Juilliard: ACJW Ensemble Performs Bach, Donatoni, Carter, Kurtag and Haydn

Yesterday evening's performance by the ACJW Ensemble at Paul Hall was a satisfying mix of traditional and contemporary music.  It is their eclecticism in combining the old and new that regularly places these talented musicians' recitals among the most exciting offerings of the season.

The program began with the selection Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale from the well known Musical Offering, BWV 1079 (1747) by J.S. Bach.  After having paid a visit to the Prussian court where his son was employed, Bach wrote the work in response to a challenge given him by Frederick the Great.  The king presented Bach with a theme and first asked him to improvise upon it a three-voice fugue.  When Bach had done so, Frederick then challenged him to compose a six-voice fugue on the same theme.  Upon his return to Leipzig, Bach responded to the king's request by publishing A Musical Offering, a collection of fugues and canons all of which were based on the theme provided by the king.  Contained within that collection was the selection on yesterday evening's program.  The musicians performing the piece were Catherine Gregory (flute), Clara Lyon (violin), Hannah Collins (cello) and Tyler Wottrich (harpsichord).  The instruments on which they played were the original versions used during the Baroque period, a choice that enabled the audience to appreciate how the music must have sounded when played during Bach's lifetime.

There followed two contemporary pieces for wind quintet, Blow by Franco Donatoni and Woodwind Quintet by Elliott Carter.  Before performing the Donatoni, the clarinetist described the work as "high intensity," and it certainly was that.  The musicians on both these pieces were Catherine Gregory (flute), Stuart Breczinski (oboe), Romie de Guise-Langlois (clarinet), Nanci Belmont (bassoon) and Laura Weiner (horn).

The second half of the program was devoted to music for two pianists.  The first piece was a medley of four works, two composed by György Kurtág  from his Játékok (Games) and two by Bach as transcribed by Kurtág.  The music was described as that played by an old couple and began with a humorous "argument" between the two sets of hands.  The description was apt as Kurtág and his wife Márta regularly appear together in recital to perform selections from Játékok whose genesis is described by the composer as follows:

"The idea of composing Játékok was suggested by children playing spontane- ously, children for whom the piano still means a toy. They experiment with it, caress it, attack it and run their fingers over it. They pile up seemingly discon- nected sounds, and if this happens to arouse their musical instinct they look consciously for some of the harmonies found by chance and keep repeating them."

The second piece was the two-piano version of Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56b (1873).  Although it is the orchestral version of this work that is most famous, the two-piano version was actually written first.  The composition consists of a theme in B-flat, eight variations, and a finale. The two featured pianists on both the Kurtág and the Brahms were Alexandria Le and Tyler Wottrich.

Besides being thoroughly enjoyable, the recital was successful in broadening my musical horizons.  Although I had been familiar with the orchestral version of the Brahms, I had not known of the two-piano version.  Nor before yesterday evening had I heard of either Donatoni or Kurtág.  The Kurtág/Bach especially, with its delicate interweaving of sounds from two different periods, was a revelation to me.