The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble by Tamusuza, Lee III, Akiho, Beach, A., Chausson, From (2023/2023), Carnegie Hall, New York City, United States

After a remarkable opening to the concert, in which mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard performs Ravel’s Chansons madécasses, the program shifts to music written for string quartets—and quartets powerfully augmented into quintets. It begins with Justinian Tamusuza’s bright and driving Ekitundu Ekisooka, made world famous by the Kronos Quartet’s chart-topping Pieces of Africa. Two movements follow from James Lee III’s Clarinet Quintet, recently premiered by the Pacifica Quartet and New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill. Andy Akiho’s exhilarating LIgNEouS 1 features extended technique from string and percussion instruments alike. The program closes with Beach’s potent Piano Quintet, which includes direct references to Brahms’s seminal Piano Quintet.