HSQ and Friends: Piano Masterworks

The Haven String Quartet will be joined by Music Haven Resident Violinist Patrick Doane and renowned Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys for their third series concert featuring the soaring and timeless Brahms B major Piano Trio, the explosive Franck Piano Quintet, as well as the East Coast Premiere of Andrius Žlabys’ “Movement for String Quartet and Piano.” Written when the composer was a mere 20 years old, Brahms’ B Major Piano trio comes from a period of great personal and musical growth; the composer recently befriended Robert and Clara Schumann as well as famed composers Berlioz and Liszt, and had begun traveling around Europe presenting his compositions to great success. Known for it’s soaring lines, exuberance, and deep beauty, Brahms returned to the work some 35 years later with thorough revisions, and the trio is a true blend of Brahms’ youthful vigor and masterful nuance. Franck’s Piano Quintet in F Minor, dedicated to his dear friend and composer Saint-Saëns, is full of fiery drama, and is one of Franck’s most frequently performed pieces. Lauded at it’s premiere, critics hailed the work for its “torrid emotional power,” and its “disturbing vitality.”

Andrius Žlabys, Movement for String Quartet and Piano (2016)

Johannes Brahms, Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8 (1854)

Cesar Franck, Piano Quintet in F Minor (1879)