Daisy and Roy Barber, of the pleasant Philadelphia suburb of West Chester, brought a determined child into the world: “I wasn’t meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer, and I will be, I am sure.” So wrote young Samuel Barber, not yet in his teens, to his mother hoping she would dissuade his physician father from molding his only son to his image and likeness. The budding composer found a special place of musical joy in visits to his mother’s sister, Louise Homer, a contralto of international reputation. Her husband, Sidney, a composer and music professor would become Barber’s surrogate musical father.

The joy compounded when, at fourteen, Barber entered the newly opened Curtis Institute in Philadelphia majoring in three areas: piano, composition, and voice. Musical talent had concentrated in young Barber. He himself sang the premiere of his song, Dover Beach (1931), composed with quartet accompaniment. In the 1930s, as his talents blossomed, no type of composition —symphony, concerto, opera, vocal— was left unexplored. With Toscanini championing Barber’s soulful Adagio for Strings, the composer gained permanence in the “Hall of Fame of Great Tunes.”

By 1950, Barber had traveled to all the great capitals of Europe with his lifelong friend and companion, Gian Carlo Menotti, the successful opera composer, who had been Barber’s classmate at Curtis. Elegance had its charm for them both and they spent many an hour in grand hotels enjoying the music of the salon orchestras.

In 1951, Barber composed Souvenirs, a suite containing a waltz, schottische, pas de deux, two-step, hesitation tango, and galop. “Think of that coming out of your serious minded West Chester Presbyterian nephew,” Barber wrote to Sidney Homer. For the listener, this totally enjoyable sextet of pieces needs to be seen through the eyes and words of the composer: “Imagine a divertissement in a setting of the Palm Court of the Hotel Plaza in New York, the year about 1914, epoch of the first tangos; ‘Souvenirs’ —remembered with affection, not in irony or with tongue in cheek, but in amused tenderness.”

If Barber saw his “souvenirs” in the salons of grand hotels, Brahms in his autumnal days gained inspiration from the instrument he called “Fräulein Klarinette.” Brahms, in his 58th year, had lost his enthusiasm for composing, but a visit to Meiningen for a weeklong arts festival, in which his Fourth Symphony was played, brought him in contact with the continent’s finest clarinetist, Richard Mühlfeld.

Entranced by the beauty of Mühlfeld’s playing, Brahms resolved to compose several chamber works for the virtuoso. Nine months later both the Clarinet Trio and the Clarinet Quintet (Op. 115) found Mühlfeld premiering both. Throughout the Trio, Brahms again shows his mastery of “sensual” sound. The warm blending of clarinet and cello “is as though the instruments were in love with each other,” so wrote a friend to Brahms. After the solo cello introduces the principal theme in the first movement, “Allegro,” Brahms brings into play an unusual variety of instrumental colors. If the ear of the listener focuses on the clarinet in this movement, the sounds heard are those of Brahms investigating all the musical curves of his new “Fraulein”: gorgeous duos with the cello, rapid runs that seem to encircle the other instruments in “liquid, limpid” ways. The second movement moves leisurely and romantically, with the clarinet commenting on the melodic ways of its partners. In the third movement, Brahms provides a melodic line more than a little reminiscent of his Leibeslieder Waltzes. One almost wants to hear a chorus singing along. For the Allegro finale, Brahms releases the piano to propel the ebbs and flows of the cello and clarinet to a short, brisk ending.

If Brahms, in his last years, found new composing energy through a clarinet, Igor Stravinsky in his middle years as a composer found himself homeless, cut off from his Russian homeland by the World War and the Russian Revolution. His Parisian pre-war triumphs, the ballets Firebird, Petroushka, and Rite of Spring, had brought fame and notoriety. Now forced to Switzerland by the war, he was cut off from royalties and his family estate in Russia. With an author friend, similarly in dire financial straits, he decided to write a modest stage work, small in scope, and therefore easily staged by many, with some quick royalties resulting.

The outcome was The Story of a Soldier, a Russian tale with a Faust theme: a violin-playing soldier back from a war meets an old man (the devil in disguise) who strikes a deal – the violin for a magical book of answers to life’s questions. The book proves useless to the soldier, and the devil, after stalking him in several other disguises, finally reveals himself in his unmistakable scarlet tunic, and takes the soldier “down under.”

The Story of a Soldier, composed in 1918, was “a narrative ballet in five scenes to be read, played, and danced,” scored for only seven instruments. A year later, Stravinsky provided a large-scale suite for symphony orchestra. Simultaneously, he arranged five of the eleven pieces in the original score for a trio of violin, piano, and clarinet, the version in today’s performance. The violin represents the soldier’s soul; the piano corresponds to the devil. Stravinsky had spent years in Paris where “Le jazz hot” had found a special home; he took the world of syncopation and ragtime to heart. Such influence, according to the Stravinsky himself, brought about “a wholly new sound in my music, and L’Histoire marks my final break with the Russian Orchestral School.”

If Stravinsky in his mid-life of composing struck out in new directions, Felix Mendelssohn in his last two years of life had no such ideas for change, only for polishing his craft.

Labeled a “classical romanticist” for his beautifully crafted compositions in the 19th century world of Romanticism, Mendels- sohn permeated every composition with lyricisms from a seemingly overflowing fountain of melodies. The problem of balance in a trio between strings and piano poses a problem for any composer.

