We can all remember those special "above and beyond" concerts we've heard in Parry Sound. I suppose this is true of any arts festival. There will always be certain events, certain performances, certain performers that will engrave themselves into our memories because of the exceptional nature or quality or that certain something ("je ne sais quoi") that sets them apart.
But how often can we say that we've experienced an entire day like that? Thursday, July 21, 2016, at the Festival of the Sound was just such a day. It's the only way to describe it.
That is the more curious, to me at least, as the focal point of the day was the German composer Robert Schumann, a composer whose works are not always among the easiest to understand and interpret beyond the mere playing of the notes on the page.
The music of Schumann that we heard was not all familiar to many of us, but the artistic and emotional quality of many of these performances set them firmly within the "above and beyond" category.
Also very helpful were a pair of short lectures by Jeffrey Stokes, delving into the composer's psychology.
The first concert included four chamber works, each one featuring a single solo instrument alongside the piano. Stokes had also pointed out that Schumann published all of these pieces with indications on the title page that any suitable alternative solo instrument would be quite all right -- obviously designed to increase the market for sales of sheet music! Each of these pieces used a different soloist, and each one was a true delight!
First up was a set of Three Romances, Op. 94, for oboe and piano. James Mason on oboe and Leopoldo Erice on piano gave a delightful reading of these charming pieces, creating an air of fantasy out of the distinctive twist and turns of the melodic lines and the multiple variations of tempo.
The next set consisted of Three Romances, Op. 22, for violin and piano by Clara Schumann. She wrote this piece to play with Joseph Joachim, and it was actually one of her final completed works. More's the pity, then, that Clara should have given up composition -- although her career as a touring virtuoso undoubtedly forced her hand. This music showed definite mastery and imagination in both melodic and harmonic directions and made me regret more than ever the early end of her composing career. Helene Pohl on violin and Peter Longworth on piano were gravely beautiful in the opening andante molto. The second movement appealed with Pohl's beautiful handling of the wide-ranging main theme with its big leaps. Longworth's rippling, bubbling piano part acted as a lovely foil to Pohl's long-lined violin themes in the final movement and ended in the gentlest of final arpeggios.
James Campbell took the stage next with Erice for the Three Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 73 -- a long-time favourite of mine. Campbell's mellifluous tone and careful attention to dynamics created more light and shade here than I have heard from any recordings that have yet come my way. The wistful opening theme of the first movement, the light and lively second, the energetic eruption at the end of the last -- all were played with equal parts precision and passion.
Next we had the Fairy Tale Pictures, Op. 112 for viola and piano. Here's a treasurable rarity: a work actually composed for the viola! The four movements are said to represent scenes from the stories of Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, and Sleeping Beauty. This information derives from one of Schumann's diary entries, for no such indications are shown on the score. It's perhaps even more valid to leave out these explanations and let the listener's imagination wander where it will. Undoubtedly the dance-like Rumpelstiltskin movement has an evil sound to it, and the final Sleeping Beauty piece is as quiet and peaceful as the forest-shrouded palace in which the princess lay asleep for 100 years. Violist Gillian Ansell (partnered with Longworth) gave a characterful performance, full of energy in the galloping second movement, decidedly edgy in that malicious dance, and winding downwards with an increased sense of peacefulness as the final movement came to its gentle close.
One of the great highlights of the day came in the second concert, the song cycle Frauenlieben und --leben ("Woman's Life and Love"). Thanks to the pre-concert talk from Stokes we were all up to speed with the distinct hints at preoccupation with social class distinctions in the text, and with the ninth and final poem which is not sung -- although the slow and quiet piano epilogue, recalling the theme of the first song, obviously covers the same ground as the omitted poem.
Soprano Leslie Fagan gave her finest performance of the season, and almost certainly the finest performance I have ever heard her give. She captured well-nigh perfectly the shifting emotional states of the woman, ranging from the infatuated young girl of the first song to the mixture of joy and apprehension in the bride in # 5, and on to the loving mother of a nursing baby in # 7. In each case she characterized positively, both in her voice and in her face, but on an appropriately restrained scale -- one doesn't want opera-house theatrics when performing lieder! Then came the eighth and last, the mourning song after the death of the woman's love. I can only describe it in terms of colours. Fagan's voice, normally a rainbow of brilliant hues, went dark, grey, and cold. Her bleak intensity was matched by the careful placement of notes, the sharp little sforzandos, the quiet feeling of disquiet in the piano part.
