CMS Front Row was originally conceived in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to perform for live audiences in the concert hall. CMS Front Row was created to sustain audiences and provide a new way to experience this beautiful art form in a meaningful and innovative way, from the virtual “Front Row,” in the comfort and safety of listeners’ homes.
Chamber Music Tulsa is proud to work with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to bring these world-class pre-recorded concert directly to you! Each performance will be available to stream on this page at any time during the allotted five day period.
Past Front Row Concerts
Anthony McGill
April 13-19, 2021
Anthony McGill is one of the most acclaimed musicians of our time. He performed on our series with the McGill/McHale Trio in what turned out to be the final “in-person” concerts we presented in March 2020.
Program
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992)
“Abyss of the Birds” from Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) (1940-41)
Anthony McGill, clarinet
FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963)
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1962)
Anthony McGill, clarinet • Gloria Chien, piano
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Trio in A minor for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 114 (1891)
Anthony McGill, clarinet • Alisa Weilerstein, cello • Inon Barnatan, piano
Gilbert Kalish
March 4-10, 2021
Pianist Gilbert Kalish is the featured artist for music by Schubert, Brahms, and Crumb. This is a fascinating program that includes a set of songs written by a teenage George Crumb, a song cycle composed at the very end of Schubert’s all-too-short life, and one of Brahms's masterful quartets for piano and strings. Even Brahms acknowledged that his passionate work was partly autobiographical, capturing the tension and ardor of his younger self in love with Clara Schumann.
Program
GEORGE CRUMB (b. 1929)
Three Early Songs for Voice and Piano (1947)
Tony Arnold, soprano • Gilbert Kalish, piano
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
“Der Hirt auf dem Felsen” for Soprano, Clarinet, and Piano, D. 965, Op. 129 (1828)
Lisette Oropesa, soprano • David Shifrin, clarinet • Gilbert Kalish, piano
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Quartet No. 3 in C minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 60 (1855-56, 1874)
Gilbert Kalish, piano • Nicolas Dautricourt, violin • Paul Neubauer, viola
• Torleif Thedéen,cello
Calidore String Quartet
January 13-19, 2021
The Calidore String Quartet opened our season in 2017 and wowed us with their passionate and beautiful music-making. They have established themselves as one of the most acclaimed young string quartets of our time. This archive concert from Front Row/Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is the perfect thing to counter the post-holiday winter doldrums. Mendelssohn’s extraordinary final string quartet was composed in the months following his beloved sister Fanny’s death, pouring out his love and grief for her in impassioned music. The Quartet is then joined by bass player Xavier Foley for a performance of Dvořák’s Quintet in G Major. The work is full of energetic folk tunes and dances, and Dvořák takes full advantage of the bass to add a rich lushness to the sound.
Program
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Quartet in F minor for Strings, Op. 80 (1847)
Allegro vivace assai
Allegro assai
Adagio
Finale: Allegro molto
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Quintet in G major for Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Bass, Op. 77 (1875)
Allegro con fuoco
Scherzo: Allegro vivace
Poco andante
Finale: Allegro assai
Jeffrey Myers, Ryan Meehan, Jeremy Berry, Estelle Choi, Xavier Foley
David Shifrin
October 1-5, 2020
Clarinetist David Shifrin has been a major presence in the chamber music world for decades as both performer and artistic director. In these beautiful performances, drawn from the archive video recordings of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, we experience a program of great variety. Shifrin makes the clarinet sing like an operatic soloist in Mozart’s masterpiece quintet, and shows the clarinet’s range and brilliance in Bassi’s flight of fancy based on tunes from Verdi’s opera “Rigoletto”. The program closes with a lament by American master Duke Ellington, originally composed for the clarinetist of Ellington’s jazz orchestra.
Michael Brown
November 12-15, 2020
Last summer, when more and more concert offerings started becoming available in a virtual format, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center combed through video archives to put together interesting programs to offer as part of their “Front Row” series. We watched this concert by pianist Michael Brown and absolutely loved it. It was all music mostly new to Chamber Music Tulsa. Bruce couldn’t believe he’d never heard a concert performance of Barber’s “Souvenirs” in its original 4-hand version. And we would rarely be able to offer this wonderful Sextet by Mendelssohn on our series with its expanded instrumentation of piano, violin, 2 violas, cello, and bass. It is a thrilling work and we can’t wait to watch this performance again!
