By Ted AYALA

Though the temperatures remain uncomfortably summer-like, autumn has indeed arrived and with it a whole new season of music. Among those organizations whose concert series are just getting underway is Le Salon de Musiques, which will launch its debut concert of the season on Sunday, Oct. 12 with music by John Ireland, Howard Hanson and Frank Bridge.

In the crowd of world-class chamber groups that dot the region, Le Salon has distinguished itself by championing the works of composers who remain little known in this country or have been forgotten altogether by musical history. The composers in the latter camp mostly fall into the former category, with the music of Ireland and Bridge generally not often heard outside the British Isles. Yet both were composers who crafted fine music, with Bridge in particular becoming one of the most original of his day.

Hanson, on the other hand, is well known as both composer and pedagogue in the United States, though his neo-Sibelian language has not travelled as well abroad. His music tends to be overlooked too in favor of his contemporaries Copland and Barber. Yet Hanson at one point was high in demand as a composer, receiving commissions from institutions such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera of New York. He also left behind a series of recordings of his own music and of others on the Mercury label that testify to his formidable talent as a conductor.

Sunday’s concert will consist of Ireland’s “Phantasie for Piano Trio,” Hanson’s “Concerto da camera for Piano and Strings” and Bridge’s “Piano Quintet.” Performances will be preceded with a brief introduction by musicologist Julius Reder Carlson and will be followed by an open discussion on the music and performance.

The concert will take place at 4 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 35 N. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles. Tickets are $75 for general admission and $39 for students. To obtain tickets and more information, visit
www.lesalondemusiques.com or call (310) 498-0257.

  Ted Ayala