Context

CONTEXT’s 13th Season is titled MUSIC IN THE CONTEXT OF TIME. This season, CONTEXT presents two perspectives on music drawn from over 350 years of repertoire. Three concerts focus on important decades -- the 1820's, the 1880's and the 1920's -- revealing the rich variety and conflict of styles during each of these innovative periods.

Three concerts focus on specific instruments during a century of their most dramatic development: the Century of the Violin (1650-1750), the Century of the Piano (the 19th century), and the Century of Winds (the 20th century). Each program explores the evolution of instrumental style across a broad span of time.

And as always, each CONTEXT concert features stylistically-informed performances on historically-accurate keyboard, string and wind instruments appropriate for each musical era.

All concerts are on Sunday afternoons at 4:00pm.

Programs subject to change without notice

Ligeti Sunday, September 23, 2007 4:00pm

Saint-Saens	Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Janacek	Mladi, for Six Winds
Hindemith	Kleine Kammermusik, for Wind Quintet
Carter	Eight Etudes for Wind Quartet
Ligeti	Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano

By the 20th century, Wind Instruments had developed to an unprecedented level of power and virtuosity, leading composers to write brilliant major works for wind ensembles. CONTEXT's Season-opening program features music in a dazzling range of styles, from Saint-Saens to Ligeti's masterful Horn Trio.

Musicians: Buyse, Connelly, Kamins, Luca, Webster, Williams
Performed on modern instruments

Sunday, October 28, 2007 4:00pm

Marco Uccellini (1603-1680)	Sonata Terza, Op. 5, No. 3 (1649) Sonata Op. 4, No. 2 detta La Luciminia Contenta (1645)
Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680)	Sonata quarta from Sonatae Unarum Fidium (1664)
Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713)	Sonata Op. 5, No. 4 in F Major (1700) Adagio Allegro - Adagio Vivace Adagio Allegro
Jean Baptiste Senaillé (1688-1730)	Sonata Prima in D Major, Op. 1, No. 1 (1710) Adagio Aria Sarabanda Presto
Georg Telemann (1681-1767)	Fantasia 7 in E Flat Major (1735) Dolce Allegro Largo Presto
Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)	Deuxième Récréation de Musique, Op. 8 (1737) Ouverture: Gravement Forlane en rondeau Sarabande Menuets Badinage Chaconne Tambourins

The century from 1650-1750 was the time of the Violin's most dramatic evolution, with an astonishing diversity of music composed to highlight the instrument's expressive powers. CONTEXT for the first time presents a program devoted to these innovative and little-known composers.

Musicians: Destrube, Dirst, Haritatos, Luca
Performed on modern instruments

Sunday, December 2, 2007 4:00pm

Faure	Songs for Voice and Piano
Tchaikovsky	Duets for Soprano and Baritone, and Piano
Debussy	Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano
Brahms	Trio in C Minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano

The decade of the 1880's was a high point of late Romanticism -- with the roots of Modernism beginning to form. This concert reveals the richness and conflict of the decade that gave us Brahm's last Trio -- and the young Debussy's work for the same ensemble.

Musicians: Belcher, Connelly, Jones, Luca, Pelton
Performed on original instruments

Sunday, January 27, 2008 4:00pm

Saint-Saens	Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
DeFalla	Concerto for Harpsichord, Strings, and Winds
Bartok	First Rhapsody for Violin and Piano
Ives	Songs for Baritone and Piano
Schoenberg	Suite for Piano
Kodaly	Suite for Violin and Viola

Few decades have seen such musical variety and innovation as the 1920's. CONTEXT explores the time's remarkable diversity in a program that contrasts late Saint-Saens with the experiments of Bartok and Ives, and DeFalla's Concerto for a recently rediscovered instrument, the harpsichord.

Musicians: Buyse, Connelly, Kannen, Luca, Macelaru, Owens, Webster
Performed on modern instruments

Sunday, February 24, 2008 4:00pm

Hummel	Works for Two- and Four-Hands
Beethoven	Grosse Fuge, for Four-Hands
Chopin	Three Etudes
Schumann	Toccata
Mendelssohn/ Moscheles	Variations on a Weber March, for Four-Hands
Liszt	Grande Galop Cromatique, for Four-Hands
Scriabin	Prelude and Nocturne, for Left Hand
Debussy	Petite Suite, for Four-Hands

You've never heard a concert like this one -- with two pianists playing an array of solos and duets from the piano's Golden Century -- on four magnificent pianos. This program follows the development of the instrument and its repertoire from the classical composers, through the virtuoso Romantics, to the visionaries of the century's end.

Musicians: Connelly, Fukuda
Performed on Rosenberger, Graf, Bösendorfer, and Steinway pianos

Sunday, March 30, 2008 4:00pm

Beethoven	Late Bagatelles for Solo Piano
Archduke Rudolph	Variations for Clarinet and Piano
Berwald	Septet for Strings and Winds

CONTEXT closes the season with a focus on the decade of the 1820's -- with Beethoven's late piano pieces, Variations by his patron Archduke Rudolph, and the exuberant Septet for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Doublebass by Berwald -- all performed on the unforgettably expensive instruments of the period.

Musicians: Belcher, Connelly, Coppola, Koster, Luca, Mandel
Performed on original instruments

In conjunction with this season's concerts, CONTEXT will present a series of free ENCOUNTERS at eminent galleries in Houston. These casual evening events will offer excerpts from upcoming programs, along with commentary and conversation from the musicians. Bring your friends and meet the music, the performers, and the instruments in a convivial atmosphere. Watch your mail for announcements of each free ENCOUNTER!

Our next ENCOUNTER will be at the M2 Gallery on Thursday, March 27th at 7:00pm. Doors open at 6:30pm. The M2 Gallery is located at 325 West 19th St., Houston, TX 77008. This will be a free preview of our March 30th Concert entitled "The 1820's"; CONTEXT completes its season with a focus on the expressive and exuberant music of the 1820's. Hear internationally-known musicians perform excerpts from works by Franz Schubert and Ferdinand Ries, with entertaining discussion of the music's background and the extraordinary instruments of the time. Refreshments, conversation and inspired music, in an intimate setting surrounded by great art - this free-admission, hour-long event promises a stimulating and unique experience.