Oberon's Grove: CMS: Summer Evenings II

Above: the musicians of the Amphion String Quartet; left to right: David Southorn, Mihai Marcia, Katie Hyun, and Wei-Yang Andy Lin

Sunday July 19th, 2015 - The second in Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 3-concert summer series took place on a sweltering day. Outdoors, people were wilting from the intense heat and humidity, but in the cool, classical cavern of Alice Tully Hall, another capacity audience drew both physical comfort and spiritual sustenance from a well-devised and admirably played programme.

Putting Haydn and Mozart on the same bill of fare can sometimes result in Papa Haydn's music being somewhat overshadowed by the younger composer's. But that was not the case today, thanks to the Amphion String Quartet's lovingly crafted rendering of Haydn's penultimate completed string quartet: in G major, Op. 77, No. 1.

In the opening Allegro moderato, the Amphions brought both crisp clarity of articulation and a silky blend of timbres. The Adagio - which to me draws upon a depth of feeling that Haydn's music does not always attain - produced some striking modulations and resonant pauses as the players, so sure of one another, seemed to breathe and phrase as one. Special mention must be made of the enticing sheen of cellist Mihai Marica's playing. In the scurrying third movement of the Haydn, and also in its propulsive finale, the Amphion's virtuosity and sense of fun were amply evident.

Above: pianist Gilles Vonsattel

Felix Mendelssohn is sometimes referred to as "the romantic classicist," and this concert's back-to-back programming of the Haydn (dating from 1799) and Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 3 in B minor, Opus 3, written a quarter-century later, showed most vividly the leap from Classicism to Romanticism that marked the arrival of the 19th century.

Mendelssohn's music is really unlike anyone else's; it has a wonderful freshness and vitality, and the composer's enchanting trademark sound, affectionately referred to as 'faerie music,' has a charm all its own. It was a chance hearing of a Mendelssohn piano trio on the radio many, many years ago that opened my mind to the pleasures of chamber music; it was only after decades of devoting myself to opera that I got to the point where I had both the time and the energy to explore the chamber music repertoire, a genre of mind-boggling variety and endless reward.

Curiously, I'm finding these days that it's instrumental soloists and chamber artists who have taken the place of great singers in my affection and admiration. I've always had a strong streak of unabashed 'fanhood'; if I like a singer/dancer/musician, I really become an admirer and they become an idol. That happened for me today as Gilles Vonsattel played his way into my echelon of favorites in the Mendelssohn. In 2014, the Swiss-born American pianist participated in a memorable CMS performance of Messiaen's 'Quartet for the End of Time'. Playing my beloved Mendelssohn this evening, Mr. Vonsattel's quicksilver technique and masterful turns of phrase kept me constantly drawn to the keyboard.

This Mendelssohn quartet is a veritable font of melody and shows a sophistication of musical imagination that seems extraordinary in a composer still in his teens. The second movement (Andante) is vastly pleasing to hear, opening with a lovely piano statement which gives way to lulling rhythms, with gently developing themes of longing from the violin (Ms. Hyun) and of pensive soulfulness from the cello (Mr. Marica). The third movement (Allegro molto) opens with an injection of Midsummer Night's magic, proceeds to swelling melodies and becomes a big dance. In the finale, Mr. Vonsattel's mercurial playing was simply irresistible.

Above: clarinetist Jörg Widmann

For the evening's concluding Mozart, the 'Clarinet Quartet', Jörg Widmann (who also took part - splendidly - in that 'Quartet for the End of Time' mentioned above) displayed an engagingly natural feel for legato, his tone having a mellow glow. In both featured clarinet passages and in his sharing of ensemble moments, Mr. Widmann's clarity and his impressive affinity for dynamic colourings drew the audience's deep and concentrated attention.

David Southorn took up the violin 1 position in the Mozart, especially appealing in the first movement's solo theme set against Mr. Marica's plucked cello pacing. In the Quintet's heart-filling Adagio, Messrs. Southorn and Widmann traded melodic phrases to beautiful effect, whilst in the variations that are part of the work's finale, Wei-Yang Andy Lin drew forth a weeping quality from his viola.

Throughout the Quintet, Mr. Widmann and his colleagues conveyed the enormous richness of Mozart's writing, providing a musical experience in which virtuosity and emotion seemed ideally blended.

The Repertory: