~ Author: Oberon
Sunday November 23rd, 2025 – Violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Gloria Chien presenting a program of works ranging thru three centuries tonight at Alice Tully Hall. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is focusing on the violin this season – their Winter Festival is entitled ‘Violin Celebration’ – and tonight’s Beilman/Chien concert might be thought of a delicious prelude to the festival: it was one of the finest violin recitals of my many years of experience.
The violin itself was the focal point this evening, and, after his opening piece, the violinist gave a heartfelt speech extolling the magical instrument that he plays: the fabled Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, 1740.
The evening opened with Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata in D-minor for Violin, Op. 27, No. 3, “Ballade”. Composed in 1923, this single-movement solo work is in two sections: a sort of recitative that gives way to an Allegro. The Lento opening a has yearning quality before a livelier feeling develops into the Allegro section, wherein Mr. Beilman reveled in the music’s virtuoso demands. His playing – from poignant to passionate – was alive with fabulous tone quality, perfect dynamic control, and remarkably fluent technical prowess. His performance elicited a lively ovation from the crowd; the evening is off to a marvelous start.
Béla Bartók’s Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, BB 85, was written a year before the Ysaÿe. A single low note from Ms. Chien at the Steinway opens the sonata. The music is full of mood swings, from mysteriously weighted to vigorous folk-dance motifs. Ms. Chien’s playing, veering from dreamlike to the edge of wildness, perfectly merges with the Beilman sound: by turns soulful and sprightly. The sonata’s understated ending was so expressively rendered by the two artists, with the violin ethereally on high.
Karol Szymanowski composed his Nocturne and Tarantella for Violin and Piano, Op. 28, in 1915. The Nocturne opens with a mystical piano introduction, the violin entering low and pensive before ascending to some high trills; here Ben Beilman’s control was strikingly in evidence. Now the Tarantella strikes up: Spanish and Italian influences are evident, but also – oddly – traces of old Asian harmonies. The dance begins wildly, lulls into a more thoughtful mood, then on to an epic finish.
I have yet to hear a Chris Rogerson piece I didn’t like. Tonight, having its New York premiere, was the composer’s Arietta for Violin and Piano…and it’s another winner. Mr. Rogerson – unlike many comtemporary composers – is not afraid of melody, nor of sentiment. The Arietta has a dreamy start as a lovely theme emerges. Both musicians summon their most poetic sounds, with Ben in the highest range especially exquisite. There’s a pause, and then Ms. Chien sets up a low, steady piano figuration over which Ben takes up a new flow of melody. The music becomes ecstatic, then tranquil. There’s a piano solo before the piece ends softly. The composer joined the players onstage, to enthusiastic applause.
The concert ‘s finale was César Franck’s Sonata in A-major for Violin and Piano, which dates from 1886. This piece was inspired by the marriage of violinist Eugène Ysaÿe to Louise Bourdeau, in the same year.
Franck originally planned a slow, thoughtful start to the piece, but Ysaÿe thought a more upbeat tempo would be better, so it became an Allegretto…though preserving a dreamy quality as well. Silken playing from both violinist and pianist was simply gorgeous as the familiar theme – to be heard throughout the piece – blossomed. Brief solo piano interludes feel like small poems in Ms. Chien’s interpretation.
Passion marks the second movement; Ben’s playing is captivatingly expressive, and a sense of drama never flags. The signature theme is heard on high, and the movement ends after an agitato interlude.
Sometimes described as Wagnerian in its wistful, Tristanesque feeling, the unusual Recitativo-Fantasia third movement refers to the ever-essential theme, now re-imagined. A violin mini-cadenza brings Ben to a sweet melody that turns expansive: at once incredibly tender and sad. A slow build-up evaporates into a shimmering motif from the piano; the violin singing hauntingly overall. Now the great theme sounds magnificently before fading away as if in a dream.
The familiarity of that theme is reassuring, and in the final movement, the playing of it is exceptionally pure and clean…following an interlude from Ms. Chien’s keyboard, the heart-stopping beauty of the theme is presented one more time, searlingly played by Mr. Beilman: simply grand.
A full-house standing ovation greeted the players as they came out for a bow, Ms. Chien in a beautiful plum-coloured frock and Mr. Beilman such a dapper gentleman. Further down our row, violist Matthew Lipman joined in applauding his colleagues after their outstanding performance. A Paganini encore, masterfully played, again let us savour the sound of the Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’…285 years old, and now in the hands of a 21st century Master.
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 