1. Chamber Music Concert

Vincent Persichetti Serenade Nr. 6 for trombone, viola and violoncello
Gustav Mahler Piano quartet A minor
Alfred Schnittke Piano quartet
Ottorino Respighi String quartet No. 3 D major

In his Serenade No. 6 dating from 1950, the American composer Vincent Persichetti combines two string instruments with a trombone, sometimes engaging them in an animated conversation, sometimes in a dreamy indulgence. This piece is followed by Gustav Mahler’s piano quartet, which was composed during his student days and is his only surviving work of chamber music. Apart from sketches for a scherzo only the first movement of the work has survived, which in this concert meets Alfred Schnittke’s piano quartet referring to Mahler’s quartet fragment. In this work, composed in 1988, Schnittke attempts to "remember something that did not come about (...), a sound quality that could not be thought through to the end." Mahler’s quartet sound shimmers through dimly, but is strongly alienated by clusters and polyphonic structures. The open end also gives Schnittke’s quartet the character of a fragment. The final piece is the colorful String quartet in D major by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, marked by its turn-of-the-century harmonies.