The piece became Brahms’ first composition to see a premiere in the New World. An audience at the Mendelssohn Quintet Club in Boston heard the world premiere Oct. 11, 1866, the Boston Chamber Music Society proudly points out. (It made its European debut about a month later in Zurich.)
Musically, String Sextet No. 2. showcases Brahms’ skilled and sometimes delicate counterpoint between the instruments.
You can hear this clearly as the Colorado Chamber Players skillfully tackle the second movement in the video above. The ensemble played the session in the CPR Performance Studio before playing a recent run of sextet concerts in Boulder, Cherry Hills and Aurora.
CCP has performed along the Front Range for 21 years in various configurations under violist and Artistic Director Barbara Hamilton-Primus.
Colorado Chamber Players:
- Paul Primus, violin
- Margaret Soper Gutierrez, violin
- Matthew Dane, viola
- Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola
- Thomas Heinrich, cello
- Jeffrey Watson, cello
