The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterRhapsody in Blue

This program highlights piano four-hands repertoire, a genre that was central to how audiences experienced music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Before recordings, large-scale works were often played at home in this form, making the piano a primary vehicle for sharing music. Composed in 1787, Mozart’s Sonata in C major, K. 521, is a defining work of the genre, notable for its scale, structural balance, and the dialogue it creates between the two players. Mendelssohn, who frequently performed four-hand repertoire with his sister Fanny, brings his characteristic lyricism and precision to the Andante and Variations and Andante and Allegro brillant. Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances draw on Czech folk traditions; they became an immediate success, widely played in homes and quickly circulated across Europe. The program concludes with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in a four-hand arrangement. Composed in 1924, the work blends elements of jazz with classical form, extending this tradition into a distinctly American sound.