.m., and a wine and cheese reception with the musicians will follow the performance.
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