Classical Flowering @ Chamber Music Society

Above: the composer Louis Spohr

Sunday January 26th, 2014 – The recent snowstorm and its resulting impact on the MTA made me miss the Orion String Quartet’s program of Haydn and Mozart at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on January 21st – a program that drew such a rush on the box office that it was repeated the following evening at the Rose Studio. Tonight, still in an Arctic deep-freeze, I made it to Alice Tully Hall for Classical Flowering, a performance which brought together ten superb players in the following program:

• Schubert Trio in B-flat major for Violin, Viola, and Cello, D. 471 (1816)
• Spohr Grand Nonetto in F major for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass, Op. 31 (1813)
• Beethoven Septet in E-flat major for Winds and Strings, Op. 20 (1799)

The three works, all written within a twenty-year span, made for a genuinely pleasing experience in the peaceful ambiance of Alice Tully Hall: a refuge not only from the Winter weather but also from increasingly dark and upsetting world events. 

Schubert’s Trio in B-flat major is an incomplete composition; only the first movement (and some thirty-nine bars of a second, slower one) has come down to us. Perhaps the 19-year-old composer intended to return to the work at some point but – with his active musical imagination – countless other projects took up his time. So we are left with this very appealing single movement, a beautiful prelude to the two larger works on tonight’s program. Elmar Oliveira, Cynthia Phelps and Nicholas Canellakis played superbly and the piece was over almost before it began. But Ms. Phelps and Mr. Canellakis were with us all evening – playing in all three offerings tonight – and Mr. Oliveira returned for the closing Beethoven.

The Nonetto‘s opening Allegro draws upon a lyrical main theme first heard as a four-note motif at the work’s very beginning. The second movement is an Allegro Scherzo comprising two trios: the first with the violin prominent in a dance-rhythm called the landler, and the other featuring the wind voices. This is followed by an Adagio with song-like themes played alternately by strings and winds; then the Nonetto reaches its finale in a sonata-form movement with tuneful episodes calling forth the solo voices from the ensemble.

A remarkable ensemble of musicians took the Tully Hall stage for the Spohr: the strings arranged on our left and the woodwinds on our right. And in the center, Radovan Vlatkovic with his horn; for it is the horn that gives this work its special, burnished glow. Mr. Vlatkovic’s mellow playing was a delight here, and then later – in the Beethoven – he surpassed himself. Marvelous inter-action among the string players: the excellent violinist Arnaud Sussman taking the lead with Cynthia Phelps, Nicholas Canellakis and Kurt Muroki giving clarity to the inner voices; across the way, the regal flautist Tara Helen O’Connor  piped beautifully in her melodic flights. Romie De Guise-Langlois displayed impressive breath-control in the flowing clarinet passages; Stephen Taylor (oboe) and Peter Kolkay (bassoon) played with fluent expression.

Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat Major, written in 1799, was the oldest work on the program today. In six movements, this work was one of Beethoven’s most popular during his lifetime, though he is said to have wished it had been burned. Luckily, he didn’t get his wish and the Septet comes down to us today as an outstanding musical delight.

The six-movement structure has the flavour of a classic divertimento. The third movement, the most popular section of the work, is an adaptation of the minuet from the composer’s Piano Sonata in G major; the fourth movement is a series of variations in which each player has the opportunity to shine. The Septet‘s final movement features a violin cadenza, delivered today with silken virtuosity by Elmar Olveira.

The audience – a full house held in rapt attentiveness throughout the program – gave the collective of magical music-makers a rousing ovation at the end of the concert, calling the players out for an extra bow. The Beethoven was outstanding in every regard and special kudos to cellist Nicholas Canellakis for his finely-wrought solo passage in the fifth movement and to Mr. Vlatkovic’s wonderfully plush horn-playing, especially in the last three movements. Ms. De Guise-Langlois and Mr. Kolkay were the polished woodwind voices, and along with Messrs. Oliveira and Canellakis, Cynthia Phelps and Kurt Muroki made a string quartet of the highest calibre. A brilliant performance overall.

The evening’s participating artists: