Lift three glasses, giving cheers to supreme bliss!
Not all music is simply sweet melodies. Some offers a heavy, bitter taste that first grabs at the tongue, graduating to a slight sour or sweet taste that starts to permeate the mouth, leaving the feeling of intoxication in short order. That's right -- just the same as German beer: taciturn but forceful.
Takahiro Sonoda and the ATM Ensemble take pride in presenting a program of works by three great German composers from the Romantic period. Take the "malt" that is life, liberally sprinkle the "hops" of the intellect, and let it "ferment" slowly in the heart. Enjoy these three "glasses" of deeply flavorful music to your heart's content, including the "aroma" that hovers above them.

The First Glass: Beethoven's Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 16
Audacious and bold, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), who gallantly appeared on the aristocratic scene in Vienna in his 20s, captured the hearts of people through the performances and pieces he wrote for his own instrument, the piano. His quartet (arranged from his quintet for piano and winds), which takes after the style of the great Mozart, gives off a fresh smell much like a new piece of fruit. The taste that lingers in one's throat is that of a vigorous drink, the momentary agreeableness of which never slips away.

The Second Glass: Reger's String Sextet in F, Op. 118 Max Reger (1873-1915), whose life can be compared to that of a raging sea, raced through his life in only 42 years. With a huge output amounting to 147 works, he spent all his time working hard but also playing hard, telling jokes, eating and drinking. Reger's immense energy -- he once kept on ordering steaks one after another during a two-hour sojourn at a restaurant -- pervades every corner of his music, the density of which is overwhelming. His string sextet, written in his waning years, tastes as strong and profound as dark beer, getting better and better the more one drinks it.

The Third Glass: Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Johannes Brahms (1833-97) went about his work with the thoroughness of a "Braumeister" who researches every last angle before presenting his product. With diligence, he kept on revising and refining his compositions until he was sure they were "just right." His piano quintet, first written as a string quintet, finally attained its ideal form after being arranged as a sonata for two pianos. This piece -- both painful and sweet, both stout and refined -- offers the most exquisite kind of "drinking" pleasure amongst the racing force that Romanticism represented.

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