Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players

“This was music-making of a very high order”
“at the Jupiter concerts, there is always so much about which to be enthusiastic.”
“the rarities glittered like jewels”

Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun
view more reviews

Join Our Mailing List!

Greetings!     Welcome to Jupiter, where you’ll find heavenly music played by a constellation of stars.     Just as you visit a museum to view art by major and minor masters, you’ll hear music of major and minor composers at Jupiter, in programs designed by our brilliant artistic director Michael Volpert.     The familiar and new discoveries to enjoy are also enhanced by our venue’s great acoustics and convivial ambience.     We thank our generous Patrons and Friends in spades for the privilege of offering these musical feasts made possible by their support. We thank the musicians for learning the repertoire, some of which is very difficult and will leave you gasping with awe and admiration. And we thank all of you for coming to Jupiter to savor its array of delectable concerts. You’ll continue to have: ♦ HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation ♦ Ventilation—as much as possible ♦ Spaced-apart seating for better sight lines ♦ Affordable ticket prices    Ticket reservations are advised to avoid disappointment at the door. Not least, please consider a gift to help Jupiter create the best music making around.    All gifts are tax deductible.    Thank you so much,

Artistic director Michael Volpert and Jens Nygaard circa late 1990s

Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality.

View Our NEW Season Calendar

more details here...

View Our Printable Calendar and Ticket Order Form (pdf)

Take a look at our guest artists for this season.
Find out more about the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Join us for our next concerts...

Monday, March 17 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Blazing Stars
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

Hyunah Yu soprano
Prizewinner at the 1999 Naumburg competition and recipient of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award ~ “absolutely captivating...with exceptional style and effortless lyrical grace. The audience, to judge by the general swooning, was helplessly in love by the end.” The Washington Post

Roman Rabinovich piano
Winner of the Rubinstein, Animato and Arjil competitions, the Mezzo and Salon de Virtuosi awards, and the Vendome Prize ~ “admirable interpretations...performed with a rich, full-blooded sound, singing lines and witty dexterity.” The New York Times

Stefan Jackiw violin
Winner of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant “Talent that’s Off the Scale” Washington Post  ~ “...a legend in the making. He has everything he needs to make an exceptional career for himself – flawless technique, precocious musical understanding, and a sweet, singing tone.” Chicago Tribune

Ariel Horowitz violin
Winnner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Ambassador Prize, and winnings at the Grumiaux, Stulberg, and Klein competitions, and the Salon De Virtuosi Career Grant ~ “Sweetly Lyrical” Washington Post

Clara Neubauer violin
Silver Medal winner at the 2020 National YoungArts Competition, first prize at the 2019 Symphony of Westchester and 2017 Adelphi Young Artist competitions., and winner of the 2017 Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center ~ recently featured on the WQXR Young Musicians Showcase

Sofia Gilchenok viola
A rising young artist, she has been described as “both stylish and entrancing” by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra ~ she serves as Principal Violist of Symphony in C, and recently participated in the Kronberg Academy’s 2023 master classes with Tabea Zimmermann

Mihai Marica cello
Winner of the Irving Klein, Viña del Mar, Salon de Virtuosi and Dotzauer competitions ~ “Mihai is a brilliant cellist and interpreter of music. His playing is spellbinding.” Mitchell Sardou Klein

Yoonah Kim clarinet
Winner of the 2016 Concert Artists Guild Competition and first prizewinner of the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition ~ hailed by The New York Times for her “inexhaustible virtuosity.”

Franz CLEMENT  Introduction and Polonaise in E Major
   ~ in Classical style, for violin virtuoso and string quartet

