Above: the Persian composer Behzad Ranjbaran
Sunday October 9th, 2016 - The first in this season's wonderful series of Philharmonic Ensembles concerts at Merkin Hall. On these Sunday afternoons, we have an opportunity to experience well-devised programs of chamber music played by top-notch artists from The New York Philharmonic.
I tend to love any program - whether of symphonic or chamber music - that includes some Shostakovich. This afternoon, we heard his Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano (arr. Atomyan). This set of miniatures are atypical Shostakovich, being songful, light-hearted, and very much à la Russe.
In the opening Preludium, Liza Stepanova's melodious piano-playing underscored the harmonizing violins of Elizabeth Zeltser and Shanshan Yao. The two violins take up a bouncy dance pattern in the Gavotte, and they are beautifully aligned with Ms. Stepanova's warmly wistful playing in the dreamy Elegie. A gypsy mood prevails in the Waltzes, and the concluding movement is a very lively Polka. The musicians were as lovely to watch as to hear, and I must remark on Ms. Zeltser's very attractive frock: a floral motif of Prussian blue on black.
In announcing the program's second work, Behzad Ranjbaran's Dance of Life for Violin and Double Bass, Philharmonic bassist Satoshi Okamoto remarked that "...there's something different about the composer of our next piece from the other composers we're hearing today: he's alive!" It took a split second for the audience to pick up on this little jest and laugh aloud; meanwhile, Mr. Ranjbaran had gone up to the stage and gave us some illuminating information about his 1990 composition Dance of Life.
Violinist Duoming Ba joined Satoshi Okamoto for the performance of the two-movement piece. Soulful lyricism gives way to a competitive dialogue between the two voices; feelings of longing and later of angst are conveyed. The writing for the two instruments is highly imaginative; the upper range of the violin is vividly contrasted with the plumbed depths of the double bass. The playing was expert and wonderfully polished.
Mozart considered his Quintet for Piano and Winds, K. 452, to be among his finest works..and so it seemed today. A stellar ensemble of wind players took the stage: Sherry Skylar (oboe), Pascual Martinez Forteza (clarinet), Kim Laskowski (bassoon), and R. Allen Spanjer (horn); these are players we often hear piping up in solo passages at the Philharmonic, and so today provided a wonderful opportunity to enjoy their artistry in a more sustained musical setting. Buoyed by the excellent pianist Yi-Fang Huang, they lavished tonal radiance and technical distinction on this marvel of a Mozart masterwork.
A series of three opening chords reminds us a bit of THE MAGIC FLUTE. As the opening Largo - Allegro moderato unfolds, the wind voices entwine gorgeously over rippling motifs from the keyboard. Each player has his or her moments to shine, and they did so to deeply pleasing effect. In the Larghetto, tinged with a sweet sadness of recollection, the melodies flow from voice to voice and the timbres mingle in rich harmonies. Ms. Huang's keyboard dexterity was an exceptional feature of the final Rondo, with the wind players having a merry time of it: superb playing from all.
To conclude the program, the magnificent Piano Quintet of Johannes Brahms brought forth a group of string players to equal the high-value playing their wind colleagues had regaled us with in the Mozart. Anna Rabinova and Hannah Choi (violins), Rebecca Young (viola), and Alexei Yupanqui Gonzales (cello) were joined by the evening's third outstanding pianist: Joy Cline Phinney.
The Piano Quintet is quintessential Brahms; it began life as a string quartet and existed briefly as a sonata for two pianos before the composer surrendered to his friend Clara Schumann's demand: "Please, remodel it once more!" This Brahms did in 1864, setting it as the Quintet for Piano, Two Violins, Viola and Cello that music lovers hold so dear, and winning this accolade from the esteemed conductor Hermann Levi: "The Quintet is beautiful beyond words!"
Levi's praise rang true this afternoon as the Philharmonic players treated us to a performance of breath-taking tonal allure and emotional resonance. Along the way, spectacular moments abounded: the magically sustained high note from Ms. Rabinova in the first movement, splendid depth of tone and feeling from Mr. Gonzales (throughout the entire piece), and the perfumed resonance of Ms. Young's viola (and she also looked striking in an English-rose gown). A blithe mini-fugue in the third moment was a particular treat.
As an ensemble, the five conjured up the achingly lovely melodies with full-toned, passionate playing. In the final movement, both their ardor and their technical authority reached an apex of musical delight. Bravi tutti!!
It seems these days that no classical music program - whether operatic, symphonic, or in the chamber music genre - can be played thru without some intrusion on the part of audience members. It might be a cell-phone going off at a particularly poignant moment in a Wagner score, or a pair of 20-somethings texting and whispering during a violin concerto. Today a squirming young child was distracting enough during the first half of the program; after the interval, the mother took him to seats dead-center in the front row - right under the noses of the players - where his restlessness continued unabated. That the musicians held their concentration was admirable.
The mother seemed blissfully unaware that she was annoying anyone; my companion, herself a mom, was as put-off by this behavior as I was.