Coming up in Philly music: Brahms at his best with PCMS

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society opened its season with a pair of novelties: its first trumpet concert and the world premiere of a vocal work that combined the sounds of Piffaro’s Renaissance instruments with the Prism Quartet’s saxophones. This Friday, PCMS will delve into the heart of the standard chamber-music repertoire with an all-Brahms program that features two of his peak works for piano and strings: the C Major trio for piano, violin, and cello and the G Minor quartet for piano and string trio.

Brahms was at his best when he created music that combined the piano with other instruments, and musicians are usually at their best when they’re playing Brahms. They know they’re playing something good and they know their audiences like the kind of music Brahms composed. What more could a performer want?

The piano parts in this performance will emerge from the artful hands of one of our leading local pianists, Cynthia Raim. The string players are all PCMS favorites like Peter Stumpf, the former assistant principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the former principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Stumpf was an eminently successful orchestra musician but he’s also a devoted chamber player who was a PCMS regular throughout the 22 years he served in his orchestral positions.

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society will present violinist Daniel Phillips, violist Hsin-Yun Huang, cellist Peter Stumpf, and pianist Cynthia Raim on Friday, November 2, at 7:30pm at the Kimmel’s Perelman Theater (Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia). Tickets ($30) are available online and at the door.