Music in the Desert

Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Steve Reich wrote his quasi-cantata "The Desert Music" in 1984 to texts by William Carlos Williams. like many of Reich's works that use words, this one is a social commentary on the challenges and perils that mankind faces in the wake of technology. We'll hear it tonight (today marks the composer's 70th birthday) in its chamber version with the ensembles Alarm will Sound and Ossia.

Also tonight, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her frequent collaborator pianist Lambert Orkis bring us Mozart's Violin Sonata in F, followed by another dynamic duo, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Robert Veyron-Lacroix in Telemann's Flute Sonata (this one in F Minor). Beethoven's Clarinet leads the second hour with the Clarinet Trio in B-flat from the Nash Ensemble; as we head towards Fall we'll hear pianist Christoph Eschenbach in a lovely performance of Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons."

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