Clement—a native son and favorite of the Viennese public who stood on chairs to applaud him—was a virtuoso violinist and composer. Born in 1780, the child prodigy began playing the violin at age 4 and was exploited by his father. By 1790, at age 10, he performed successful concerts in London, some of which were conducted by Haydn and Johann Peter Salomon. When Beethoven heard Clement perform in 1794, he lauded his talent, writing in Clement’s book of remembrances that he “would reach the greatest goal possible to an artist here on earth” and urged him to “return soon so that I may hear your dear magnificent playing.” From 1802 to 1811 Clement served as director and concertmaster of the newly-established Theater an der Wien. In his benefit concerts and in other musical concerts led by him, he performed Beethoven’s works at a time when the master’s genius was not yet recognized. In 1805, a benefit concert for Clement presented the first performance of the Eroica (conducted by Beethoven) at the Theater an der Wien, and in 1806 the premiere of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (written for and commissioned by Clement). These are merely two of the famous ones. As to his skill, Clement played some variations “mid umgekehrter Violin”—with the violin reversed—and a sonata on a single string! He is also known for his phenomenal memory. He wrote a piano reduction of Haydn’s The Creation, among other works, based only on his participation as a violinist. Louis Sphor also recorded in his autobiography that after hearing 2 rehearsals and a performance of the oratorio, The Last Judgement, Clement played several long passages from it on the piano the next day, with all the harmonies and accompanying passages, without ever having seen the score. He published several compositions of his own as well, including a Violin Concerto in D Major. In his later years, his decline as an artist was observed by Beethoven, who refused Clement the position of concertmaster at the premiere of the Ninth Symphony, and wrote in his conversation book, after a concert in 1819 featuring Clement’s variations on a theme of Beethoven, that Clement’s work was “Poor stuff.” Sadly, Clement’s career ended in distress because of financial mismanagement which left him impoverished when he died in 1842.

Louis SPOHR  6 Deutsche Lieder Op. 103
   ~ marvelous “German Songs” about life and love—for soprano, clarinet, and piano

While the Songs are rooted in the Classical tradition of Mozart (whom he revered), they anticipate the works of Richard Wagner (whose music he championed) with their grand virtuosic gestures and chromatic harmonies. As to the origin of the Songs, Spohr recounted in his autobiography, “I received a letter from [Johann Simon] Hermstedt in which, on the instructions of Princess Sondershausen, he invited me to write for the latter some songs for soprano voice with piano and clarinet accompaniment. Since this work very much appealed to me, I composed in the course of a few weeks six songs in this genre…which I dedicated to the Princess at her express wish, thereupon receiving from her the gift of a valuable ring.” At the premiere, the clarinet part was played by his longtime friend and the foremost clarinetist in his day, Hermstedt, for whom Spohr had already written four concertos. He was the Duke’s clarinet teacher and was known for his technical brilliance and a style marked by striking gradations of tone. In order to maximize Hermstedt’s mastery, Spohr wrote florid obbligatos as well as passages to show the clarinet’s lyrical qualities. Hermstedt included the Songs in his last recital in 1840.

Spohr (1784–1859) was a dominant force in German music and was as famous as Beethoven—he served in a number of court positions, he was the celebrated leading violin virtuoso, he was one of the most sought-after and prolific composers of the first half of the 19th century, and is considered a forerunner of early Romanticism. He also was an ideas man—he invented the chin rest, introduced the use of the baton and rehearsal numbers, developed the double quartet after Andreas Romberg first proposed the idea, revived the music of Bach and Handel, and he was the author of an influential violin method, as well as a wonderful autobiography that included details his many travels throughout Europe. In addition to his musical activities, he was a family man who enjoyed a happy social life and varied pursuits like swimming, ice-skating, hiking, gardening, and painting.

SCHUBERT  Quartettsatz in C minor D.703
   ~ powerful, fiery, dramatic first movement of an intended 12th String Quartet

Schubert is known to have written 15 string quartets. As a teenager, from 1810 to 1816, he wrote 11 in the classicism of Haydn and Mozart for the family to play (his brothers Ferdinand and Ignaz on violin, himself on viola, and his father on cello); the incomplete Quartettsatz; and 3 later epic string quartets auguring the Romantic age. The 12th quartet thus stands at a tipping point in his life. According to musicologist Robert Winter, the Quartettsatz is “a work of furious intensity that heralded Schubert’s maturity as a composer of instrumental music.” As its name implies, Schubert wrote only the first movement, followed by 41 measures of the Andante; it was unfinished. Long after his death in 1828, the manuscript landed in the hands of Brahms who collected Schubert scores; he edited and published it in 1870. Its posthumous premiere was performed on 1 March 1867 in Vienna.

BEETHOVEN  Piano Trio in D Major “Ghost” Op. 70 No. 1
   ~ famous for its highly original dark and mysterious Largo movement, thus named “Ghost” by his pupil Carl Czerny because it reminded him of Hamlet’s ghost

Beethoven’s own notes reveal that he was sketching an opera about Macbeth at the time! The Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich states that “this is one of the first atmospheric ‘mood-pieces’ in music history, where elements of tone-color tend to blur the formal outline. The dark gloom of this Largo, which stands in such striking contrast to the brightness of the outer movements, is further enhanced by the frequent low rumblings on the piano.”

