Barnatan, McGill, Weilerstein Trio

Saturday, January 21, 2017 | 8:00 pm

Baldwin Auditorium

Each player in this dream ensemble is a star in their own right: Cellist Alisa Weilerstein is a MacArthur Fellow, praised as “a passionate player of intense musicality” (The New York Times); New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill is also a tireless chamber player renowned for “his trademark brilliance, penetrating sound, and rich character” (The New York Times); and pianist Inon Barnatan is a sought-after soloist whom Philharmonic conductor Alan Gilbert called “a complete artist.”

These three stars come together here to explore the clarinet trio repertoire with three markedly different works. The program begins with Beethoven’s Clarinet Trio in B-flat, an early, playful, and melodic joy, then turns to a new trio written for this group by the composer Joseph Hallman. Brahms’ Clarinet Trio, which rekindled the composer’s career when he had thought it finished, drew a comment from Brahms’ lifelong friend, musicologist Eusebius Mandyczewski, that “it is as though the instruments were in love with each other.”

Program