Pittsfield — In more than a century of hosting the world’s top chamber music ensembles at its historic performance hall at 730 South Street in Pittsfield, South Mountain Concerts has probably never booked an ensemble that more fully epitomizes the chamber-music ethos than Wu Han, David Finckel, and their partners du jour. Indeed, the two have been fixtures at South Mountain for many years.
Their program for the 8th is as follows:
- Beethoven — String Trio in C Major, Op. 9, No. 3
- Smetana — Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 15
- Schumann — Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
Watch what they do with the Beethoven, because the last time Wu Han’s group performed one of the three Opus 9 trios, they brought the house down. When they performed Opus 9 No. 1 at South Mountain in the fall of 2021, the crowd responded with a standing ovation—quite unusual for the first piece on a chamber music program (and it was absolutely appropriate).
A more cheerfully audacious work than Beethoven’s Op. 9 will be difficult to find. Written in 1797–1798, when the composer was 28 years old, this set of three works begins to hint at the composer’s “heroic” style. By the late 1790s, he was gradually moving away from the influences of Mozart and Haydn, and you can hear that shift.
For sheer drama and smoldering passion, it is hard to beat Smetana’s Opus 15 piano trio. Written in 1855 following the death of his eldest daughter BedÅ™iÅ¡ka, the piece employs dramatic contrasts blended with Romantic lyricism to express the composer’s grief. It is a staple of the piano trio repertoire.
If you want to understand what inspired Brahms and Dvořák to write their piano quintets, look no further than Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44. It is one of the most recognizable and influential works in the chamber music repertoire, and many consider it to be one of Schumann’s greatest achievements.
South Mountain is a good place to catch rising stars. On this occasion, Chad Hoopes is the man to watch. He won first prize at the Young Artists Division of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition and received a Lincoln Center Avery Fischer Career Grant in 2017, which puts him in the same league as Kirill Gerstein, Yuja Wang, Leila Josefowicz, Joshua Bell, and Hilary Hahn. So his star has been rising for some time. But you can’t help noticing that he is young enough to be David Finckel’s son. He is professor of practice in violin at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Violinist Richard Lin has won more competitions than I can name here, in Poland, the U.S., Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan. In 2013, he won the first prize in the Sendai International Music Competition and, in 2015, the third prize laureate in the ninth Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, Hanover. In 2016, he was the fifth prize laureate in the 15th Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition and, in 2018, won first prize in the 10th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He studied under Professor Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Professor Lewis Kaplan at the Juilliard School.
Violist Matthew Lipman impressed everyone in 2021 when he filled in at the last moment for an injured Paul Neubauer. Lipman performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and collaborates regularly with violinists Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, and Benjamin Beilman; violists Tabea Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, and Timothy Ridout; cellists David Finckel and Jan Vogler; pianists Jeremy Denk, Igor Levit, Sir András Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, and Wu Han; and the Calidore and Dover String Quartets.
As the longest serving artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Wu Han and David Finckel have had a significant impact on chamber music’s public profile around the world, having substantially shaped the way people think about it in the 21st century. For example, when he performed as a member of the Emerson String Quartet, David Finckel always projected a certain kind of wit that I seldom see in chamber musicians. Each season, the two present about 200 concerts, lectures, master classes, and outreach events. In recent seasons, they produced over 270 digital events, an effort that sustained chamber music communities across the country.
Married in 1985, David Finckel and Wu Han divide their time between touring and residences in New York City and Westchester County.
Wu Han and friends have a way of playing piano quintets as though their lives depend on the outcome. This performance will be no exception.
Hear Wu Han and friends perform a program of Beethoven, Smetana, and Schumann at South Mountain Concerts, 730 South Street, Pittsfield, on September 8, at 3 p.m. More information and tickets are available here.
