San Francisco Classical Voice

The question came to me as I listened to a 21st Century anachronism, the violin and piano recital, a 19th century invention, as to why such a public display of emotion by two artists could unflaggingly hold one's attention for two hours or so. When the two artists are such superior performers as Cho-Liang Lin and Andre-Michel Schub, and the program so attractive, one understood why such recitals still exist.

The opportunity to hear these two attractive artists speaking to a comparatively small audience, unencumbered by a symphony orchestra, remains for this listener the optimum way to hear and absorb the magic that is music. The visual last Saturday was simple--a violinist and a pianist in the small art gallery that serves the Hess Collection Winery. One almost feels like a voyeur, hearing musical intimacies and being privy to a private musical discourse.

The two performers, brought together for a benefit for Music in the Vineyards at the Hess Collection Winery? in Napa last Saturday evening, gave a program that spanned a period of perhaps 70 years: music of Brahms, the Sonata in D Minor, op. 108, and the Scherzo from his FAE Sonata; Dvorak's Sonatina in G major, op. 100; the Stravinsky Suite Italienne, Copland's Nocturne and Ukelele Serenade for violin and piano; and Ravel's Sonata, containing the famous Blues movement.

Both artists possess the technical and tonal equipment to be firmly in the top echelon of the artistic pantheon, though to quibble for a moment, the second half of the program, the Stravinsky, Copland and Ravel, had a more authentic feeling than the Brahms and Dvorak. Of course, that music was written in the last century (the twentieth), and the Brahms and Dvorak are nineteenth century works. The Dvorak Sonatina, written for Dvoraks' young children, was perhaps somewhat overplayed in its aggressiveness. The spirit was certainly there, but the title of Sonatina, or little sonata , should have been more in the thoughts of the performers. The Opus 108 of Brahms needed a bit more 19th Century warmth, a bit more gemütlichkeit, to have been an unqualified success. After the intermission the two artists hit the musical nail on the head. The Stravinsky was magic, with every dance movement having the proper propulsion and with technique to burn. The two Copland pieces were a revelation, the titles a clue to their character. And the final selection, the Ravel Sonata was gorgeously played, the last movement, the Perpetuum Mobile leaving the audience gasping at its conclusion. A single encore, Elgar's Salut d'Amour , ended a very special evening

(Stuart Canin is the former Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony and of Hollywood film orchestras, and former Music Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra)

©2000 Stuart Canin, all rights reserved