Music@Menlo Live 2017, The Glorious Violin: Music by FARINA, UCCELLINI, VITALI, LOCATELLI, TARTINI, CORELLI, VIVALDI, VIOTTI, HAYDN, KREUTZER, MOZART, BACH, SPOHR, DAVID, MENDELSSOHN, SCHUMANN, JOACHIM, BRAHMS, BEETHOVEN, DEBUSSY, BORODIN, LECLAIR, YSAYE, FRANCK, FAURE, RESPIGHI, KREISLER, MARTINU, CORIGLIANO, DOHNANYI, SHOSTAKOVICH and ENESCU – 8 Disc Boxed Set, musicatmenlo.org/live *****:
(List of Performing Artists follows review.)
The establishment of a major chamber music festival in the San Francisco Bay area in the midst of the 2002 dot.com meltdown was an entrepreneurial miracle that has been sustained for eighteen seasons. The 2017 season was representative of the many events that chamber music lovers can experience: 17 professional concerts; four Encounter presentations (two hour multi-media presentations by speakers and musicians); master classes; and Café Conversations. There is also a Chamber Music Institute, a rigorous student program for auditioned string players and pianists from ages 9 to 29 that offer a myriad of free performances for audiences. I have been to many of these events in the past eighteen years and can attest to the high performance levels and the joy of being in a community of musicians and educators for three exciting weeks.
The eight discs in this set document live performances that examine the unfolding of music through the lens of the instrument whose makers, players and composers shaped the very evolution of music – The Glorious Violin. The first disc is string music (on modern instruments) from the generation before Bach. In addition to relative unknowns as Farina, Uccellini and Vitali, there is Tartini’s Devil’s Trill sonata Corelli’s well known Christmas Concerto. All these works have a pronounced lyricism, but their adventurous harmonics and dissonances make them sound quite modern. In the Tartini, Adam Barnett-Hart’s tart and vibrant violin playing provides a sound that gives credence to the composer’s dream of giving his violin the devil who heard him “play a sonata so miraculous and beautiful…that it exceeded all flights of imagination.” The Christmas Concerto sizzles with nimble energy that’s contrasted by episodes of warm lyricism.
On Disc 2 Vivaldi’s Concerto in D major for Two Violins, Two Cellos and Strings is a sparkling example of the virtuosity, drama and heartfelt melody that made him so admired by Bach. Violinist Soovin Kim coaxes emotion out of the virtuosic and pedagogical three and a half minute Etude No. 22 of Rudolphe Kreutzer. Arnaud Sussmann is featured on many works in this set and his performance of the Mozart Sonata K. 526 demonstrates a fervent and polished tone that is just flat out beautiful. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, BWV 1043 fizzes with delight.
Disc 3’s highlight is the little known early Piano Quartet No. 3 of Felix Mendelssohn, composed at age 15, only nine months before the his well-known Octet. It’s full of melodic invention and drama, foreshadowing mid-period Beethoven. Pianist Juho Pohjonen is terrific. Disc 4 represents the height of German Romanticism with works by Schumann and Brahms. The Horn Trio, op. 40 of Brahms receives a performance that’s long on melody, but slow tempos eschews some of its drama. Radovan Vlatkovic’s horn playing is beautiful and clearly articulated.
Disc 5 celebrates the rich national diversity of the nineteenth century violin repertoire. Beethoven’s lovely early String Quintet, Op. 29 is performed with humor, joyful swagger and sunny drama. Borodin’s Second String Quartet, receives a performance that illuminates the composer’s love for his wife. The Scherzo becomes an elegant dance and the romantic Nocturne becomes an effusive love paean. It’s the best performance of this quartet I’ve ever heard. Disc 6 focuses on the development of 18th and 19th century French string music. Music of Leclair, and the famous virtuoso Ysaye are followed by a sensitive performance by violinist Arnaud Sussmann of Franck’s A Major Violin Sonata. Pianist Wu Han shines in the heartbreaking Adagio of Faure’s Piano Quartet No. 1.
Disc 7 offers examples of how the violin virtuosi of the early 20th century transformed the instrument into the “Age of Expression.” Violinist Fritz Kreisler’s String Quartet of 1919 was a revelation. This melancholy, nostalgic tribute to Vienna before World War I is much deeper than the syrupy-sweet bon bons that he composed for himself as a world famous violin soloist. Nicholas Canellakis’ rich, deep cello is a standout in a memorable performance. Paul Huang’s expressive playing fulfills the melodic invention of Respighi’s rarely heard Violin Sonata of 1917. The limpid and sensitive Andante makes this a discovery worth hearing.
Disc 8 is a survey of violin playing in the 20th century in many different countries. Martinu’s Duo No. 1 for Violin and Cello (1927) is an exercise in blending of the two instruments and a spirited rondo pregnant with folk melodies. American John Corigliano’s eight minute Red Violin Caprices are stylistic variations on his troubadorian theme composed for Francois Girard’s movie of the same name. Bella Hristova is the brilliant soloist who deftly traverses the Baroque, Gypsy and Romantic styles of the variations. In Shostakovich’s student Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, Op. 11, the composer begins to explore the melancholy of later works. The Scherzo is the first of many wild and dissonant orchestral and quartet movements.
The most intriguing and neglected masterpiece in the plethora of chamber music on this disc is Enescu’s String Octet, op. 7 (1900). Georges Enescu (1881-1955) is the father of modern Romanian music—both as a composer and one of the great violinists of the 20th century. Known for his two Romanian Rhapsodies, the Octet deserves more exposure as one of his small body of 33 acknowledged works. Maybe it’s because of the thick late-Romantic textures, even in this work for eight strings. Yet, this early work is ripe with multiple melodies, luminous color, Romanian folk music and a personal, complex harmonic style. The result is music that repeats multiple hearings, especially if one likes the expressionistic style of early Schoenberg (Transfigured Night). It’s in one movement but the highlight is the Lentement (track 9), an adagio that is a nostalgic and heartfelt adieu to the Romantic period. The performance balances the contrapuntal complexity with a profound nod to its lyrical expressiveness.
Anyone interested in exploring the evolution of the violin in chamber music will find an intriguing blend of favorites and unfamiliar works that will be a source of constant discovery and satisfaction. Rest assured that the live performances are superb. The recordings are simply the best live chamber music documented today. That’s due to six-time Grammy Award-winning record producer Da-Hong Seetoo who has engineered these recordings for fifteen consecutive seasons. This set is a joy for the string lover.
Performing Artists:
Artistic Directors: David Finckel and Wu Han
Pianists: Gloria Chien/ Gilbert Kalish/ Hyeyeon Park/ Juho Pohjonen/ Orion Weiss
Violinists: Benjamin Beilman/ Ivan Chan/ Chad Hoopes/ Bella Hristova/ Paul Huang/ Soovin Kim/ Jessica Lee/ Sean Lee/ Yura Lee/ Arnaud Sussmann/ Danbi Um; violists Roberto Diaz, Hsin-Yun Huang/ Paul Neubauer
Cellists: Dmitri Atapine/ Nicholas Canellakis/ Clive Greensmith/ Keith Robinson
Double bassist: Scott Pingel
Horn: Radovan Vlatkovic
8 Disc Boxed Set $100 or available separately: $15. Available from musicatmenlo.org/live. Digitally Download LIVE 2017 recordings from Amazon.com, iTunes and Spotify
—Robert Moon
