Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • November 6, 2013 Ridgewood Concert season opens at West Side Presbyterian The acknowledged king of the sym- phony and classical music’s two most cel- ebrated child prodigies were the featured composers at the Parlance Chamber Con- certs opening on Oct. 27. Internationally known artists played quartets and quintets by Beethoven, Mozart, and Mendelssohn for an appreciative audience. Michael Parloff introduced each work with some thoughtful comments about the background of the music and the perform- ers. The Brentano String Quartet, including Michael Steinberg and Serena Canin on violin, Misha Amory on viola, and Nina Lee on cello, opened with Beethoven’s “String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3.” Parloff explained that this work was writ- ten earlier in Beethoven’s career than the number indicated, with the consideration that it must not rival the work of Franz Josef Haydn, then the reigning ruler of the string quartet in Vienna. To a casual listener, the dialogue between the instruments could be seen as a friendly, intimate conversation, sometimes gentle, sometimes animated, sometimes almost sleepy, and then excited again at the conclusion. Clarinetist Stephen Williamson, who lives in Nyack (New York) with his wife, their three sons, and the family dog, joined the Brentano Quartet for Mozart’s “Quintet in A Major,” the “Stadler Quintet,” named after a famous clarinetist who was a friend of Mozart’s and owed him the equivalent of $5,000 at the time of Mozart’s death. Wil- liamson has been the principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and now the New York Philharmonic. “He just can’t seem to hold a job,” Par- loff quipped. The meditative clarinet in the Mozart piece, superbly played, seemed at first to be almost surprised to find itself among the strings, but soon blended in seamlessly. The conclusion of the piece featured a sprightly, defiant mood reminiscent of Mozart’s final symphony, known as the “Jupiter.” Viola player Hsin-Yun Huang, the youngest winner of the Lionel Tertis Inter- national Viola Competition, joined the Brentanos for a performance of Mendels- sohn’s “Quintet for Strings, B Flat-Major, Op. 87.” Huang’s appearance seemed appropriate since Mendelssohn was a child prodigy. The quintet, written only two years before the multi-talented Mendels- sohn’s death at 38, shimmers with fran- tic energy, described by Parloff as a fairy tale mood with a possible premonition of Brentano String Quartet (Photo courtesy of Christian Steiner.) something sad down the road. The melody from the pensive adagio is reminiscent of a north German folk song about a barely seen bird singing in the distance. The final movement rallies and ends in another burst of excitement. Conrad Tao, a modern piano prodigy and composer, will be the featured per- former at the Nov. 17 performance at West Side Presbyterian Church. This 4 p.m. con- cert will feature music by Meredith Monk, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Ravel, Modest Mussorgsky, and Tao’s own com- position, “vestiges.”