Carpe Diem offers a heartfelt afternoon of string quartets

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Carpe Diem String Quartet
First Unitarian Universalist Church
Columbus, OH
November 5, 2023

Gabriella Smith: Carrot Revolution
Mayer: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 14
Vali: CHAS
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 117

Last weekend marked the opening of the Carpe Diem String Quartet’s first season with violinist Sam Weiser. The varied program was a a sign of good things to come, balancing contemporary works with earlier ones – one of which has been long forgotten. A wonderfully energetic and exciting opener was had in Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution, a 2015 work written for the Aizuri Quartet. Rarely does a string quartet sound so percussive! The body of the cello was repurposed as a percussion instrument, and guttural sounds from the second violin did much to explore a vast range of textures, given with an unwavering rhythmic intensity.

With a life spanning 1812-1883, Emilie Mayer was an exact contemporary of Wagner and Liszt. Her String Quartet in G minor was an intriguing discovery, evidencing Mayer to be a highly accomplished and skilled musical voice. Marked by a recurrent sighing gesture, the first movement was sweeping and passionate. A slow movement was quite touching, the dotted rhythms of its main melody elegantly articulated. Despite ending firmly in the minor, the finale was largely and a warm and genial affair. Carpe Diem’s committed advocacy has piqued my interest in exploring more of Mayer’s body of work.

The second half opened with the premiere of CHAS, a moving work by Reza Vali written in memory of Charles Weatherbee. Vali has had a long relationship with Carpe Diem – violist Korine Fujiwara spoke fondly of a 2012 festival of Persian music in which quartet and composer first collaborated; several recordings of his works have followed. The letters of CHAS were spelled out in music (using the German nomenclature), as individual entities and then layered on top of each other, creating an aura of inward contemplation. A viola melody perhaps evidenced the composer’s Persian roots in its inflections, and another statement of the titular theme in the quartet’s highest register was of striking effect in its otherworldly harmonics.

Shostakovich was another composer who employed the spelling of his name (DSCH) as a musical theme, and it was his Ninth Quartet which closed the program. The 1964 work was cast in five movements, alternating fast and slow, almost in the manner of a Baroque suite. Carpe Diem gave it a poignant reading, evident from the searching, wandering theme which opened. The second movement Adagio was particularly mournful, while the following Allegretto was Shostakovich at his blistering, sardonic best. The finale spanned more than twice as much time as any of the preceding movements, a quantity which cellist Ariana Nelson introduced as a “200 bar crescendo”, and indeed, it brought the recital to a bold, uncompromising finish.

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields players delight in an evening of chamber music

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Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble
Tomo Keller, violin
Harvey De Souza, violin
Robert Smissen, viola
Richard Harwood, cello
Lynda Houghton, double bass
Timothy Orpen, clarinet
Julie Price, bassoon
Stephen Stirling, horn

Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
November 4, 2023

Nielsen: Serenata in vano, FS 68
Dvořák: String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 77
Beethoven: Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20

Eight members of the illustrious Academy of St. Martin in the Fields made their way to Columbus Saturday evening for a varied program of chamber music. Matters began with Carl Nielsen’s Serenata in vano (“Serenade in Vain”), a quintet scored for the unusual combination of clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello, and double bass – an instrumentation that intentionally overlaps with that of the Beethoven Septet with which it was written to be paired, as was indeed the case at present.

ASMF Chamber Ensemble at the Southern Theatre

Pizzicato strumming in the strings underpinned the dominant clarinet (Timothy Orpen) melody (Nielsen was certainly a composer who knew how to write for clarinet, as epitomized by the significant Clarinet Concerto). The cello (Richard Harwood) was later granted a richly singing melody, enhanced by the warmth of the horn (Stephen Stirling). A lovely opener that showcased the individual personality of each instrument.

Dvořák’s String Quintet No. 2 in G major was a watershed work for the composer, capturing the attention of Brahms and vastly expanding his reputation. Like the Eighth Symphony in the same key that would follow some years later, it’s a warm and bucolic work, the jovial first movement in particular being given with flexible abandon, and always lyrical at heart – even during the heightened drama and tension of the development. The inclusion of double bass in place of the a second viola or cello as is more typical for a string quintet gave the work an added heft.

