by Jeremy Reynolds

Musicologists have long been fascinated by works that transform from a dark, minor tonality to a brighter major key. Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon is Beethoven’s fifth symphony, which achieves its thematic unity through a ubiquitous rhythmic motif. Would the symphony in question pack the same punch without this cohesion? Probably not. The second concert in ChamberFest, “Becoming Light,” began with Thomas Adès’s primordial Darknesse Visible for solo piano, progressed through Shostakovich’s transformative Piano Quintet, Op. 57, and concluded with Beethoven’s glittering Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20. [Read more…]