Critic’s Choice

By David Fleshler

Concerts of string octets are as rare in South Florida as performances of German opera.

But on Wednesday, two of the nation’s leading quartets will team up for a concert that will feature three octets, including the most esteemed one of all. The Dover Quartet and Escher Quartet will perform at Florida International University’s Wertheim Performing Arts Center, presented by Friends of Chamber Music of Miami.

They will perform the Mendelssohn Octet, the undisputed colossus of the repertory, with its orchestral sonorities, profusion of melody and a lightness that anticipate the soon-to-be-composed music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In a musical miracle that rivals anything accomplished by the teenaged Mozart, Mendelssohn composed the work at the age of 16.

Also on the program will be George Enescu’s Octet, a large, dense and complex work from 1900, with a late Romantic tone and a strong influence from the composer’s Romanian heritage. They will also perform Shostakovich’s Prelude and Scherzo, another youthful work.

The concert takes place 8 p.m. Wednesday at the FIU Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center, Miami. miamichambermusic.org

Posted in Uncategorized


Leave a Comment








Tue Mar 10, 2020
at 1:13 pm
No Comments