The scherzo was noted for its Bohemian inflections in its rhythmic vitality – a device that would become one of Dvořák’s signatures. The flowing, lyrical melody of the slow movement showed the quintet in deft balance, as they were perhaps even more so in the joyous finale that brought the first half to an energetic close.

Like the preceding, Beethoven’s Septet was a work that did much to enhance its composer’s renown. Following a bold, quasi-orchestral introduction, delicate filigree from violinist Tomo Keller served to bridge the elegant main theme. The Adagio cantabile boasted a long-breathed melody, first in the clarinet and then answered by the violin, while the horn and bassoon interlocked with an intricately-crafted countermelody. A bouncy minuet followed, perhaps more familiar from its use in the Op. 49 No. 2 piano sonata.

A theme and variations comprised the fourth movement, with a stately presentation of the theme preceding an increasingly florid set of embellishments. The mournful intro of the finale took the manner of a funeral march (a style the composer would often revisit), but quickly gave way following some fiery violin work, with the ensemble offering cohesion and chemistry even at its blistering Presto.

ProMusica opens 45th season with burnished Bruch and bold Beethoven

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ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
David Danzmayr, conductor
Simone Porter, violin
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
October 7, 2023

Simon: Fate Now Conquers
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36

ProMusica Columbus opened its 45th season with what they do best: a work by a contemporary composer, a concerto with a star soloist, and a cornerstone symphony. Beginning the evening was Carlos Simon’s 2020 piece Fate Now Conquers. Since being premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, it’s a work that has quickly made rounds from ensembles across the country (I caught a performance in Indianapolis just about a year ago). The work is an homage to Beethoven, suggesting the harmonies of the Seventh Symphony’s Allegretto, and moreover, its title alludes to a passage from Homer’s Iliad which Beethoven had quoted in his diary.

Simone Porter and David Danzmayr with ProMusica, photo credit ProMusica

Terse, motivic gestures in lieu of singable melody marked the piece, very much à la Beethoven. There was a singular rhythmic drive that purveyed a Beethovenian fury, briefly countered by a lyrical cello before its forceful end – certainly packing a punch in a mere 5-minute duration. Bruch’s evergreen Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor was vividly brought to life by the talents of Simone Porter. A plaintive, longing orchestral passage set the stage for the violin’s entrance; one was struck by Porter’s burnished tone from the onset, articulate and projected with assuredness. In the stately Vorspiel with which the concerto began, Porter made the technical demands look all but effortless, and conductor David Danzmayr offered an orchestral accompaniment that had just the right spark.

This opening prelude served as preparation for the heart of the work, a lyrical and languid Adagio – one hardly wanted this moment of serenity to end. The sprightly finale resided at the other end of the spectrum, however, given with verve and vivacity, and its Hungarian inflections recalled the finale of Brahms’ violin concerto – heard at ProMusica last season.

In his prefatory remarks, Danzmayr suggested a possible thematic connection between Simon’s Fate Now Conquers and Beethoven’s Second Symphony in that the latter was composed at a time when Beethoven was profoundly grappling with fate, as documented in the heart-wrenching Heiligenstadt Testament. In any case, this early entry in Beethoven’s symphonic corpus was marked by a broad introduction that gave way to buoyant theme – airy and joyous, but not without without an underlying sense of drama not far beneath the surface. Though his maturity as a symphonist began with the Eroica, the present work’s expansive and exploratory development made the case that it can’t be dismissed as merely imitative.

A graceful and delicate Larghetto countered, a finely detailed – a few brass flubs notwithstanding. The witty scherzo showed a certain indebtedness to Haydn, though I found Danzmayr’s tempo a bit brisk; I suspect a bit more breathing room wouldn’t have diminished the drama. The finale was as playful and high spirited as anything Beethoven wrote: it was mentioned that ProMusica recently acquired a new set of timpani modeled after those used in Beethoven’s time, and here they resounded to great effect.

Montero in recital: Romantic drama, piquant neoclassicism, and free improvisation

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Gabriela Montero, piano
Reinberger Chamber Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
July 9, 2023

Chopin: Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61
Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9
Stravinsky: Piano Sonata
Montero: Improvisations on themes by Beethoven, Gershwin, and Piaf

As part of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and Institute for Young Artists, Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero presented a wide-ranging recital at Severance’s Reinberger Chamber Hall. Two pinnacles of the Romantic repertoire occupied the first half – both works which often feature on contestant programs in Piano Cleveland’s adult counterpart of the youth competition, to be held next in 2024. Chopin’s Polonaise-fantaisie was given an introspective, spacious opening, more fantasy than polonaise before the dance meter took shape.

