Virtuoso Winds at CMS
By Brian Taylor November 17, 2024
Alice Tully Hall was filled to the brim on Sunday for Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Virtuoso Winds, a jigsaw puzzle with six pieces. Six musicians combined in various duos, a trio, and eventually in a thrilling sextet, illuminating the simple joy, and powerful possibilities, of making music together.
Clarinetist David Shifrin, who has a long history with CMS, and Marc Goldberg, principal bassoonist of Orchestra of St. Luke’s, began the evening with a charming two movement duet attributed (somewhat dubiously) to Beethoven. Duo No. 3 in B-flat Major for Clarinet and Basson, WoO 27, if indeed Beethoven, is not the Beethoven of the “Kreutzer,” or “Appassionata” Sonatas. Yet his distinct mastery of form is evident: the first movement, Allegro sostenuto, has a middle section turns its gaze to an unexpected minor key, in an elevated moment of introspection; the second movement, a theme and variations, builds satisfyingly in cleverly constructed patterns.