CSO Chamber Music Review- complex works performed at Symphony Center, Chicago

On June 10, 2025, Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians Robert Chen, violin and Concertmaster; Teng Li, Principal Violist; Richard Hirschl, cello; and William Welter, Principal Oboe put on a charming chamber music concert at Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. The staging/seating arrangements for the performance had the audience grouped around and above the musicians, an up-close and accessible intimacy. Both pieces were slightly unusual in composition, adding a touch of whimsy to the selection.

Benjamin Britten’s Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and String Trio in F Minor, Op. 2, 1932, was written for the Cobbett Prize, a competition of single continuous-movement chamber works when Britten was 18. He won the contest in 1932 for an earlier string quintet. Op. 2, however, which did NOT win the Cobbett, did garner some welcome attention from the press and musical world, both locally in the U.K. and among an international audience.

The Phantasy Quartet has a tricky internal organization which has proved fascinating to musical analysts but is probably beyond the ken of the average listener. The formal construction has been described as an arch, or as dual sonatas superimposed on each other. The introduction section finds the oboe separated from the strings- it is more melodious; they are more martial. An unusual slow segment sans oboe is inserted between the development and recapitulation, during which the music returns in a mirror image of the foregoing. Finally, a lone cello repeats and reverses the intro. 

The whole sub 12-minute piece has an atonal sense, opening with a very quiet cello, turning into a lively Allegro with solo strings in contrasting episodes. An oboe cadenza leads us back into the march before meandering away.

Mozart’s Divertimento for String Trio in E-flat Major, K. 563, 1788, was his first and only music for string trio, written in the 32^nd year of a life that would end too early at 35. The piece was also his longest chamber work, although he varied the tempi and structure of the 6 movements. At its premiere, a public concert in Dresden, the composer himself performed on the viola, his favorite instrument. At the instant concert, the 3 string artists were positioned in triangular fashion. Li was facing this reviewer, who thus had a birds-eye view of her enthusiasm and bold spirit.

This “diverting” masterwork opens and closes with fast Allegros; bookending slow movements sandwich a pair of minuets. The slow movements are formed differently: one as sonata and one as variations on a theme. Even the minuets differ in construction; one includes an additional trio portion. The congruent complexity of the work combined with the rich, lyrical sound of the inclusive themes constitute a wonderfully satisfying piece of music. The combined expert chamber musicians produced a special rendition, intriguing in its simplicity and purity. 

All photos by Todd Rosenberg

For information and tickets to all the fine programming of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, go to www.cso.org