Gabriela Montero at Reinberger Chamber Hall

Montero purveyed remarkably clear voicing through Chopin’s densely-textured writing, crisply punctuating the polonaise rhythms. A chorale section was of lyrical contrast, its delicate cantilena suggesting an Italianate bel canto, in due course giving way to an energetic coda. Schumann’s Carnaval provided a wonderfully picturesque series of vignettes from the titular festival, arrestingly brought to life by Montero. An opening preamble was colorful and exuberant, almost orchestral in force.

Each subsequent scene was shaped with distinct character: the coquettishness of “Arlequin”, the darkly passionate “Chiarina” – emphasizing the dotted rhythms, Montero sculpted a fervent climax. “Chopin” was rapturously lyrical, a fitting tribute to the Pole – and in the present recital, a callback to the previous selection – while “Paganini” was a sprightly affair with Montero traversing the keyboard in leaps and bounds. The buoyant march which closed the work did much to heighten its drama.

I first encountered Stravinsky’s brief piano sonata on a warmly recommended album from Earl Wild. Despite being a pianist himself, Stravinsky’s output for the instrument tends to get overlooked, and the sonata made for an intriguing opening to the latter half. Crisp and detached, it epitomized the composer’s neoclassical period, though a melody of surprising sweetness took shape. The central movement served as an interlude replete with piquant dissonances and intricate ornamentations. The finale recalled the measure of the opening, though its imitative textures suggested a two-part invention.

The balance of the evening was devoted to Montero’s signature improvisations, wherein she requests a theme from the audience and proceeds to develop a five-minute or so improvisation based on that theme. It’s a rare thing to experience in a classical piano recital, and a remarkable gift to witness. In her spoken remarks, Montero noted that improvisation is “the way I communicate through sound”; indeed, what followed flowed just as natural conversation, improvising on Beethoven’s Für Elise, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Piaf’s La Vie en rose, and Beethoven again in the opening theme of the Fifth Symphony.

Walking into paradise at the Kansas City Symphony

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Kansas City Symphony
Michael Stern, conductor
Julia Bullock, soprano
Helzberg Hall
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Kansas City, MO
June 3, 2023

Delius: The Walk to the Paradise Garden
Montgomery: Five Freedom Songs
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

Under the baton of music director Michael Stern, the Kansas City Symphony’s program for the first weekend of June paired the most charming of the Mahler symphonies with a certified rarity and a recent work which the ensemble co-commissioned. Frederick Delius’ The Walk to the Paradise Garden, an extended interlude from his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, made for a lovely opener. Marked by a gentle, rising theme, there was especially fine playing from the oboe. Lush textures and surging phrases in this gem of a piece piqued my interest in exploring more Delius.

Pre-concert conversation with Michael Stern and Julia Bullock

Jessie Montgomery’s 2021 work Five Freedom Songs takes its texts from the anthology Slave Songs of the United States and featured soprano Julia Bullock, whom the composer collaborated with in the song cycle’s conception. Between Bullock being amplified and the inclusion of a drum set, it had more of the guise of a popular idiom, contrasted by the sophistication of Montgomery’s orchestration – which in the opening “My Lord, What a Morning” included the delicate addition of glockenspiel; concertmaster Jun Iwasaki’s passage in the reflective “I Want to Go Home” was fittingly wistful.

“Lay dis Body Down” amounted to a somber funeral procession, wherein different groups of instruments plodded along at different paces – not unlike something one might encounter in a Mahler symphony. “My Father, How Long?” was a work a defiance, its text emanating form a jail in Georgetown, South Carolina on the brink of revolt, a theme explored further in the closing “The Day of Judgment,” with a percussive effect achieved by the string players tapping on the body of their instruments.

Like the Delius that opened, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony depicts entry to paradise (sharply contrasted from the Montgomery which concerns the struggle to find a higher place). Bright sounds of sleigh bells opened, limpid and graceful in this tautly proportioned work – much leaner than the composer’s previous symphonies, but a work that nonetheless manages to be just as all-encompassing. Crisply articulated, Stern purveyed a rich lyricism, though there was certainly no shortage of dramatic tension – one even encounters the germ of the funereal theme that famously opens the Fifth Symphony.

