It is striking how quickly the Willy Street Chamber Players have become a major component of Madison’s summer musical life, drawing large and enthusiastic audiences.
At Immanuel Lutheran Church on Spaight Street, their usual base, the Willys launched their third season July 7 with an absolutely delightful program. Demonstrating the group’s commitment to living composers, the first offering was a compact treatment of the familiar hymn Amazing Grace by Pulitzer prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. Cast in a rich polyphonic texture, the piece was beautiful and satisfying.
The second item was the string quartet version of Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade. Originally part of a full string quartet, it was separated from its context and has become a popular item for quartet ensembles. The composer also arranged it for chamber orchestra. One may argue just how “Italian” this writing of a Viennese composer is, but its wit and sprightly rhythms make it an ever-enjoyable favorite.
The meat of the program was the String Sextet No. 2, Op. 36, by Johannes Brahms. This is a masterful piece not only of chamber-scale writing but of endlessly beautiful musical content. The first of its four movements is a grand essay in sonata form, based on two glowing themes. The slow third movement is a subtly woven theme with variations, while the scherzo and the final movement are full of rousing melodic display, in a spirit that at times almost seems to look back to Mendelssohn.
As a form, the string sextet is unique in its balances of texture. It is not at all an expanded string quartet, but is a work for three pairs of instruments — two each of violins, violas and cellos. How these instruments pair up against each other, or intermingle, is an endlessly fascinating test of the composer’s skill, absorbingly met in this Brahms score.
These textures assumed added piquancy because three of the players kept alternating through the program between violin and viola; the violinists appeared to delight in the chance to play viola.
Also noteworthy was the presence again this year (in the Brahms) of violinist Suzanne Beia of the Pro Arte Quartet, ever the wise mentor and role model. Just to watch her interacting with these splendid younger players is inspiring.
The Willy Street Chamber Players’ remaining concerts are July 21 and July 28 at Immanuel Lutheran Church (2021 Spaight St.).
