Monday, May 5, 2014

Park Avenue Church: Omega Ensemble Performs Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Schumann and Mendelssohn

Yesterday afternoon was the second time this season I've seen the Omega Ensemble perform at the Park Avenue Church.  On this occasion, the ambitious program included works by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Schumann and Mendelssohn.

As is traditional with this group, a young guest was given an opportunity to play for the audience before the scheduled program began.  The "Next Generation Artist" was a Japanese violinist named Mieu Imai.  Ms. Imai is currently a seventh grader at the Horace Mann School and also attends Juilliard's pre-college program.  What impressed me most about her performance of the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 by Saint-Saëns was not her technical ability, which I had expected, but rather the profound feeling she showed for the music at such a young age.  Her playing displayed deep conviction.

The first work on the program was Rachmaninoff's Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor (1892).  This was a youthful work without opus number that was composed when Rachmaninoff was only 19 and still a student.  It was not published, however, until 1947 by which time Rachmaninoff was already long dead.  The one-movement work contains references to both Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as to that composer's elegy to Nikolai Rubinstein.  In that sense, the trio can be seen as a youthful tribute to the Russian composer whom Rachmaninoff most idolized. In fact, upon the death of Tchaikovsky two years later, Rachmaninoff composed in his memory his Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9.  As an elegy, the earlier trio conveys an appropriate sense of melancholy and mourning.  It is astonishing that so early in his career Rachmaninoff had almost fully developed the distinctive romantic style heard in his more mature works.

Next was Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 5 in F, Op. 24 (1801) nicknamed "Spring."  This was the first time Beethoven broke with tradition and used four movements rather than the traditional three in one of his violin sonatas.  It was not all that revolutionary a change, though, since the scherzo is in fact extremely short.  The work is the most popular of Beethoven's violin sonatas and easily the most accessible.  It conveys a feeling of hopefulness that one associates with the spring season and that probably accounts for the nickname given it.

After intermission, the program continued with Schumann's Five Pieces in a Folk Style, Op. 102 (1849).  It's important to note that these are not adaptations of actual folk pieces but rather Schumann's conception of what folk music might sound like.  The five are all short works written for piano and cello with the cello given prominence and the piano playing a muted accompaniment in the background.  This was the first time I had heard these lively pieces and was taken by their originality.  I cannot understand why they are not performed more often.

The final piece was Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 (1839).  Next to the Octet, this is the composer's most famous chamber work.  Though Mendelssohn is not usually considered a Romantic, this piece at least belongs firmly in that tradition for its almost heartrending pathos.  In reviewing it, Schumann wrote of the composer:
"He is the Mozart of the 19th century, the most brilliant of musicians, the one who most clearly perceives the contradictions of the age, and the first to reconcile them."
As the recital progressed, I found myself deeply impressed by the level of professionalism shown by the musicians taking part.  Although Kristin Lee (violin) and Kwan Yi (piano) were noted in the program as "Guest Artists," they played as seamlessly with Program Director Andrew Janss (cello) as if they had worked together as an ensemble for years. All three displayed the highest level of talent, and I would strongly recommend seeing any of them in performance whenever the opportunity arises.

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