Dallas Symphony chamber music concert features engaging work by Samuel Adams

A form of musical chiaroscuro, the painterly distinction of sunshine and darkish, was on show Friday evening on the Meyerson Symphony Center. It occurred in American composer Samuel Adams’ Sundial (2022), in a chamber music concert with members of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and mates.

The program featured the Baumer String Quartet, shaped on the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2003. Consisting of soloists and orchestra members from across the nation, together with DSO co-concertmaster Nathan Olson, the quartet comes collectively from time to time for live shows.

This was one thing of a reunion for Adams and three of the quartet musicians — Olson and brothers Aaron and David Requiro, violin and cello, respectively — who went to center college collectively in Berkeley, Calif. Rounding out the group is violist John T. Posadas.

Commissioned by the DSO and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Sundial unfolds in a single motion over quarter-hour. It reveals influences from Adams’ dad, American composer John Adams, notably in the way it manipulates harmonic adjustments over time.

Repeating rhythmic concepts, echoed by pitched percussion, discover shades of sunshine, rising and reducing in depth, as if somebody have been shifting a light-weight dimmer up and down. Darker energies often floor, with some biting dissonances, giving option to hopeful brightness.

In a program notice, Adams says the string elements draw on late renaissance and baroque music, choosing lightness and readability over impassioned sounds. The violins often share songful duets suggesting early vocal music, which Adams additionally cited as an affect.

Along with percussionist George Nickson, the Baumer dedicated totally to each nuance, making a persuasive case for the work. Adams, who gave a useful spoken introduction, joined the group for well-earned applause.

Providing a change in temper was American composer Leon Kirchner’s Flutings for Paula (2006), for flute and percussion. Kirchner, who died in 2009, was a Pulitzer Prize winner and longtime Harvard professor.

In one motion, over about 5 minutes, Flutings conjures mysterious atmospheres, mixing huge leaps, flutterings and fast staccatos within the flute with percussive results — vibraphone tremolos, twinkling chimes and clattering wood blocks. Flutist David Buck caressed lyrical traces, elsewhere unleashing fiery outbursts, and Nickson pulled off the percussion elements with verve.

In an age of a lot overplaying in chamber music live shows, particularly by strings, the following studying of Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings was a breath of recent air. Teaming up with the Baumer have been violinists Giyeon Yoon and Filip Fenrych, violist Christine Hwang and bassist Brian Perry, taking part in the second cello half.

Composed when Mendelssohn was solely 16, the octet brims with youthful power, but in addition incorporates nice depths. The musicians gave their traces each form and path, and spiritedly batted motifs amongst themselves. Dynamic contrasts, starting from feathery pianos to full-bodied fortes, introduced out adjustments in character and underscored the musical construction. Contrapuntal riches emerged from the ensemble, one after the following, earlier than receding to the background.

It was spectacular to listen to Perry deal with the cello half, however not completely convincing. The flurries at the start of the finale, for instance, gave the impression of vague rumblings on the bass.

Continuing a development of “flipped perspectives” live shows on the DSO, the viewers was seated on stage and up within the choral terrace. The sound isn’t as instantly reside on stage as it’s out within the corridor, however it’s resonant sufficient.