Chamber Music Concert - Summit Music Festival

[Donald Isler]

Faculty Chamber Music Concert
Summit Music Festival
Thornwood, New York
August 2nd, 2021


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E Minor, K. 304
Linda Veleckis Nussbaum, Violin
Gena Raps, Piano

Robert Schumann: Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70
Buxton Orr: Carmen Variations
Arkady Orlovsky, Cello
Tamara Orlovsky, Piano

César Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor
Michael Davidman, Piano
Bela Horvath, Violin
Nicholas Pappone, Violin
Linda Veleckis Nussbaum, Viola
Kyungok Park, Cello

Last night's concert at the Summit Music Festival was a varied program of chamber music.

Before beginning the Mozart Sonata, violinist Linda Veleckis Nussbaum said it was written when the 22 year old Mozart had just learned of his mother's death, and that the second movement is one of the most tragic pieces of music she knows. Indeed, it is deceptively deep. The first movement was nicely inflected; not fast, but intense.

The Schumann Adagio for Cello and Piano was warm and heartfelt, whereas the Allegro was full of fire. The balance between cello and piano was excellent, which reminded me of Artur Balsam's comment: "Very few people can accompany the cello well" to which he added "I am one of them!" One could easily say "So is Tamara Orlovsky!" who was an ideal partner to her cellist husband's spirited playing. The Carmen Variations of Buxton Orr, though sometimes sensuous and evocative, was often spicy and high energy, with lots of tricky passagework and double stops for cellist Arkady Orlovsky, and not an easy part for the piano, either!

The Franck Quintet is a brilliant and hugely difficult work, especially for the piano. One of the things that impressed me was the very high decibel level a piano and string quartet can reach. (One could more crudely say "What a racket!" except that I don't mean to disparage anyone's sound!) Though the first movement features moments of quiet beauty and hushed intensity, a lot of it is RAGING. The piano part has a brilliant octave section in the coda, though at the end, the music is quiet, its energy spent.

The second movement sounds as of winter sadness and repressed emotions. There is a motive from the first movement which returns, and the strings pass a melody around from one to the other. There are what sound like shimmers of hope in the form of high pitched right hand octaves for the pianist, though the movement returns to its previous dismal mood as it concludes.

The last movement was a virtuosic whirlwind, and terrifically exciting!

An amusing coincidence I just discovered: Two days earlier, Michael Davidman, the piano soloist in the Franck Quintet, gave a recital which ended with the amazing Etude in the Form of a Waltz by Saint-Saens. Guess who was the pianist in the premiere performance of the Franck Quintet? None other than Camille Saint-Saens!

Donald Isler