Tonight we feature music by Amy Beach, Joan Tower, Marion Bauer and Gustav Mahler.

Gustav Mahler is known as the composer of ten-ish unwieldy Symphonies, numerous song cycles, and as one of the most polarizing musical figures of the late 19th century. Noticeably absent from his compositional output are any substantive chamber works. There is one exception, however, that of a single movement for piano quartet in A minor. We pair Mahler’s single movement with music by three American composers, Amy Beach, Marion Bauer and Joan Tower.

Originally hailing from Walla Walla (woo-hoo!), Marion Bauer made her mark in New York City as a composer, author and professor, influencing such luminaries as Aaron Copland and Milton Babbitt. She was also the first in a long line of Americans to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Her three-movement Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 22, is required listening for any self-respecting music-loving resident or visitor to the Walla Walla Valley.

Rounding out the program are two works for flute and string quartet, the Theme and Variations, Op. 80, by Amy Beach and Rising, by Joan Tower (2009).

Amy Beach, or “Mrs. H. H. A. Beach,” as she was credited in her published music, was arguably the most important homegrown composer in the United States at the end of the 19th century.

A fixture in the musical scene of Boston, Amy Beach experienced triumphs unheard of for a female composer in Europe or America. She had a mass premiered by Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society in 1895, and her Third Symphony by the Boston Symphony in 1896. Both works received near universal praise from audience and critic alike.

Here we encounter Amy Beach in the more personal and private sphere of chamber music. Using her 1896 composition “An Indian Lullaby” as the principle theme, Beach shows her flair for romantic invention in this moving set of variations for flute and string quartet.

WWCMF is pleased to visit Doubleback Winery for the first time in their brand new facility.