While not taking anything away from performing area musicians, the musicians in this festival all come from “away”, and each is distinguished in his/her own right. It is a tribute to their talent that while they don’t have all that much time to practice as a group, they perform as if they have played together forever, and have an intimate knowledge of the works they do play. Their performance is not limited to works from the chamber music literature, but they also perform new and unusual recent compositions as well.
The concert on the 20th began with a performance of Mozart’s piano quartet. The performers included Harulmi Rhodes on violin, Carol Radland on viola, Brant Taylor on cello and Henry Kramer playing piano. (A partial listing of their backgrounds includes: Rhodes performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, Radland is on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, Taylor is a member of the Chicago Symphony, and Kramer has performed as a soloist with many symphony orchestras. This composition is usual in many respects. It was not well received during Mozart’s brief lifetime, partially due to the fact that the music made too many demands on the amateur musicians who purchased chamber music at that time. However, listening to this wonderful piece of music at this time, one can realize that Mozart simply was composing a work in which he could shine as the superb pianist he must have been.
In this work, the piano is first among equals. The strings all contributed to a fine performance, but in this quartet, the piano has the lead, and Kramer made the most of his part displaying sensitivity and nuanced technique.
The next work was “Self Destruct,” a two-movement work written in 2008 by Jeremy Flowers, a youthful American composer. It is written for electronic gear, viola, two celli, marimba and piano, played respectively by Flowers, Dov Scheindlin, Susannah Chapman and Brant Taylor, Matthew Gold and Henry Kramer. The second movement seemed to be a reworking of the first movement. I would not describe Flowers as someone writing “far out” music. On the contrary, I believe that this piece is a meritorious work. I suspect that the music would be even more effective if it were performed as background music of a film score, as it suggests motion or travel to me in the same way that “Pacific 231” by Honegger was used as music to a film by the same title.
The concluding work, a sextet by Antonin Dvorak, is in a category and world of its own. First of all, the performers gave what I would describe as the performance of a lifetime. The violins included Katherine Fong (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Jennifer Elowitch (artistic director of the festival and associate second violin of the Boston Pops Esplanalde Orchestra and director of the Walnut Hill School); violists Dov Scheindlin (Met Opera Orchestra) and Carol Radland (Eastman); cellists Brant Taylor (Chicago Symphony) and Susannah Chapman (Marlboro Music Festival, et al).
The somewhat dry acoustics of the hall did not diminish the power, luster or the beauty of the string playing of this high-powered group. Dvorak’s sextet will never receive a more musical or more moving rendition than this group’s playing at this concert. During the year, there are concerts given in the homes of various patrons. For more information, email pcmf.org.
There have been and will surely be exiting concerts, but it will be difficult to surpass what I heard at this one. Bravo.
— Morton Gold is a composer/conductor, retired educator and an arts reviewer for the Journal Tribune.
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