An Evening of Music to Linger...Music by Faure, Elgar, Dvorak, Smetana...

The program opens with a nostalgic four-movement Violin Sonata by the iconic 20th century French composer Gabriel Faure. The first movement carries an expansive sonority, intertwined with dazzling octaves. The second movement has a sentimental timelessness followed by a capricious and jovial (scherzo-like) third movement. The sonata then ends with a brisk and vibrant fourth movement.

The first half of the program ends with Poeme, a rare gem from the mid-nineteenth century Bohemian composer Z. Fibich. It is truly an unpretentious and exquisite piece of violin literature.

The second half of the program is drenched in the luscious imagery of yet another influential Bohemian composer, Antonin Dvorak. This sonatina has a youthful and potent character, strongly evocative of the vigorous and charming slavic dance rhythm.

E.Elgar Sospiri was written as a pair of works with his signature miniature piece, Salute D'amor. At the time of completing Sospiri, the world had plunged into madness of the World War. Sospiri, tears of love, carries a poignancy and significance far different from what Elgar had intended.

The evening ends with Bohemian composer B.Smetana's My Homeland, a set of two-movement work modelled after his orchestral tone poems. The first movement is saturated with a charming and luscious tonal language quintessential to late Romantic violin music. The second movement carries a gleaming slavic folk-tuned melody that culminates into a dazzling coda in the finale.

Join me for an evening of violin music in this cafe and wine bar in the heart of Park Slope that supports music and art.

What's the music?

Sharon Yung