Chamber Music Society of San Francisco Plays Brahms and Haydn

The Chamber Music Society of San Francisco is delighted to bring a thrilling program of Brahms and Haydn to the beautiful and intimate Piedmont Center for the Arts.

Program:

Haydn String Quartet in G Major op. 76, no. 1

Brahms String Quartet in c minor, op. 51, no. 1

One of Haydn’s most beloved string quartets, op. 76, no.1 is exquisite from start to finish. The first movement is a lyrical and jovial conversation amongst friends, followed by a lusciously serene and meditative second movement. The stillness is gently re-energized by a cheeky dancing third movement and the work is capped with a fiery finale.

Brahms’ c minor String Quartet is the first of only three extraordinary string quartets that the perfectionist composer would publish in his lifetime. The work opens with a turbulent first movement, oscillating between surging lines of tension and extreme lyricism. The drama takes a breath in the tenderness of the second movement Romanze. The third movement is shrouded in mystery and the roiling fourth movement brings the quartet to a heart-racing finish.