In 1808, Spohr rehearsed the “Ghost” with Beethoven at the latter’s home. He recounted that the piano was out of tune and that Beethoven’s playing was “harsh or careless.” The two men were friends, and Spohr admired Beethoven’s music, especially the early string quartets, which he usually played in most of his chamber concerts until the end of his performing career in 1858. Although Spohr did not understand or appreciate Beethoven’s later works he felt it his duty to promote his music by conducting it in orchestral concerts.

Monday, March 24 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Classical Evolution
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

Charles Berofsky piano
Among his many awards are 3rd prize at the 2022 New York International Piano Competition, 2022 New England Conservatory Piano Competition, 2021 Thousand Islands (1st prize and audience favorite), 2021 Chautauqua (2nd prize), and the 2020 Eastman School of Music piano concerto competitions

Oliver Neubauer violin
Recipient of the Gold Award at the 2018 National YoungArts Competition and winner of the 2017 Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Clara Neubauer violin
Silver Medal winner at the 2020 National YoungArts Competition, first prize at the 2019 Symphony of Westchester and 2017 Adelphi Young Artist competitions., and winner of the 2017 Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center ~ recently featured on the WQXR Young Musicians Showcase

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola
Winnings include First Prize at the 2013 Banff Competition, Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 2010 Fischoff Competition, First Prize at the Lionel Tertis Viola Competition, and top prizes at the Tokyo and Sphinx competitions ~ “she should have a great future” Tully Potter ~ Wigmore Hall ~ “lyricism that stood out...a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines” Strad Magazine

Kevonna Shuford viola
A vibrant musician, she has performed with ensembles such as the Boston Philharmonic, Atlantic Symphony, and Palaver Strings; and she has appeared as an artist at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, Encore Chamber Music Program, and Meadowmount School of Music

Zlatomir Fung cello
A recipient of the 2022 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant; the first American in four decades and the youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Cello Division; winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists Auditions and 2017 Astral National Auditions; First Prizewinner of the 2018 Schoenfeld, 2016 Enescu, 2015 Johansen, 2014 Stulberg, and 29th Irving Klein Competitions; Second Prizewinner at the 2018 Paolo (Finland) competition; selected a 2016 Presidential Scholar of the Arts

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Anna Amalia von BRUNSWICK-WOLFENBÜTTEL  Divertimento in Bb Major
   ~ an engaging quartet for piano, clarinet, viola, and cello by the niece of Frederick the Great, reflecting the “sensitive style” and containing early Classical elements—in 2 movements comprising a stately Adagio and a brisk Allegro

The use of the clarinet, a young instrument beginning to attract notice at the time, is remarkable in that it preceded Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto by 10 years. The “sensitive style”— Emfindsamer Stil—was an “important movement occurring in northern German instrumental music during the mid-18th century…characterized by an emphasis upon the expression of a variety of deeply felt emotions within a musical work…. [It sought] to give a composition an aura of simplicity and naturalness, qualities highly prized in the philosophical outlook of the Enlightenment [Encyclopedia Britannica].”

Anna Amalia was an influential cultural force in Weimar. Born a princess in 1739 into a powerful royal dynasty, Anna Amalia became a duchess upon her marriage to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenbach when she was 18. Her husband died in 1758, before her 20th birthday, leaving her with 2 young children. Widowed, she assumed the role of regent until her son and heir reached his majority. During her enlightened reign, which lasted till 1775, she proved herself a talented stateswoman. Politically and financially astute, despite the challenges of the Seven Years’ War, she developed the economy of the Duchy, strengthening its reputation and resources. She also transformed her court and its environs into the most influential cultural center in Germany through the creation of the Musenhof, or court of muses. It was known throughout Europe for its rich musical and cultural life, and attracted artists, composers, and writers—leaders in the German Enlightenment, including Friedrich Schiller and Goethe, who became her friend. The literati wrote poems and texts for the songs of the new German opera, the Singspiel. The Duchess herself became a respected composer—she set some of Goethe’s texts (including Erwin and Elmire) to music, and wrote operas and symphonies that were performed at the court and beyond. Her compositions show her as an “elegant amateur free of ambition” who reflected the taste and spirit of her epoch. In 1766 she moved the court’s book collection that included 13,000 volumes of music to the Library in Weimar named after her—Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek—a unique source for the compositions of Bach and his contemporaries. When her regency ended, she devoted herself to culture and also toured Italy with Goethe. She died in 1807.

