MUSIC

Cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, Gold Medalist of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, joins the BCMS ensemble to open its 2011-12 season with a program featuring works by Mozart, Loeffler, Schumann and Gubaidulina. In the Piano Trio in B-flat, Mozart combined splendid part writing with the most personal expression and created a true masterpiece. Loeffler’s Four Poems for Mezzo, Viola and Piano employ texts by leading Symbolist poets Baudelaire and Verlaine, using the same forces as did Brahms in his Op. 91 songs. Sharing similar melodic gestures, the three pieces in Schumann’s Fantasiestücke allude to each other and when united progress incrementally in unleashing passion. Sofia Gubaidulina, who will celebrate her 80th birthday on October 24, is one of the most admired composers working today. Written during her student years at the Moscow Conservatory, the Piano Quintet is driven by distinct rhythmic pulses and exudes a distinctly piquant quality that reveals the wit she absorbed by way of Shostakovich. Other musicians include Krista River, Mezzo-soprano; Ida Levin and Jennifer Frautschi, violins; Roger Tapping, viola; Mihae Lee, piano