United States Aspen Music Pageant 2024 [4]: Aspen, Colorado. (HS)
Violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Stephen Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk, marquee soloists all, journey the world now and again because the Bell-Isserlis-Denk trio. Their camaraderie and musical unanimity introduced further depth to a night of Fauré chamber music in Harris Corridor on Saturday, and to a totally participating Triple Concerto by Beethoven on Sunday with the Aspen Pageant Orchestra within the music tent.
Saturday’s exploration was particularly satisfying. At instances the mixed sound of Bell’s and Isserlis’s Stradivarius devices, aided and abetted by Aspen common David Halen’s violin, Zhenwei Shi’s viola and Denk’s piano, approached the richness of a full orchestra in Fauré’s ultra-Romantic harmonic and melodic type.
The Piano Trio in D minor, written shortly earlier than Fauré’s demise in 1924, is essentially the most elegant piece of the three they performed. Its brevity – twenty minutes versus the half-hour taking part in instances of the bigger items – constructed upon easy melodies that wound tightly earlier than increasing. Harmonies emerged from counterpoint. The Andantino took its time however didn’t lag, making a dreamy world, and the sturdy ultimate motion centered on rhythmic vitality from Denk.
The large Piano Quintet No.1, additionally in D minor, began with deftly intertwining melodic phrases towards ripples within the piano. By the second motion, the Adagio, the temper turned virtually meditative. The boldly rhythmic finale, spearheaded by crisp taking part in from Denk, reached a rousing conclusion.
Within the Piano Quartet No.2 in G minor, which occupied the second half of this system, an prolonged unison assertion felt prefer it got here from a single instrument, adopted by a spicy argument amongst totally different combos of devices. The back-and-forth and twixt-and-tween was at instances mesmerizing, till it got here to a satisfying bump on the end.
The persistently loud second motion, with its merry syncopation, led to a serene and gently executed mixture of chords and bell-like sounds from the piano. The finale, marked Allegro molto however taken at a sooner clip, had Denk racing to maintain up. He executed all of the notes (even when I misplaced a few of the rhythmic emphasis) whereas the strings saved blazing away to a giant end.
On Sunday, the trio sailed by way of Beethoven’s three-way concerto as if rolling downhill on bicycles. Conductor Jane Glover had the orchestra bouncing alongside amiably and, as Beethoven meant by giving the cello all of the troublesome music, Isserlis was the star. He executed speedy elaborations exuberantly, and even performed together with the orchestra’s statements of the themes. His soulful, lengthy melodic line within the sluggish motion was gripping, however even higher was when the three soloists tossed across the melody as in the event that they had been a single instrument with three voices.
They placed on fairly a present, Isserlis tossing his silver hair in rhythm, Bell gesturing full-body with the form of the melodies, Denk casting fast glances in any respect events. Extra importantly, the music emerged with all acceptable verve.
This system opened with an surprising alternative for Glover, who just isn’t recognized for mid-twentieth-century however extra for Baroque and Classical (though she has recorded symphonic music by Britten). With a few of the clearest conducting anybody may need, she introduced precision and focus to Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, drawing an almost note-perfect efficiency.
If something, these tight reins saved the piece from being fairly as free-wheeling because it typically is, however it was satisfying to listen to what a conductor can do with music that an viewers won’t affiliate together with her, even in one among this composer’s least spiky scores. Deliberate tempos at first contrasted with build-ups to sooner music later, and dynamic balances let all of the layers of sound come by way of.
Friday’s Chamber Symphony concerto conversed in Spanish, an uncommon combine for the pageant’s programming, and maybe it accounted for a sparse turnout for what turned out to be snug performances of music by Gabriel Lena Frank (reflecting her Peruvian heritage), a setting of 5 sonnets by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and two widespread Spanish-bathed works by composer Manuel de Falla. Music director Robert Spano performed.
Frank’s music doesn’t depend on bristly dissonance, and Haillí–Serenata opened the live performance by conjuring up the mountain ambiance of Peru properly. Audiences know Falla’s El amor brujo, and pianist Joyce Yang, who performed the solos in his Nights within the Backyard of Spain, is a long-standing favourite right here. Spano, sadly, allowed the orchestra to drown out an excessive amount of of the piano in Nights within the Gardens of Spain, which additionally may have emitted extra Iberian perfume.
Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor has made the Neruda Songs a specialty, and she will be able to convey Peter Lieberson’s poignant music’s twists and turns, even when there was a sure sameness within the orchestra’s interpretation. She sang the 4 songs scattered by way of the ballet music of El amor brujo with comparable understanding. Spano and the orchestra gave it a strong studying.
Harvey Steiman
12.7.2024, Frank, Lieberson, Falla: Kelly O’Connor (mezzo-soprano), Joyce Yang (piano), Aspen Chamber Symphony / Robert Spano (conductor). Klein Music Tent
Gabriela Lena Frank – Haillí–Serenata
Lieberson – Neruda Songs
Falla – Nights within the Gardens of Spain, El amor brujo
13.7.2024, A Fauré Night with Joshua Bell (violin), Stephen Isserlis (cello), Jeremy Denk (piano): David Halen (violin), Zhenwei Shi (viola). Harris Corridor
Fauré – Piano Trio in D minor, Op.120; Piano Quintet No.1 in D minor, Op.89; Piano Quartet No.2 in G minor, Op.45
14.7.2024, Bartók, Beethoven: Joshua Bell (violin), Stephen Isserlis (cello), Jeremy Denk (piano), Aspen Pageant Orchestra / Jane Glover (conductor). Klein Music Tent
Bartók – Concerto for Orchestra
Beethoven – Concerto in C main for Violin, Cello and Piano, ‘Triple’
