Sunday afternoon's chamber recital at Juilliard's Morse Hall featured two radically different pieces - an early piano quartet by Brahms followed by a quartet by Olivier Messiaen that is inarguably one of the most important chamber works of the twentieth century.
Brahms was only 23 years old when he began the Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25, No. 1 (1856-1861) and it's amazing that so youthful a composer would even attempt such large scale works as this and its companion piece, the Op. 26. That he was able to do so successfully, and even triumphantly, was early proof of his genius to any who might have doubted Schumann's appraisal of his ability. Years later, in 1937, even so determinedly a modernist composer as Schoenberg was sufficiently impressed by the quality of the piece that he arranged it for full orchestra.
There were obviously many "firsts" for the composer in so early a work but perhaps none so notable as his use of authentic Hungarian folk sources in the finale, sometimes referred to for that reason as the "Gypsy Rondo." In this movement, which incidentally was highly praised by the great violinist Joseph Joachim, Brahms anticipated Bartók's use of these same folk sources by more than a half century. They formed a source of inspiration Brahms would continue to explore for the remainder of his career.
The quartet is a difficult work, and the finale in particular requires a high level of virtuosity from any who attempt it. At this recital, the entire piece was performed remarkably well by Strauss Shi (violin), Sophia Sun (viola), Maria Shim (cello) and Joey Chang (piano). The coach was violinist Lara Lev whom I had heard at a faculty recital in 2013 and whom I had thought extremely capable in her handling of the Russian repertoire.
Important as Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1940) is to the development of modern music, it's the work's extramusical associations that have made it legendary. Even those with no interest in serious music relish this ultimate "feel good" story that depicts Messiaen as a French P.O.W. in a German stalag bravely composing his masterpiece, rehearsing it with fellow musician/prisoners and then performing it to overwhelming acclaim by both prisoners and German officers/guards alike. The tale is certainly heartwarming as far as it goes, but it fails to take into account Messiaen's shabby conduct after the war when he refused to meet with Brüll, the guard who had risked his life to make it possible for Messiaen to write the work in the first place and who had later even forged documents to facilitate the composer's escape. That, for me, has always tainted my appreciation of the piece.
Nevertheless, no matter what its history, the Quatuor is an incredible achievement, especially when one takes into account the conditions in which it was conceived. Messiaen was necessarily limited in his choice of instruments and was forced to compose for the unusual arrangement of clarinet, violin, cello and piano. Even so, he paid his fellow captives the huge compliment of writing for each of them solo parts that would test the skills of any musician. To me, the entire work has always seemed to revolve around the three movements that feature these solos (with piano accompaniment) - the Abîme des oiseaux for clarinet, the Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus for cello, and the final moving Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus that is really the soul of the work for violin.
I had heard the Quatuor performed expertly by the ACJW Ensemble in January at Paul Hall and thought Sunday's rendition equally as good. That's saying quite a lot considering how challenging a piece this is. The exceptionally talented musicians who played it on this occasion were Zachary Manzi (clarinet), Johnna Wu (violin), Charles Colwell (cello) and Martha Mingle (piano). Their coaches were Rohan De Silva and Charles Neidich.
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