Sandbar Series II

Sunday, January 18th, 3 PM

St. Christopher's Church, Chatham, MA

This concert brings together three richly expressive works for string sextet, tracing a compelling arc from youthful Romantic ardor to refined late-nineteenth-century craftsmanship.

Richard Strauss’s Sextet from Capriccio opens the program with music of remarkable warmth and poise. Written as the prelude to his final opera, the sextet unfolds in long, unhurried lines that pass gently from player to player, creating the feeling of a single, shared breath. The writing is intimate and conversational rather than dramatic, drawing the listener into a reflective sound world. Composed late in Strauss’s life, the music carries a quiet sense of nostalgia—elegant, luminous, and deeply expressive without ever needing to raise its voice.

Vincent d’Indy

Vincent d’Indy’s Sextet for Strings presents a complementary contrast within the program. Firmly situated within the French Romantic tradition, the work reflects d’Indy’s training under César Franck through its emphasis on cyclical form, motivic integration, and contrapuntal clarity. Classical structural principles underpin the sextet, while a refined sense of color and rhythmic drive animates the musical surface. Textures are carefully balanced, with each instrument assuming a distinct functional role within the ensemble. Throughout the work, passages of introspection are set against more animated writing, underscoring d’Indy’s commitment to formal coherence and expressive restraint.

Johannes Brahms
The program concludes with Johannes Brahms’s String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36, a work notable for its breadth of lyricism and structural sophistication. Composed during a period of personal and artistic reassessment, the sextet juxtaposes Brahms’s characteristic textural density with moments of openness and tonal warmth. Expansive melodic writing is supported by intricately woven inner voices, creating a rich chamber texture that is both intimate and symphonic in scope. The work’s reflective character, often described as autumnal, gives way in the finale to music of rhythmic vitality and restrained warmth, bringing the program to a close with balance and poise.

Program:

Richard Strauss String Sextet from Capriccio

Vincent D'Indy String Sextet

Brahms Sextet No. 2 in G Major