|
FESTIVAL
07/11/04
|
By Eric Valliere
For the final event of its annual SummerFest, the American Bach Soloists presented an evening of chamber music featuring neither Bach nor soloists. Instead, the concert at St. Stephen's Church in Belvedere showcased the talents of an ad hoc assortment of string players — violinists Lisa Weiss and Carla Moore, violists Elizabeth Blumenstock and David Daniel Bowes, and cellists Robert Howard and Tanya Tomkins — playing Schubert, Mozart, and Brahms. Although the program was far too long (especially for a Sunday night) and a little frayed around the edges, there were moments of glittering beauty well worth remembering.
The concert got off to a rough start. The halting rhythms of the Allegro first movement of Schubert's Quartet No. 9 in g minor require absolute precision to present themselves properly. Here it sounded as though the players had not adequately internalized the pulse, which rendered Schubert's fitful game as something more labored than he probably intended. Similarly, the melodies — mostly declaimed by first violin Weiss — seemed to live only in that narrow area between bow and string, rather than taking up deeper, more satisfying residence in the heart or the soul. How else to explain the speed of the Andantino, which did not allow the tune to breathe or to sing?
None of these shortcomings could obscure the sensitive contributions by cellist Tomkins, who grounded the quartet with great élan.
The addition of violist David Daniel Bowes for Mozart's Quintet No. 3 in C Major marked a virtual transformation of the ensemble. Ms. Weiss seemed a new player: calmly and sweetly delivering the expansive melodies, gently sweeping up to their topmost notes. The Menuetto could only be called sublime, exemplary for its balance of charm and depth, tuned to shimmering perfection and with all the qualities of singing so essential to Mozart's finest works.
What Schubert does with rhythm in the opening bars of his g minor Quartet, Brahms does with harmony at the start of his majestic Sextet No. 2 in G Major. The oily shifts of tonality are unsettling and rather thrilling, but like Schubert's rhythms, they depend on an absolute clarity of presentation. If the tuning is not perfect — and here it was only almost perfect — then the genius of the passage is lost. After the first few minutes of this monumental 15-minute movement, however, the sextet (now with cellist Robert Howard) settled into the great groove where it would stay for the duration. The Scherzo was a marvel, showing the ensemble's mastery of shifting textures. Beginning with a hushed, glassy whisper that later contrasts with the insistent dance rhythms of the bohemian trio, the movement provided a showcase for the evening's very best playing, and probably some of the best you'll hear just about anywhere. They went at it with gusto, alternating restraint and great flair, always with pinpoint accuracy. The luscious violin duets of the final movement were sugary icing on an already very rich cake.
(Eric Valliere completed his doctorate in composition from New England Conservatory in Boston, where he was also on the Musicology faculty. Currently, Eric serves as Executive Director for Volti (www.voltisf.org) and the Noe Valley Chamber Music Series (www.nvcm.org), and as Managing Director of the BluePrint Contemporary Music Project (at the SF Conservatory). His critical writings have also appeared on www.classicstoday.com and he is a frequent contributor to www.andante.com.)
|