The scherzo saw Iwasaki playing a detuned violin, gritty and rustic. Clarinets were pointed outward for their shrill interjections: Mahler at his satirical best in this deconstructing of the presumably innocuous ländler. The Ruhevoll is one of my favorite things Mahler wrote: beginning with singing cellos, it surged to pained lyricism, reaching and reaching for a higher spiritual plane, a destination achieved in Das himmlische Leben, for which Bullock returned. Honeyed clarinet conveyed a childlike innocence, and without amplification here, Bullock nonetheless projected well and with clear German diction in this wonderfully touching portrait of the afterlife.

Cleveland Orchestra strikes operatic gold in La fanciulla del West

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Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Emily Magee, soprano (Minnie)
Roman Burdenko, baritone (Jack Rance)
Limmie Pulliam, tenor (Dick Johnson)
Tony Stevenson, tenor (Nick)

Scott Conner, bass (Ashby)
Iurii Samoilov, baritone (Sonora)
Owen McCausland, tenor (Trin)
Joseph Lattanzi, baritone (Sid)
Benjamin Taylor, baritone (Bello)
Joseph Tancredi, tenor (Harry)
Alex McKissick, tenor (Joe)
Joseph Barron, bass-baritone (Happy)
Kyle Miller, baritone (Jim Larkens)
Zachary Altman, bass-baritone (Billy Jackrabbit)
Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano (Wowkle)
John Brancy, baritone (Jake Wallace)
Michael Adams, baritone (Jose Castro)
John-Joseph Haney, tenor (Pony Express Rider)

Men of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
May 20, 2023

Puccini: La fanciulla del West

I’ve long felt the Franz Welser-Möst’s greatest achievement as Cleveland Orchestra music director lies in his programming of complete operas, and last weekend’s performance of Puccini’s Fanciulla del West only furthered cemented my contention. Welser-Möst certainly has stellar operatic credentials, holding directorships of the major opera houses of both Zurich and Vienna. Puccini’s 1910 work tends to be overshadowed by the blockbusters that surround it, but Welser-Möst along with TCO and a strong vocal cast made quite the compelling case for it.

Emily Magee as Minnie in The Cleveland Orchestra’s La fanciulla del West, photos credit Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

Announced well before the pandemic – a sign of the long-range planning behind putting on such an ambitious production with an international cast – some cast changes were perhaps all but inevitable, with Emily Magee stepping in for Tamara Wilson as Minnie, and Roman Burdenko singing the role of Jack Rance in place of the originally announced Eric Owens. Though perhaps not as deeply familiar as La bohème or Madama Butterfly, the arresting, lush beginnings from the orchestra made matters instantly recognizable as Puccini, surging with a passion only he could write.

Singing of homesickness – what must have been a common experience for those braving the American West – Kyle Miller’s Jim Larkens was a lovely, inward moment, touchingly accompanied by the harp. Minnie’s entrance showed Emily Magee – despite suffering from a cold – to be a commanding presence, mastering the daunting role. I envy audiences who saw the two performances prior to Saturday, in which her voice presumably would have been in even stronger shape. She blended beautifully with Limmie Pulliam’s Dick Johnson, closing Act I in a sumptuous duet.

This arc continued into the second act, with a rapturous love scene between them before conflict erupted, gunshots chillingly fired, and matters built to the tensely climactic poker scene. The final act began in cacophonous tumult, with the now captured Johnson booming and defiant to the end. Minnie implored for compassion in a heartfelt dialogue with the miners (“Ah! Ah! È Minnie!”), persuasive enough to afford a redemptive ending – for Puccini, a rarity indeed!

Buttressing the cast of soloists were the men of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, colorfully portraying a miscellany of miners at a Gold Rush camp. Performing the work in a concert hall rather than an opera house allowed The Cleveland Orchestra to be front and center rather than relegated to the pit – and rightfully so, as they were perhaps the true star of the show, with meticulous and compelling playing that served Puccini well. One doesn’t always get to hear an opera anchored by such fine orchestral playing, certainly a high note on which to close the 2022-23 concert season.

Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra, Chorus, and soloists in La fanciulla del West

Cleveland Orchestra presents fascinating survey of American orchestral works

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Cleveland Orchestra
Daniel Reith, conductor
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
May 19, 2023

Joplin: Overture to Treemonisha
Perry: Short Piece for Orchestra
Still: Darker America
Herrmann: Suite from Vertigo
Chacon: Voiceless Mass
Varèse: Amériques

In one of the most intriguing entries of The Cleveland Orchestra’s wide-ranging American Dream festival, the orchestra offered a truly fascinating program of works that respond to the concept of the American dream in some fashion, unearthing selections that lie far beyond the confines of the standard repertoire. An engaging pre-concert discussion led by musicologists Kira Thurman and Douglas W. Shadle provided thought-provoking insight into the works to be performed.

Opening of Joplin’s Treemonisha

An indisposed Franz Welser-Möst was obliged to bow out Friday evening (but fortunately was well enough to conduct the closing performance of La fanciulla del West the following night), leaving the reins in the able hands of assistant conductor Daniel Reith. I’ve long been intrigued by Scott Joplin’s 1911 opera Treemonisha, a major contribution to American music – and unjustly neglected. It’s really quite unprecedented for a major orchestra to perform Joplin, so kudos to the TCO for opening the evening with the opera’s overture. It began energetically with carefree abandon, contrasted by an arching lyricism and the composer’s penchant from chromaticism. The brass warmly conveyed slower, more poignant material, a theme that resurfaces in the opera in the closing A Real Slow Drag.

Julia Perry has been a fascinating discovery to this listener. It seems there’s been a resurgence of interest in her as of late here in Ohio – and rightly so, as she spent much of her life in Akron. A recent Columbus Symphony performance of Study for Orchestra was quite eye-opening, and TCO’s inclusion of the Short Piece for Orchestra was no less revelatory – a quantity which Columbus’ ProMusica also has on tap for next season. Terse, strident gestures marked Perry’s sophisticated language, given by TCO with exacting clarity. An intense, unforgiving work, ending definitively in a crash.

Perry completed formative studies abroad in Europe; likewise William Grant Still turned towards European influence in studying with Edgard Varèse (and Joplin was taught music by a German immigrant, who would introduce him to the operas of Wagner – later to become an inspiration for Treemonisha). In the pre-concert talk, it was suggested that for Black Americans, as with these three composers, the American dream was escaping, and look to Europe which was comparatively more enlightened in terms of racial oppression. TCO selected Still’s 1924 tone poem Darker America, his first major orchestral work. A generally restrained work, it opened with a lyrical gesture in the low strings, with some fine solo passages from the flute and clarinet. Blue notes shaping the melodic line caught one’s ear, sounding not unlike Gerhswin’s Rhapsody in Blue, written the same year.

At first glance, the suite from Bernard Herrmann’s score to the Hitchcock film Vertigo seemed like a misfit. But, film scores constitute a significant chapter of American orchestral music, and the film in question deals with dreams in its way. Neatly divided into three movements, the suite’s opening “Prelude” was awash in lush, colorful scoring, gleaming in cinematic brilliance. Chilling dissonances brought “The Nightmare” – a direct reference to the dreamworld – to life, while the closing “Scène d’amour” surged with lavish chromaticism, reminding one of TCO’s 2018 festival centered around Tristan und Isolde.

In 2022, Raven Chacon became the first Native American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music, granted for his remarkable work Voiceless Mass. Reduced to chamber-sized scoring for organ, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, two percussionists, strings, and sine tones, the musicians were dispersed throughout the hall, with Reith conducting faced towards the audience, achieving a surround-sound effect. The twenty minute essay was often of meditative stasis, though a pulsating bass drum was ominous and omnipresent. With the lights dimmed, a remarkable atmosphere was sustained until matters drifted away to silence. For the indigenous population, the reality of the American dream often proved to be more of a nightmare; Chacon’s somber work gives one the space to reflect on a such a stark contrast.

After Chacon’s barren minimalism, matters turned sumptuously maximalist in Varèse’s Amériques, presented in its 1929 revision (a work also captured on TCO’s A New Century recording). A wandering alto flute solo opened, giving way as the vigor and energy of a bustling metropolis was amassed, replete with percussive bursts and screeching sirens. Thrilling orchestral effect abounded in this dizzyingly intricate tapestry, given with singular intensity.

