Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Jupiter Players Perform Beethoven, Pärt, Mozart and Shostakovich

On Monday, the Jupiter Players performed their last recital of the season at Good Shepherd Church.  The ensemble, which specializes in presenting lesser known chamber works, on this occasion broke with tradition and instead chose a program of works by some of classical music's most famous composers.  This lent the event an appropriately festive air.  The program, entitled Distant Orbits, featured works by BeethovenArvo Pärt, Mozart and Shostakovich.

The first half of the program was dedicated to Mozart's music, even if none of the pieces was presented in the form in which he had originally composed it.  Instead, the opening work was Beethoven's Variations on the Theme Là ci darem la mano, WoO 28 (1795) taken from the aria, “There we will give each other our hands,” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni.   This is the moment in the opera when Don Giovanni attempts to seduce Zerlina after first having gotten his rival Masetto out of the way.  Beethoven - who early in his career routinely produced variations on popular pieces - had arranged the duet for two oboes and an English horn, but in a transcription of a transcription it was here presented for flute, clarinet, and bassoon.  I thought the piece worked very well in this arrangement.  It was light and charming and thoroughly captivated the audience.

The next work was Pärt's Mozart-Adagio (1992).  The piece was written both as a tribute to the late violinist Oleg Kagan, who had been a close friend of Pärt, and as fulfillment of a commission from the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.  While Kagan had been staunch champion of the modern repertoire, he had also been a great admirer of Mozart's music.  It was fitting then that the bulk of this piece consisted of an adaptation of the second movement adagio from the Piano Sonata No 2 in F, K. 189e (K. 280) (1774).  The original movement was in the form of a siciliana and was notable, especially considering how young Mozart was at the time he wrote it, for its tragic air.  It was fascinating to hear the great composer's music adapted for Pärt's tintinnabulist style.  It allowed one to view a classic through the lens of a contemporary master. 

The first half concluded with Mozart's Grande Sestetto Concertante transcribed by an unknown arranger for string sextet from the Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364 (1779), originally composed for violin, viola and orchestra.  The Sinfonia Concertante, what today would be termed a double concerto, has always been one of my favorite works by Mozart and the arranger here was very successful in capturing both the spirit and complexity of the piece.  I don't believe anything was lost in this reduction for a much smaller group of instruments.

After intermission, the ensemble performed Shostakovich's Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 (1940).  This is without doubt one of the greatest chamber works of the twentieth century and a high point in Soviet musical history.  Shostakovich, whose work was so often charged with "formalism," was even awarded a Stalin Prize for his effort.  Listening to the piece, it's easy to understand why it was so successful.  This a sophisticated modernist work composed in an unusual five-movement format that drives relentlessly forward.  At the same time, though, it possesses an emotional range that renders it easily accessible to its audience.  Considering the troubles Shostakovich endured with Stalin and his censors throughout his career, I thought it was completely fitting that piano part was played at this performance by Ignat Solzhenitsyn, the son of the famous dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who was forced into exile by the Soviets.  An accomplished conductor and musician - he was the last student of Artur Schnabel - Solzhenitsyn seemed to possess an intuitive understanding of exactly how the music should sound.  This was an outstanding rendition of a true classic.

Due to scheduling conflicts, I hadn't been able to attend nearly as many of the Jupiter Players' performances in the second half of this season as I would have liked.  This is really a first class ensemble, and I was reminded of that again as I listened to Monday's performance.  The company also has a wonderful roster of guest artists who rarely appear elsewhere in the metro area.

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