Not Quite Super Sunday

I waited a while to write this blog post. I try to be as positive as I can. These concerts are free, and I’m not out to bash anyone. Still, there were things I heard here that disappointed. The program, by Chamber 16, included three works:

Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042 (1717), J.S. Bach
I. Allegro, II. Adagio, III. Allegro assai

Fratres (1980), Arvo Pärt

Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 14 (1879), César Franck
I. Molto moderato quasi lento, II. Lento con molto sentimento, III. Allegro non troppo ma con fuoco

The Franck was my favorite, so I’ll start there. This was a work of substance; I think the players benefited from the interplay and support of the piano with the string quartet (violin, violin, viola, cello). The string players played with a nice sense of ensemble in this work. There were back-and-forth piano solo/quartet sections followed by full ensemble sections, ranging from close-knit to full-throated writing and playing, sudden silences and frantically dramatic sections. All in the first movement!

The second movement seemed to meander a little, and it seemed that Franck might have been experimenting with form/style—not that there’s anything wrong with that. The final movement finished off with fiery (fuoco) playing (Italian: literally, with fire), that was most enjoyable.

Before the intermission, we heard the Pärt. He’s somewhat of a minimalist composer—indeed, this work for violin and piano started out with repetitive, repetitive, repetitive string writing that then got chords, chords, chords added in. That was the first episode. There were about seven or eight episodes, all variations on those themes. The last was sort of the best, followed by a coda section that included stratospheric violin writing, which I find to be an acquired taste. I have not acquired it. I’m a gentleman “of a certain age,” and I found this work not particularly enjoyable. (I think it’s supposed to appeal to, or cause, a Zen-like feeling. Not for me.) The ladies to my right and left, all more advanced in age than I, did not like the work. I appreciate the compositional techniques, but it just did not appeal to me.

The Bach. Concerto? The solo violin (who had some intonation problems) was supported by a very small group of players—two violins, one viola, one cello, and one bass. Unfortunately, they had a ragged sense of ensemble, intonation, and blended sound. The bass also seemed to overpower the balance of sound, and my guess is that the ensemble was just a bit too small. I’m not sure whether it was a problem of not being able to have someone in the house to run balance checks and/or some type of musical direction, but this was a performance with unbalanced, sometimes out of tune playing. This is a recognizable and enjoyable work that was recognizable here. I hope some others enjoyed it.

ConcertMeister