For his second piano Trio, written in 1845, Mendelssohn tilted the balance strongly toward the piano. The first movement exhibits Mendelssohn’s ability to move from valley (quiet reflection) to mountain peak (ebullient passionate explosions) and back again with consummate skill. The second movement, “andante expressivo” has the quality of the composers “Songs Without Words.” In the third movement, Mendelssohn provides another of his signature scherzos, a “perpetual motion” example. What does it matter that it may sound like his Midsummer’s Night Dream Scherzo upside down and backwards? It is fluidity and wit at its ultimate. The final movement, with the composer’s “appassionato” marking, offers the listener an energy and depth almost symphonic in scope. Perhaps it was Mendelssohn’s adopted Protestantism, as well as his adulation of Bach, which brings hymn-like chorale interruptions in unexpected places, as in the middle of the final movement. By the Trio’s end, a listener’s spirit has been uplifted in a manner few other composers could ever achieve.

In 1960, at the request of Gian-Carlo Menotti, Charles Wadsworth created the now-famous Mid-day Chamber Music Series at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. These daily concerts featured outstanding soloists who came together to play a varied chamber music repertoire. Instead of receiving a printed program, audiences were treated to introductory remarks –informal, but informative and often humorous –by Mr Wadsworth. The series enjoyed immediate success and quickly became one of the festival’s most acclaimed and sought-after offerings.

When Spoleto/USA was established in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1977, Mr Wadsworth launched Spoleto/USA’s Chamber Music Series. Every summer in Charleston he continues the tradition, presenting great chamber music performed by a committed group of virtuoso musicians. The Mid-day Chamber Music Concerts, invariably sold out, are widely recognized as a festival highlight, and the ensemble we’ll hear today has toured America to critical acclaim.

Charles Wadsworth first drew international attention in the music community in 1960, when he created the famed midday chamber music series at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, at the request of Gian-Carlo Menotti. In 1977 Mr Wadsworth established a similar series for Spoleto/USA’s festival, which takes place in Charleston, South Carolina. He has since directed and hosted the popular series and also served as its pianist.

In 1969 Mr Wadsworth created the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been Artistic Director of the Society, which created an annual series of “Wadsworth Concerts” to honor his 20 years of leadership.

His innovative programming concept has inspired other chamber music organizations and festivals in the U.S. and abroad. He is also likely to be the first Danbury Concert Association musician to have participated in the Olympics: in 1996 he served as Artistic Director of Chamber Music for the games in Atlanta. (His performance there with Jaime Laredo, Lynn Harrell, Itzhak Perlman, Frederica von Stade, Pinchas Zukerman and others sold out and earned three standing ovations.)

Mr Wadsworth won an Emmy in 1986 for his work on the special television program “Live from Lincoln Center,” and he has been featured on ABC’s “20/20” and numerous other broadcasts. He has received honors from a number of cultural and educational organizations, and has performed at the White House for presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan.

Recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Chee-Yun has performed with leading ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the symphonies of San Francisco and Cincinnati. She has also toured internationally, including Europe and the Asia.

In the United States her recent appearances have included recital work at the 92nd Street Y and the Kennedy Center, as well as in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Her 2001-2002 season will include performances on four continents.

She has released five recordings for Denon, most recently the Lalo “Symphonie Espagnole” and the Saint-Saens Violin Concerto No. 3. A native of South Korea, she came to America at age 13 and studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang at The Juilliard School.

Since he won first prize at the 1986 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Andrés Díaz has exhilarated both critics and audiences with his intense and charismatic performances. He received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1998 and a grant from the Susan W. Rose Fund for Music.

His numerous orchestra appearances include performances with the Atlanta Symphony, the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Pops and the orchestras of Milwaukee, Seattle and Victoria (B.C.).

Recent tours have taken Mr Díaz to Asia, Canada, South and Central America, New Zealand, and the former Soviet Union.

Mr Díaz collaborated frequently with the late pianist Samuel Sanders; they performed at many venues, including Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall, and released several recordings including “American Visions” and “Russian Romantics.”

Mr Díaz is an Associate Professor of Cello at Boston University and the Co-Director of the university’s Tanglewood Institute Quartet Program.

With few clarinetists widely renowned for their solo work, Todd Palmer’s virtuosity, artful phrasing and ebullient stage presence have earned him a stellar reputation. He won the 1990 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and has appeared as recitalist, concerto soloist and teacher at major performing arts centers and universities throughout the U.S. as well as in Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America and Japan.

Mr Palmer is much in demand as a chamber music performer. He has appeared at many music festivals including Spoleto USA, La Jolla SummerFest, Bravo! Colorado, Marlboro and Tanglewood, and he has been a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A number of string quartets -- Borromeo, Brentano, Orion and St Lawrence -- have collaborated with him and he has served as principal clarinetist of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Grand Teton Festival.

Todd Palmer studied at the Mannes College of Music and has been praised for his engaging and inspirational outreach programs for young audiences.

Hailed as “one of the finest American pianists of his generation,” Stephen Prutsman has been described as a versatile and brilliant performer. He received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was a medalist at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. He has worked with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and as a recitalist in prestigious music centers throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Mr Prutsman, heard here in recital with violinist Pamela Frank in 1994, is also active as a composer and arranger, and his arrangements have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, Dawn Upshaw and Yo-Yo Ma, among others. He co-founded the International Chamber Music Festival in El Paso, Texas, and served as its director for the past 10 years. He also is a frequent guest at the Spoleto and Marlboro festivals.