Sarah E Geller (violin) and Wenhan Anderson (piano) performed a variety of pieces on Halloween afternoon. While all of the pieces had hints of gypsy themes, I didn’t quite get the fireworks that I was expecting.
Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30, No. 3 – Allegro assai; Tempo di Minuetto: ma molto moderato e grazioso; Rondo – Allegro molto – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Nocturne, Cortège – Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
Sonate in g minor – Allegro vivo; Intermède: Fantasque et léger; Finale: Très animé – Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Sonata in c# minor, Op. 21 – Allegro appassionato; Allegro ma con tenerezza; Vivace assai – Ernst von Dohnányi (1877–1960)
Tzigane, rhapsodie de concert – Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
The first movement of the Beethoven began with bubbling runs for both violin and piano that were at times jaunty and at times darkly dramatic. Mostly, though, it was bright and energetic, interspersed with small islands of calm. The piano took the lead to start the second movement followed by a nice give and take back and forth. Indeed, it was very graceful and a true partnership. The last movement was energetic and once again very collaborative, although each player got a chance
to shine.
Ms. Geller retuned before the second grouping of pieces (in fact, she did a lot of retuning throughout the afternoon). An interesting little bit of information announced from the stage was that Lili Boulanger, younger sister of Nadia Boulanger, was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, a very important competition, across various disciplines in the arts. Nocturne was gentle and contemplative, with an ostinato (repetitive) accompaniment, that then blossomed into fuller, richer sounds before returning to a calm ending. Cortège was perky, especially in the piano writing, with a nice mix of changing tempos.
Debussy’s first movement had short, fragmented ideas at the beginning, then some longer melodic lines, with shifting moods and a dramatic ending. The second movement was a mix of phrases, techniques and rhythms that could possibly be perceived as new and somewhat radical for the time (harmonically, too). The Finale was subdued at first, then picked up a lot of steam, and then bounced back and forth, in terms of mood. It was a nice piece that didn’t really seem to tie together
for me.
After intermission, the Dohnányi sonata had a rich, dark opening with some very expressive lines and themes. As mentioned from the stage, there were hints of Brahms that were then expanded upon. The movement was really very touching. The second movement was a little more energetic with a gently dancelike section followed by a touch of a gypsy theme. It was slightly segmented but did manage to fit together pretty well. After a couple of false endings, it finished with a cute pizzicato real ending. The brisk start of the third movement included more hints of gypsy themes. A gentle section was then introduced by the piano, with the violin joining in. This was followed by another energetic section, one more quiet sequence, and then a tranquil ending.
Ravel’s rhapsodie de concert had a muscular, extended violin solo to begin with. The piano eventually joined in with a harp-like accompaniment. Then we finally got to the more tuneful portion of the music. If this sounds like a lot of jumping around, that’s exactly what it was. Not knowing a whole lot about the actual technique involved in playing the violin, this seemed to me to be technically very challenging—and Ms. Geller was up to the task (Ms. Anderson, too, at the piano). That said, the piece did not hold together for me very well at all. I wish I had liked
it better.
The concert was enjoyable. I just wish it had been a little more enjoyable. However, this was my first ever hearing of Lili Boulanger, and it’s quite possible that it was my first ever live hearing of Dohnányi. So I came away with two solid checkmarks in the ‘plus’ column. Not too shabby an achievement if I do say so myself.
ConcertMeister
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