May the Fours Be With You

To celebrate SoHIP’s 40th anniversary, The Berry Collective plays chamber music from the final four decades of the 18th century, featuring four players in varying configurations. Between the 1760’s and 1790’s the domestic music-making scene was buoyed by a burgeoning middle class, a rapid rise in the number of music publishers, and a proliferation of piano builders. The “accompanied keyboard sonatas” of the 60’s and 70’s, in which the string instruments mostly played supporting roles, increasingly morphed into works in which everyone played an integral part. The keyboard quartets of Schobert and Mozart that bookend the program clearly illustrate this seismic shift. Ernst Eichner’s Op. 10 Duos for Violin and Viola require two virtuosos, as do Beethoven’s Op. 5 Cello Sonatas, which were vehicles for himself and cellist Jean-Louis Duport. Performing and hearing this repertoire with period instruments reveals the intimacy and collegial nature of the music. Join us for a modern-day salon and delight in these musical conversations!

The Berry Collective:
Keats Dieffenbach, violin
Emily Rideout, violin, viola
Rebecca Shaw, cello
Sylvia Berry, Viennese five-octave fortepiano