Above: portrait of Arnold Schoenberg by Richard Gerstl
~ Author: Oberon
Friday March 18th, 2022 - Whenever Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht ("Transfigured Night") is being performed in Manhattan, I will try to be there. This evening, it was the closing work on an imaginative program of 'music of the night' put together by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Opening the evening was Luigi Boccherini's Quintet in C-major for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos, G. 324, “La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid” which was composed in 1780. As my friend Ben Weaver remarked after hearing it tonight: "This music is so ahead of its time...it could have been composed yesterday!" To be sure, it is very inventive work, and there's so much packed into its 12-minute duration.
Tonight, this Boccherini gem was performed to perfection by Yura Lee (having exchanged her more usual viola for the violin this evening), violinist Stella Chen, violist Matthew Lipman, and cellists Nicholas Cannellakis and Sinhao He. The best-known section of the work, the Minuet, caused a ripple of recognition to run thru the hall. Elsewhere, plucking and shivering motifs provide accompaniments as the melodies spin out; it ends with a regal section as Retreat is sounded and the guardsmen return to barracks.
Franz Schubert wrote his Notturno in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, D. 897, Op. 148, in 1828. It is sublimely beautiful, and was played tonight by three extraordinary musicians: Yura Lee (violin), Sihao He (cello), and Michael Brown (piano).
The piano commences a slow waltz, the violin and cello harmonizing. Then roles are reversed: the strings take up a plucking rhythm as the pianist assumes the melody. From gentleness, there comes a rise of passion, with rippling keyboard figurations. The opening melody is repeated, becomes expansive, fades briefly, is revived, and then on to a quiet ending. Throughout the ten-minute work, I greatly enjoyed watching the silent communication between the three players.
Above: oboist James Austin Smith
This evening brought my second hearing of Benjamin Britten's Phantasy Quartet for Oboe, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 2, which. was written in 1932 for a competition for single-movement chamber works established in 1905 by Walter Wilson Cobbett,
When I heard this work in 2013, James Austin Smith was the oboist; and he was back tonight, playing it so clearly and thoughtfully. He was joined by violinist Stella Chen (elegantly gowned in purple and white), violist Hsin-Yun Huang (very chic in a halter top and toreador trousers), and cellist Nicholas Cannellakis.
The piece commences with short, dotty cello notes, and then a march develops. The oboe takes up a songful passage. A swift and vibrant allegro is followed by a string trio before the oboist picks up where he left off, and the music marches off into the air as magically as it appeared. Mr. Smith's delicious, multi-hued playing was - as always - a delight to hear.
After the interval, the Society's Executive Director, Suzanne Davidson, gave a brief speech, dedicating the concert to the heroic people of Ukraine. The crowd's reaction was loud and clear.
The program continued as Michael Brown (above) took the stage alone to ravish the ear with his magical playing of two piano works by Claude Debussy - “La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune” from Préludes, Book II (1913), and “Clair de lune” from Suite bergamasque (circa 1890; revised in 1905).
In the first, Mr. Brown's incredibly hushed pianissimo playing cast a spell of rapture and mystery over us; his control was astounding. As the prélude reached its tranquil end, Mr. Brown kept his hands poised over the keyboard momentarily and then embarked on an intoxicating rendering of the "Clair de lune".. I found myself wishing that this poignant dream could go on and on...
Above: violist Hsin-Yun Huang
To end this fascinating program, Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht ("Transfigured Night") was magnificently played by a string sextet of the highest order: Yura Lee and Stella Chen (violins), Hsin-Yun Huang and Matthew Lipman (violas), and Nicholas.Cannellakis and Sinhao He (cellos).
The composer drew inspiration for this work from a poem by the Austrian poet Richard Dehmel which tells of a man and woman wandering together late into the evening. The woman confesses to her lover that she is pregnant by another man. In the shadowy forest, the man consoles his beloved and, through his forgiveness, her guilt us assuaged. He assures her that he will care for the child as his own. Their love is transfigured through this night of communion they have shared, and they look to the future with hope.
In its thirty-minute time span, Verklärte Nacht traces the lovers' journey with incandescent harmonies and haunting melodies that sing of the redemption of forgiveness and the enduring power of love, The music traces the arc of the poem from its first line - “Two people walk through a bare, cold wood;” to its last: “Two people walk on through the high, bright night.” For a die-hard romantic like myself, few other works can compare.
One of the most wonderful things about this work is the way Schoenberg distributes the musical treasures in his score: each of the six players has ample opportunity to display their tone and artistry as melodies are passed about and harmonies mingle on the air. As the music wends towards its finish, a great flow of lyricism rises up.
Above: violinist Stella Chen
This evening's performance was so richly rewarding; the players captured every nuance of this profoundly moving score. At the end, a standing ovation was the only possible audience reaction; onstage, the artists quietly embraced one another during the bows.
The cumulative effect of Verklärte Nacht tonight was to pull me - at least for a time - out of a deep feeling of world-weariness that has weighed on me in recent weeks, due to the lingering pandemic, the downward spiral of our great democracy, and a war started by a power-mad fiend. Indeed, it has, at times, felt like life is no longer worth living.
To the musicians who played tonight: please know the great value of your music-making, and what it means to us. You provide a ray of light in an ever-darkening world. .
~ Oberon