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CHAMBER MUSIC REVIEW
Left Coast a la française
May 20, 2002
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By J. M. Bailey
It is hard to review a concert of this caliber without running into hyperbole. The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, with guest artist Krista Bennion Feeney, performed on Monday May 20th in the intimate setting of the Green Room at the Herbst Theater. Although the LCCE has generally concentrated on contemporary music, on this occasion it merged with the Clavion Piano Quartet, the other ensemble of the Chamber Music Partnership, which has traditionally performed older repertoire. (The two ensembles share many personnel as well as an umbrella organization, so this was less a collaboration than a sensible consolidation.) The program consisted entirely of French works, with music by Ravel, Lili Boulanger Couperin and Chausson. The extent to which the group managed to create a particularly French sound and means of expression was commendable.
The main fare of the evening was Chausson's unusual "Concert in D Major," which is scored for violin and piano solo with string quartet accompaniment. Soloists Krista Bennion Feeney and Eric Zivian both displayed virtuosity, musicianship and a true sense of partnership. Feeney's playing was outstanding for fine singing tone and the almost liquid quality of the rapid passages, while Zivian performed with exquisite clarity and concentrated energy.
The accompaniment by the LCCE Quartet (Anna Presler and Phyllis Kamrin, violins; Kurt Rohde, viola; Leighton Fong, cello) was very sympathetic to the soloists, yet contained plenty of force in the tutti sections. It could hardly have been much richer or fuller had it been a full symphony orchestra. There was also a wide range of tone colors employed for expressive purposes; the quartet suppressed its vibrato in the Grave of the third movement, for example, to create a sense of stillness, as opposed to the richer sound employed for more lyrical movements. Inevitably, in such a small group, there were many outstanding instances of solo playing or duetting with one or other of the soloists, in particular the close interaction between Rohde and Feeney made for some memorable moments in the first movement, as did Fong's melodic passages with Zivian in the second-movement Sicilienne.
The Couperin trio sonata "La Steinquerque" that opened the concert was less striking than the rest of the program, though performed with commitment and beautifully phrased. For some reason the opening seemed a bit muffled; the choice of viola as the second treble instrument gave the whole ensemble a darker sound, less polarized toward the high and the low. Zivian gave a performance at the keyboard reminiscent of Nadia Boulanger, so appropriately phrased for the music you forgot that the use of the piano was an anachronism. Couperin's elegance and humor were alike captured well. Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello was the most demanding item, for listeners and performers alike. Fong and Presler played with astonishing rapport, and took the audience through a wide range of musical experience, from the exultant to the elegiac to the intensely still. For all of these delights, it would have been worth coming out simply to hear Presler and Zivian play two short pieces (the Deux Morceaux: Nocturne & Cortège) by Lili Boulanger. What a rare gift for communication this violinist has. From the first phrase onward the directness and eloquence of what she had to say were in evidence. I cannot remember the last time I experienced so much sheer joy from hearing live music. (J.M. Bailey has studied and taught music in the Universites of Western Australia and Oxford, and is currently in the States pursuing further studies in music performance.) ©2002 J. M. Bailey, all rights reserved |