West Stockbridge — If not for the West Stockbridge Chamber Players, there would, of course, be less world-class music performed in town. But there would also be less of a town hall to perform it in. Because the Players (clarinetist Catherine Hudgins and several of her friends from the Boston Symphony Orchestra), have, since 2009, seen fit to support the Campaign to Restore the Old Town Hall by giving several benefit performances each year. The group will give its last performance of 2022, a program of Debussy, Beach, Mozart, and Schumann, on Wednesday, December 28, at 5 p.m., in the West Stockbridge Congregational Church.
The lineup of musicians for Wednesday consists of the group’s founder, Catherine Hudgins on clarinet; Sheila Fiekowsky on violin; Daniel Getz on viola; and Brett Hodgdon on piano.
Here’s the program for Wednesday:
- Claude Debussy — “Première rhapsodie“
- Amy Beach — Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 34
- W. A. Mozart — String Duo No. 1 in G major for violin and viola, K.423
- Robert Schumann — Märchenerzählungen, Op. 132 (Fairy Tales)
Debussy’s rhapsodie is pure magic. It is also highly demanding for the clarinetist. Watch Ms. Hudgins surprise everyone on this piece with a facility you never knew she had.
Amy Beach is worthy of your attention because her “Gaelic” Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, is considered the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. (Four years earlier, the Handel and Haydn Society had premiered her Mass in E flat.)
Beach’s A minor violin sonata is lyrical, immediately accessible, late-Romantic fare. And—wow!—is it emotionally charged! The effervescent second movement is uncommonly cheerful and guaranteed to raise a smile. The whole piece is riveting.
Mozart’s string duo, a startlingly intimate conversation between violin and viola, will put Ms. Fiekowsky and Mr. Getz through their paces in a most revealing way. And what’s revealed is their chops.
There is something inherently charming about any Robert Schumann piece written expressly for family performance in the living room. And you can hear it in Märchenerzählungen—a little bit of Robert’s personality, from the whimsical side. (Remember, he was the father of eight children.)
“Märchen” is German for fairy tale, and there really is a fantastical quality to this music, even in march-like passages, as though it inhabits other worlds. The third movement is like an uber lullaby—so sweet and soothing, it wants to bind you in a spell.
All the works on Wednesday’s program require the services of a highly skilled collaborative pianist like Brett Hodgdon.
Hear the West Stockbridge Chamber Players perform a program of Debussy, Beach, Mozart, and Schumann at the West Stockbridge Congregational Church on Wednesday, December 28 at 5 p.m. Purchase tickets here.