ProMusica closes season with celebration of Caroline Shaw

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ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
David Danzmayr, conductor
Caroline Shaw, vocals
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 13, 2023

Shaw: Blueprint
Shaw: Is a Rose
Shaw: Entr’acte
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

Ever keen to celebrate living composers, ProMusica’s final performance of the season explored the work of the remarkable Caroline Shaw. In addition to being featured as composer, the multi-faceted Shaw was additionally seen as vocalist in one of her own works, and as violinist, joining ProMusica’s ranks for the Brahms symphony which closed the evening. Originally scheduled to take place prior to the pandemic, it was well worth the wait, and further to the convivial spirit of the evening, Shaw revealed a few touching Columbus connections: she had studied violin with ProMusica concertmaster Katherine McLin, and her mother sang in the Columbus Opera chorus in the 1970s.

Caroline Shaw performing Is a Rose with David Danzmayr and ProMusica, photos credit ProMusica

Scored for string quartet, Blueprint featured McLin along with Jennifer Ross, Mary Harris, and Cora Kuyvenhoven. Inspired by Beethoven, it captured the spirit of the elder composer indirectly and obliquely, not relying on obvious allusions. Snappy pizzicatos gave variety to the texture, and much was made of the empty space that separated its terse gestures, a sure sign of the quartet’s seamless cohesion.

Is a Rose constitutes a short song cycle, intriguingly scored for string orchestra with the addition of oboe and harpsichord. The three songs respectively set texts by Jacob Polley, Shaw herself, and Robert Burns, and it was really treat to hear Shaw sing her own work, an adept performer offering the insight of a composer. In “The Edge,” the oboe complemented the richness of the strings, with a gentle vocal line rising in intensity in mirror of the text. The harpsichord opened “And So,” here, the lyricism of Shaw’s voice complemented her lyrical text. In a clever orchestration, the words “borrowed time” were marked with pizzicato strings, sounding like a ticking clock. The closing setting of Burns’ “Red, Red Rose” made for a melancholy farewell.

As Blueprint looked towards Beethoven, Entr’acte drew inspiration from Haydn, take the minuet rhythm – a key element of much of Haydn’s output – as a departure point. Cast for string orchestra, its crunchy dissonances and use of harmonics offered Haydnesque wit fit for the 21st century – very much in Shaw’s own voice, but no less charming.

Conductor David Danzmayr noted that one may be surprised to see a Brahms symphony on a program from the chamber-sized ProMusica, but explained that Meiningen Hofkapelle that premiered some of Brahms’ symphonies was comparable in size. Thunderous, brooding beginnings opened this C minor First Symphony, though perhaps still a bit thinner sounding to contemporary areas accustomed to much larger ensembles. The first movement’s primary theme was articulated crisp and dramatic, taken at a rather brisk tempo.

The Andante sostentuo was a lyrical look inward, though it could have benefitted from greater dynamic contrast had Danzmayr brought down the dynamics down a bit more. Mellifluous clarinet marked the scherzo, but I felt the movement’s rustic charm needed to breathe more and a less-hurried tempo choice would have better suited. Gleaming brass opened the weighty finale, with lyrical strings intoning a melody that bore more than a passing resemblance to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – a fitting nod to the evening’s beginning which saw students from ProMusica’s admirable Play Us Forward program performing a string arrangement of the Ode to Joy. Intense and articulate, Danzmayr guided the orchestra to a bold finish.

ProMusica performs Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 (spot Shaw on the far left!)

A hearty Russian afternoon from Milanov and the Columbus Symphony

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Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Zhu Wang, piano
Ohio Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 7, 2023

Mussorgsky: Dawn on the Moscow River from Khovanshchina
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

For the penultimate installment of the Masterworks series, Rossen Milanov and the Columbus Symphony turned towards the Russian repertoire in a program anchored by favorites of Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. The afternoon began, however, with Mussorgsky’s Dawn on the Moscow River, a quantity which serves as the prelude to his opera Khovanshchina. The CSO opted for its orchestration by Rimsky-Korsakov, though some years later Shostakovich devised an effective version as well. A gentle ebb and flow made for a touchingly restrained musical sunrise – quite a contrast to the sunrises one might find in a Strauss tone poem!