Mozart’s pupil and piano virtuoso, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, elevated the musical standing of Anna Amalia and Goethe’s Weimar. When Hummel succeeded Goethe in 1818 as Kapellmeister of the Court Theatre, a position he held till his death in 1837, he brought the “Silver Age of Music” to Weimar and performed the works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, as well as Weber’s Der Freischütz, an international success.

Johann Christian BACH  Keyboard Quartet in G Major W.B. 66
   ~ “Mozart before Mozart” at its finest, in the early Classical gallant style

JC Bach was the youngest son and the 10th of 12 children born to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. As stated in the New Grove Dictionary, “His style, which was largely derived from Italian opera, was the most important single influence on Mozart, and rested on a foundation of excellent craftsmanship, graceful melody and a fine sense of form, texture and colour.” Born in Leipzig in 1735, JC spent several years in Italy before moving to London, where he was appointed Music Master to Queen Charlotte in 1762 and became known as the “London Bach” and the “English Bach.” When Mozart visited London at the age of 8, he admired JC’s charming, effortless music, and the two formed a warm friendship and would sometimes improvise together. Chris de Sousa described their relationship and JC’s influence in the BBC Music Magazine: “Mozart’s sister recalled how Bach put Mozart in front of him at the keyboard, where one would play a bar, the other would carry on, ‘and in this way they played a whole sonata, and someone not seeing it would have thought that only one man was playing’…. Haydn and JC Bach are the only composers in his vast correspondence with his father for whom only kind words are to be read…. When the Mozarts left London, they took more music by Johann Christian Bach with them, including the Sonatas Op. 17 No. 2, whose finale looks forward to Mozart’s own C minor Sonata. Mozart consciously modelled much of his music on specific works by JC Bach.” His death on 1 January 1782 at age 46 was noted by Mozart as “a loss to the musical world.”

Franz DANZI  Variations on a Theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni
   ~ reveals his reverence for the Classicism of Mozart, as well as the beginnings of the Romanticism of Weber, whose music he respected and promoted as his mentor—for cello and piano

The Variations was originally written for cello and orchestra. Its source is Don Giovanni’s attempted seduction of the village girl, Zerlina, with his invitation “Là ci darem la mano” (“Give me thy hand, my fairest”). The theme is followed by variations and concludes with the duet, “Andiam, andiam, mio bene” (“Let’s go, with thee, my treasure”).

Danzi (1763–1826) was the German-born Italian composer best known for his chamber music. His father, the noted Italian cellist Innozenz Danzi, was one of the highest paid musicians in the famous Mannheim Orchestra and taught him the cello, piano, and singing. Franz himself joined the orchestra as a cellist at age 15. The teenager was thus immersed in a rich musical and cultural life at a significant time in the history of European concert music. The town made such an impression on Franz that when the court moved to Munich in 1778, he preferred to stay in Mannheim and join the orchestra of the newly founded National Theatre. Furthermore, the efforts to establish a native German opera at the Theatre gave young Danzi his first experience and successes as a composer and conductor. In 1783 Danzi succeeded his father as a cellist in the Munich court, after Karl Theodor moved his court there. In 1790 he married the singer Margarethe Marchand, with whom he toured successfully as a conductor. After his wife’s early death in 1800 he returned to Mannheim. In 1807 he was appointed Kapellmeister in Stuttgart where he met Weber, and in 1812 he accepted the post of Kapellmeister at the Baden court in Karlsruhe, where he was again able to stage operas by Weber. Danzi was a prolific composer in many genres. His career spanned the transition from the late Classical to the early Romantic styles—the origin of much of the classical music we hear today.

Carl Maria von WEBER  Andante e rondo ongarese J. 79
   ~ evocative of the Gypsy music common among the street performers in Vienna, a style already used by Haydn and Mozart

Originally written for his stepbrother Fritz for viola and orchestra, it was never published in Weber’s lifetime. In 1813, when Georg Friedrich Brandt (a bassoonist in the Munich Orchestra) asked for a bassoon concerto, Weber reworked it to feature the bassoon as the solo instrument. The new version, published as Op. 35, retains the character of the work, with the Rondo’s rhythms emphasizing the Hungarian flavor of the music. It is the version generally played today.

Weber (1765–1826) was a first cousin of Mozart’s wife Constanze. (Her father Franz Fridolin was the half-brother of Weber’s father, Franz Anton, whose wife Genovefa Brenner was a Viennese soprano who was briefly engaged for Goethe’s theatre in Weimar). Constanze’s three sisters—Josepha, Aloysia, and Sophie—were all notable singers and performed in premieres of a number of Mozart’s works. In 1821 Weber wrote Der Freischütz, one of the first Romantic German operas. Its unearthly portrayal of the supernatural in the Wolf’s Glen scene has been described as “the most expressive rendering of the gruesome that is to be found in a musical score.” It was performed in Weimar under the directorship of Hummel.

MOZART  String Quintet No. 3 in C Major K. 515
   ~ his supreme chamber music masterpiece (together with K. 516)—the most expansive and most richly developed of all his chamber works

The composer Maximilian Stadler recalled that Haydn and Mozart played the String Quintets (K. 515, K. 516, and K. 593) in chamber music performances, where the two of them took the viola parts.

Although Mozart was successful as a pianist and composer, he was under serious financial strain during the last 5 years of his life (1786–1791)—his popularity had waned among the fickle Viennese, which meant a decline in income, while he continued to sustain a lifestyle to which he was accustomed. In February 1787 Mozart returned to Vienna (from Prague), where no Viennese appearances are recorded in that year. His father Leopold had also died on 28 May, and he buried his pet starling on 4 June. Written in the spring of 1787, Mozart made an effort to sell the String Quintets in 1788. He placed a “Musical Notice” in the Wiener Zeitung and the Weimar Journal des Luxus und der Moden: “Three new Quintets…which I offer on subscription, handsomely and correctly written. The price for the subscribers is 4 ducats or 18 fl. Viennese currency. The subscription tickets are to be had daily from Herr Puchberg at Sallinz’s warehouse at the Hohe Markt where the works will be available from 1 July….” The subscription was intended to help clear a debt to Michael Puchberg, the wealthy textile merchant. In the view of H.C. Robbins Landon, “It is now thought that Mozart simply wrote this set of three works on speculation.… He played them with his friends for a year and then decided to sell them in manuscript copies.” The quintets, however, were not snapped up by the amateurs, in part because they were beyond their instrumental ability. Eventually, he sold “two of the first set of three Quintets to Artaria who brought them out in 1789 (K.515) and August 1790 (K.516). Yet despite all these sources of extra income, Mozart was now living permanently beyond his means—and principally because of the costs incurred by Constanze’s lengthy cures.”

Jupiter 2024 - 2025 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM
Good Shepherd Church ♦ 152 West 66 Street

View Our Season Calendar

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​

Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive

Concert Venue:
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway), New York

“one of the most refined and intelligent church spaces in New York” ~ The New York Times Built in 1893 by Josiah Cleveland Cady, architect of the old Metropolitan Opera House and the American Museum of Natural History

Office Address:
JUPITER SYMPHONY
155 West 68th Street, Suite 319
New York, NY 10023
admin@jupitersymphony.com
(212) 799-1259

Like our Facebook page to see photos, videos,
concert information and the latest news

Jupiter in the News

ConcertoNet
“knocked the socks off this listener...It was wondrous chamber music. And the three artists gave it the deserving excitement, volition and imagination.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

“the performers were top notch”
“The homey church where these concerts take place, nestled on West 66th Street in the shadow of Lincoln Center, is an intimate and acoustically vibrant place for chamber music.”
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times   more...

Strad Magazine
“A finely forthright, fluent and expressive account of Haydn's Divertimento in E-flat major opened this programme of miscellaneous chamber music in a series known for adventurous programming.”
Dennis Rooney, Strad Magazine   more...

ConcertoNet
“Mr. Nygaard’s cadenza flowed down Mozart lanes and paths, each with beautiful backgrounds. And at the very end, Mr. Nygaard brought forth that martial major theme, like an unexpected gift.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

“...the group’s efforts proved illuminating ...Brown played a lovely, subtly virtuosic cadenza for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 by Jens Nygaard, the ensemble’s founder, who died in 2001, but whose fascination with rarities continues to drive its programming”
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times   more...

As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him.

Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy.

John FIELD  Divertissement No. 1 H. 13
  ~ simply delicious piano quintet, alternately titled Rondeau Pastoral and better known in its version for solo piano, Twelve O’clock Rondo, on account of the 12 “chimes” at the end ~ by the creator of the Nocturne, which had a major influence on Chopin

We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sung viola
Christine Lamprea cello

Sir Hamilton HARTY  Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12
  ~ in a lyrical Romantic idiom, with a distinct, breezy Irish-salted voice

Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento.

Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sun viola
Christine Lamprea cello

I Allegro 0:00
II Vivace 10:43
III Lento 14:44
IV Allegro con brio 23:59