CMS Webcast: Benjamin Beilman and Yekwon Sunwoo

Yesterday the Chamber Music Society hosted a live webcast of a recital by violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Yekwon Sunwoo that featured the music of Fritz Kreisler as well as the legendary violinist's arrangements of works by other composers.

Kreisler was not only one of the greatest virtuosos of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but also among the most beloved.  Every account paints him as a considerate caring man who touched everyone he met.  He was an Austrian patriot who served honorably in World War I only to be forced - like so many other artists and intellectuals - to flee Europe in 1938 when the Nazis rose to power.  To many he was the last link to the carefree cafe society that flourished in Belle Époque Vienna.

As the evening's Program Notes point out, Kreisler at one point admitted that many of the "transcriptions" he had completed of famous composers' works were in fact his own original compositions.  I don't know why he did this but don't see any great harm in it.  Certainly, no one suffered from this genial hoax and the violin repertoire was expanded as a result.  That Kreisler was able to carry off the deception so well is testament to his talent.

The program for this recital, as shown before, was an excellent introduction to the range of Kreisler's repertoire and thoroughly enjoyable.

• Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro for Violin and Piano (1910)
• Bach: “Prelude” and “Gavotte en Rondeau” from Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin and Piano, BWV 1006 (arr. Kreisler) (1720)
• Corelli: Concerto Grosso in D minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 5, No. 12, “La Folia” (arr. Kreisler) (1700)
• Viotti: Concerto No. 22 in A minor for Violin and Piano, G97 (c. 1793-94)
• Kreisler: Tambourin Chinois for Violin and Piano, Op.3 (1910)
• Kreisler: Caprice Viennois for Violin and Piano, Op. 2 (1910)
• Schubert: Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern for Violin and Piano, D. 797 (arr. Kreisler) (1823)
• Kreisler: "Lotus Land" for Violin and Piano (after Cyril Scott’s Op. 47, No. 1)
• Kreisler: Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta for Violin and Piano (1941-42)

Of the above works I had been most interested in hearing the excerpt from Schubert's incidental music for Helmina von Chézy's lost play Rosamunde. Hitherto I had only been familiar with this music through the second movement of the Quartet No. 13 and had long wanted to hear more.

I was also intrigued that Kreisler chose to arrange the Bach Partita that opened the recital since I've always considered the three partitas and the three sonatas to be finest works ever composed for solo violin.  I'm not sure that the addition of a piano part added anything substantive to the work and only served to draw away attention from the violin part.

Both the young musicians at this recital gave exemplary performances of Kreisler's work and are in any event to be commended for helping to keep his memory alive.