Critic’s Choice

By Lawrence Budmen

James Ehnes

When the Ehnes Quartet made its South Florida debut last season, the group’s precision, musicianship and probing interpretive acuity suggested that it belongs in the top tier of chamber ensembles.  Canadian violin virtuoso James Ehnes and his colleagues, all leading orchestral and chamber players, return on Sunday, playing quartets by Barber, Shostakovich and Ravel plus Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade.  Friends of Chamber Music presents the Ehnes Quartet 4 p.m. Sunday at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church, 14260 Old Cutler Road in Palmetto Bay. miamichambermusic.org; 305-372-2975.

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 Several seasons ago the Miami International Piano Festival presented Konstantin Lifschitz in an afternoon and evening marathon performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete Well Tempered Clavier. The Russian-born pianist exhibited stellar technique and idiomatic fluency as well as an impressive demonstration of sheer stamina. This year’ the festival’s Master Series at the Broward Center is devoted mostly to Debussy and Ravel, the giants of French musical impressionism.

Lifschitz plays an all-Debussy program Sunday night, including L’isle Joyeuse, 6 epigraphes antiques and Book I of the Preludes for solo piano. On Monday Lifschitz joins Italian pianist Francesco Libetta in a duo-piano program featuring Debussy’s En blanc et noir, Ravel’s La Valse and Messiaen’s Visions. Konstantin Lifschitz performs 7:45 p.m. Sunday at the Amaturo Theater, Broward Center in Ft. Lauderdale. Francesco Libetta and Lifschitz play 7:45 p.m. Monday at the Amaturo. miamipianofest.com; 305-935-5115

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Wed Feb 27, 2013
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