Throughout, Erice was an ideal accompanist, sympathetic to the singer, flexible at need, shaping the accompaniment with care while never exceeding the ideal volume level for good balance. In the final epilogue at the end of the eighth song, he cast a veil over the notes so that the slow reminiscence of the first song gave the sensation of coming from a great distance back in time. Laden with equal measures of heartbreak and hope, that song and epilogue brought tears to my eyes.
The concert closed with the Piano Quartet, Op. 47. This energetic work was played by three members of the Penderecki Quartet with Peter Longworth on piano. The musical texture in the faster movements depends heavily on prolonged chains of runs in the piano part especially, but also from the strings, and these were all played cleanly and crisply. The slow movement had a calm, almost hymn-like air to it, the repeated chords in the piano part being kept quiet and unemphatic. Unlike some earlier performances in the week, Longworth held the piano part throughout the work nicely in scale with his colleagues. I have to confess that I am not overly fond of this work, but if we're to have it, please let it always be played with the panache and precision of this reading!
The evening concert that rounded off he day was devoted to just two works, both drawn from the audience favourites list, and both justly considered peaks of the chamber repertoire: the Piano Quintets of Schumann and of his protege, Brahms. Indeed, with this work Schumann effectively invented the piano quintet form as we know it,. laying the groundwork for followers such as Brahms, Franck, and Dvořák.
The title of the concert was "Mentor and Master," and we could and did have a little fun ahead of time discussing which composer was the mentor and which the master. But of course, Schumann clearly regarded Brahms as the master, and that point was highlighted when Jeffrey Stokes came to the stage to read Schumann's famous encomium of Brahms from the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik just before the performance of the Brahms quintet.
Stokes' reading in turn drew our attention to the sheer mastery of the younger man's thematic creation and development, especially compared to Schumann's sometimes-laboured use of repetitive melodic fragments. It became easy to forget that Brahms suffered his own labours of Hercules over this piece, successively trying it out as a string quintet and a sonata for 2 pianos before finally achieving his desired results in the piano quintet form.
(In passing, I have to remind my faithful readers that the two-piano version was performed, and was published by Brahms as a separate composition numbered Op. 34 bis. Seek it out; it's a remarkable listening experience! And you can read my thoughts about it here: Approved Alternates)
We've been blessed all this week with the playing of two remarkable string quartet ensembles, and each of them now took a turn on the stage. The Schumann Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44, was played by the Penderecki Quartet with Leopoldo Erice, piano. The opening movement is marked allegro brillante and the ensemble's opening was certainly both brilliant and precise. The first movement above all is marked by long, singing melodic lines, and these unfolded with a youthful spring in the step that was altogether engaging. The slow second movement, in modo d'una marcia, can sometimes plod or drag but here the players maintained a sense of anticipation that kept the music from becoming a dead weight. The first episode, lyrical in character, was played with a sweetness and the second with a ferocity that created maximum contrast from the march in two directions.
The biggest danger to balance is in the scherzo with its endless chains of rising and falling scales. Here, it's all too easy for the pianist to outweigh his colleagues but Erice kept his playing perfectly in balance and with the Penderecki Quartet generated a level of vigour and motion that kept the movement flying along.
The finale is most in danger of lying down and dying with its apparently endless repetitions of a single 4-bar melodic fragment, but the players managed to build and sustain interest through the movement right up to that always-startling cadential pause. The double fugue combining the finale's theme with that of the first movement then unfolded with an urgent forward momentum that carried the work irresistibly to its conclusion. A powerful and engaging performance throughout.
After the intermission, the New Zealand Quartet partnered with pianist Stewart Goodyear in the matchless Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 by Brahms.
And what a performance they gave! The music is too well-known to require any particular commentary, apart from the truism that the heavily-written piano part can easily override the string sound completely if played without discretion. This is due not least to the heavy chording low on the keyboard in many passages (a frequent characteristic in the chamber works of the young Brahms).
No such danger arose here. I can't think when I have ever heard a performance of this Quintet where that balance issue did not appear at some point, but Goodyear's playing from first to last was exemplary in maintaining balance and unity with his colleagues. In many cases, he accomplished this by playing loud, emphatic chords staccato and with only sparing use of the sustaining pedal. In other passages, although the music is marked fortissimo, he wisely chose to play a mere forte, still completely audible but not overwhelmingly so. He had the score in front of him, but appeared to refer it only rarely, more often focusing his eyes on the members of the quartet.
As for the New Zealand Quartet, they used the widest range of tone from the edge of the inaudible all the way up to a ferocious fortissimo. The most powerful passages, in the third and fourth movements especially, were driven with a fierceness and wildness that I can't recall encountering before -- yet still remaining completely controlled and musical at all times. The quieter pages, such as the slow movement's lyrical theme or the introduction to the finale, were as completely secure in a gentler mode of playing.
I think that if one could magically construct a "perfect" op. 34 Piano Quintet, it would sound very much like the extraordinary performance we heard last night. I'd venture to say much the same words as a final comment on the Frauenliebe und --leben, the Fairytale Pictures, the oboe Romances, the Fantasy Pieces with clarinet, and the Schumann Piano Quintet as well. Truly a remarkable day.
The title of the concert was "Mentor and Master," and we could and did have a little fun ahead of time discussing which composer was the mentor and which the master. But of course, Schumann clearly regarded Brahms as the master, and that point was highlighted when Jeffrey Stokes came to the stage to read Schumann's famous encomium of Brahms from the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik just before the performance of the Brahms quintet.
Stokes' reading in turn drew our attention to the sheer mastery of the younger man's thematic creation and development, especially compared to Schumann's sometimes-laboured use of repetitive melodic fragments. It became easy to forget that Brahms suffered his own labours of Hercules over this piece, successively trying it out as a string quintet and a sonata for 2 pianos before finally achieving his desired results in the piano quintet form.
(In passing, I have to remind my faithful readers that the two-piano version was performed, and was published by Brahms as a separate composition numbered Op. 34 bis. Seek it out; it's a remarkable listening experience! And you can read my thoughts about it here: Approved Alternates)
We've been blessed all this week with the playing of two remarkable string quartet ensembles, and each of them now took a turn on the stage. The Schumann Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44, was played by the Penderecki Quartet with Leopoldo Erice, piano. The opening movement is marked allegro brillante and the ensemble's opening was certainly both brilliant and precise. The first movement above all is marked by long, singing melodic lines, and these unfolded with a youthful spring in the step that was altogether engaging. The slow second movement, in modo d'una marcia, can sometimes plod or drag but here the players maintained a sense of anticipation that kept the music from becoming a dead weight. The first episode, lyrical in character, was played with a sweetness and the second with a ferocity that created maximum contrast from the march in two directions.
The biggest danger to balance is in the scherzo with its endless chains of rising and falling scales. Here, it's all too easy for the pianist to outweigh his colleagues but Erice kept his playing perfectly in balance and with the Penderecki Quartet generated a level of vigour and motion that kept the movement flying along.
The finale is most in danger of lying down and dying with its apparently endless repetitions of a single 4-bar melodic fragment, but the players managed to build and sustain interest through the movement right up to that always-startling cadential pause. The double fugue combining the finale's theme with that of the first movement then unfolded with an urgent forward momentum that carried the work irresistibly to its conclusion. A powerful and engaging performance throughout.
After the intermission, the New Zealand Quartet partnered with pianist Stewart Goodyear in the matchless Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 by Brahms.
And what a performance they gave! The music is too well-known to require any particular commentary, apart from the truism that the heavily-written piano part can easily override the string sound completely if played without discretion. This is due not least to the heavy chording low on the keyboard in many passages (a frequent characteristic in the chamber works of the young Brahms).
No such danger arose here. I can't think when I have ever heard a performance of this Quintet where that balance issue did not appear at some point, but Goodyear's playing from first to last was exemplary in maintaining balance and unity with his colleagues. In many cases, he accomplished this by playing loud, emphatic chords staccato and with only sparing use of the sustaining pedal. In other passages, although the music is marked fortissimo, he wisely chose to play a mere forte, still completely audible but not overwhelmingly so. He had the score in front of him, but appeared to refer it only rarely, more often focusing his eyes on the members of the quartet.
As for the New Zealand Quartet, they used the widest range of tone from the edge of the inaudible all the way up to a ferocious fortissimo. The most powerful passages, in the third and fourth movements especially, were driven with a fierceness and wildness that I can't recall encountering before -- yet still remaining completely controlled and musical at all times. The quieter pages, such as the slow movement's lyrical theme or the introduction to the finale, were as completely secure in a gentler mode of playing.
I think that if one could magically construct a "perfect" op. 34 Piano Quintet, it would sound very much like the extraordinary performance we heard last night. I'd venture to say much the same words as a final comment on the Frauenliebe und --leben, the Fairytale Pictures, the oboe Romances, the Fantasy Pieces with clarinet, and the Schumann Piano Quintet as well. Truly a remarkable day.
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