Zhu Wang, photo credit zhuwangpiano.com

Rachmaninov’s evergreen Second Piano Concerto followed with pianist Zhu Wang. Wang’s fluid playing blended well with the orchestra, probing at its lyrical heart. Still, one wanted more dramatic tension, and I found his reading a bit too cool and reserved. The slow movement was sweetly nostalgic and had the pianist in lovely dialogue with the clarinet, though it bordered on the sentimental. Wang gave the finale with vigor and virtuosity, balancing out the more extrovert material with the composer’s quintessentially lush melodies.

Hollow winds opened Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony for a haunting statement of the fate motif that binds the work, and soon surged to great passions. Darkly resonant material began the slow movement with a gorgeous horn solo from Brian Mangrum. Deeply affecting, this movement saw perhaps the most inspired playing of the afternoon. A gently lilting Valse was contrasted with more animated material, and the fate motif returned, pointing inexorably towards the driving finale.

Merz Trio brings Chamber Music Columbus’ 75th season to an impassioned close

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Merz Trio
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 6, 2023

Hu: An Eternal Hope
Rachmaninov: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor
Al-Zand: Lines in Motion
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8
Schumann: Piano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80

Encore:
Piaf: La Vie en rose

Chamber Music Columbus’ 75th season has now come to a close, and what a celebration it has been. Seven momentous concerts, each featuring a newly commissioned work, and the season finale from the Merz Trio certainly closed matters on a high note. A particularly lush program, leaning heavily into the Romantic repertoire, it was an evening of energetic and virtuosic performance.

Merz Trio with Karim Al-Zand and Ching-chu Hu, photo credit Merz Trio

Ching-Chu Hu is certainly a familiar presence at the Southern Theatre by now, and the Merz Trio presented the final piece of his season-long fanfare, titled An Eternal Hope. In his spoken remarks, Hu noted the work conveys a hope for growth, beautifully timed with the advent of spring here in early May. A busy piano part made this rather more extrovert than some of the previous installments. It evoked a certain radiance and built to a bold finish. The trio has recently undergone a changing of the guard with a new pianist; one would never have guessed she was new to ensemble given how seamlessly she gelled with her string colleagues.

Rachmaninov’s first Trio élégiaque opened with a soft, undulating gesture in the strings, setting up a distinctly Russian melody in the piano. Though the composer was a mere 18 year old when writing the work, its sumptuous melody and surging passions left little doubt as to who the composer was, with the work fulfilling the promise of its title in leading to a somber, funereal close. Another early work from a major Russian composer followed in a C minor trio from the pen of a 16 year old Shostakovich. Though there were hints of his idiosyncratic wit and sarcasm, it was largely a Romantic work, with meditative beginnings and particularly lovely passage in thirds on the piano.

Sandwiched between the Russian works was Lines in Motion, a commission from Karim Al-Zand, first performed this past January at Chamber Music Houston, where the composer is based. A he discussed in our interview, Al-Zand has a particular affinity for extramusical inspirations. Lines in Motion was no exception, with the composer pointing to selected black and white woodcut illustrations (helpfully reproduced in the program books), corresponding to each of the three movements. As the title suggests, each of prints in question striking use geometric lines to convey a sense of motion on the printed page.

The opening On the Big Sea took inspiration from René Quillivic’s En pleine mar. Roiling piano figurations were answered by calming lines in the strings, and I heard shades of French Impressionism which often used water and the sea as subject material. Angular gestures and bright, brilliant textures dominated In the Big City, capturing the busy skyscraper scene of Frans Masereel’s America. At the Spirit Dance (a nod to Rhythms by Wharton Esherick) was of energetic, driving dance rhythms for a rollicking close. This is a work I certainly look forward to hearing again.

The latter half was devoted to Schumann’s F major piano trio, a work uncharacteristically cheery and optimistic for the often depressive composer. The ensemble purveyed an attractive, singing tone in articulating the bounty of beautiful melody the composer provided. Sophisticated contrapuntal passages provided some textural contrast, delivered with nuanced clarity. The second movement bears the marking Mit innigem Ausdruck (“with innermost expression”), and it was indeed a look inward, lovingly conveyed.

The following movement was marked by a loose suggestion of a waltz figure, while the finale excited in its further use of counterpoint, giving each individual voice of the trio the space to shine. An well-deserved encore was offered, namely, an arrangement of Edith Piaf’s song La Vie en rose, wistful and nostaglic. A memorable close to a memorable season!