“Unity and simplicity are the qualities that define beauty.” So noted the 18th century art historian Johann Winckelmann in describing the classical style of ancient Greece, a style that European artists and intellectuals were attempting to revive during his lifetime.

Simplicity, clarity, nobility, directness, and innocence are some of the hallmarks of the so called Classical Style that developed in that period as a response to the sophisticated and elaborate Baroque writing of the preceding generation.

But the transition from Baroque to Classical was also a transition from the transcendent to the earthy, from royalty to the proleterian, and from the church to the streets; and the music itself became approachable, relevant and easily understood not only by the educated elite, but also by the common man.

In time, this unique combination of qualities became a platonic ideal to which future composers aspired, all the way to the 20th century, when the term Neoclassicism came to describe a school of composition that harkened back to the simplicity and purity of the earlier Classical period in a response to the contemporary Avant-garde.

In these programs we present a mosaic of works: from Mozart and Schubert to Alban Berg and Mordecai Seter, each of which relates in its own way to the Classical ideal, and together illuminate the term in a broad and fascinating light.

February 24th, 2022 at 8pm

Ludwig van Beethoven Variations on a theme from The Magic Flute for cello and piano

Alban Berg Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano

Menachem Zur Discussions for Clarinet and Cello

Johannes Brahms Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

February 25th, 2022 at 12pm

Pleyel/Devienne Quartet for clarinet and strings

Ron Weidberg Variations on a Theme by Mozart for Violin, Clarinet, Cello Piano

Franz Schubert String Trio D. 471

Johannes Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor

February 26th, 2022 at 11am

Mordecai Seter Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Erich Korngold Much ado about Nothing Suite for Cello and Piano

Dmitri Shostakovich Four Waltzes for Flute, Clarinet and Piano

Wolfgang A. Mozart Sonata K. 454 Arr. for Clarinet and Piano

Sergei Prokofiev Sonata for Flute and Piano Guy Eshed, Flute | Carmit Zori, violin | Michal Korman, cello | Tibi Cziger, clarinet | Guy Ben-Ziony, Viola | Yael Karet & Assaff Weisman, piano