Program
String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2 (ca. 1865-1873) by Brahms (1833-1897).
String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 (1864-1865).
Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 (1862-1865).
Musicians
Emerson Quartet - Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violins; Lawrence Dutton, viola; David Finckel - Cello.
Yefim Bronfman, piano.
Paul Neubauer, viola.
Colin Carr, cello.
This is the first concert for the year for us. We had a couple scheduled for last week (Met
and New York Phil) but couldn’t go because of an unscheduled trip to
Boston. I went into the city to exchange
those tickets for events this week. We
will end up with four concerts this week, with Thursday the only day “off,” so
to speak.
Tonight’s tickets were purchased by CS, at half-price “Black
Friday” deal. I was quite sure I had
seen the Emerson Quartet before, but since there is no reference of that in my
blogs, I have to say I am mistaken. This
group has had the same musicians since the early days of its founding; they
will have a new cellist for the next season, though. For the second piece they were joined by an
additional violist and a cellist, the third piece was a piano quintet.
The structures of the three pieces are remarkably similar. For the quartet they are (i) Allegro ma non troppo; (ii) Andante moderato; (iii) Quasi Minuetto: moderato; and (iv) Finale: Allegro non assai. For the sextet: (i) Allegro no troppo; (ii) Scherzo: Allegro non troppo – Presto giocoso; (iii) Adagio; and (iv) Poco allegro. The quintet’s movements are (i) Allegro non troppo; (ii) Andante un poco adagio; (iii) Scherzo: Allegro; and (iv) Finale: Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto non troppo. “Non troppo” evidently was one of Brahms's favorite terms.
I will be brief in my remarks. My first reaction was that this is a long
concert, the three pieces (per Playbill) would each take more than 30 minutes,
with the sextet taking close to 40 minutes.
Indeed it was 10:25 pm or so when the concert concluded. The seats in the balcony are not the most
comfortable, I am glad my legs didn’t complain.
The programming for this all-Brahms concert is a bit odd
in that the pieces were performed in reverse chronological order. The quintet was started by Brahms as early as
1862, and the sextet completed as late as1873.
I don’t know Brahms’s work well enough to know if his style evolved a
lot during this period, but I certainly find the first piece more difficult to
grasp than the last piece. Of course
having some familiarity with the quintet (though not a lot) certainly
helped. Programming like this also has
the effect – intentional or not – that my brain probably was sharper earlier in
the evening, and thus able to understand the music a bit more.
Since my exposure to chamber music is limited, I can’t
comment intelligently on how well the musicians worked together. On the other hand, all three compositions
showed a lot more give and take among the instruments that “your” typical
chamber work where I complaint is usually a piece of work for the first violin
with accompaniment by other instruments.
To my surprise, the viola had a lot to say in all three pieces. While not very singable, some of the melodies
were very enjoyable.
There is a remark about the quintet in the Playbill that
the composition had at one point existed as a Sonata for Two Pianos. It makes me wonder how a quintet should be
viewed in general: is it a piece for five solo instruments, or is it a sonata
for piano and quartet? In this case I
lean towards describing it as the latter; for Schubert’s Trout Quintet,
however, it sounds more like a collection of five instruments. I wonder if this is a topic of discussion at
all.
The acoustics in Carnegie Hall is such that all the
voices came across clearly to where we were sitting. However, I was a bit disappointed at the
rather limited dynamic range exhibited by the musicians, especially with the
first piece. What I don’t know is
whether that was the acoustics, or how the pieces were performed, or how the
music is written. The Brahms pieces that
I am more familiar with all have wide dynamic ranges.
One interesting thing about the two violin players: they
seem to alternate their roles as first and second violins. I guess there is no reason why other quartets
don’t do that, as I am sure the second violins in those are quite competent,
but in actuality this is the first time I noticed it. Also, the “extra” viola player used to be the
principal New York Philharmonic, starting at age 21. Since I had never heard of him before, I
imagine he had left for a long time.
We stopped by Jersey City so CS can drop something off
for her daughter, and got to see her new-born Thomas. The trip was smooth until we got off Holland
Tunnel: we hit a lot of traffic in mid-town, so we managed only to gulp down
burritos at Chipotle before the concert.
The trip home was relatively smooth, but it was close to midnight when
we got home.
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