REVIEW: SummerFest’s ‘Fantastic Tales’ concert a thoughtful, well-crafted look at Schumann’s versatility
Luke Shulze
August 4, 2023
Two sides of Robert Schumann served as bookends for Wednesday evening’s “Fantastic Tales” concert at La Jolla Music Society’s Baker-Baum Concert Hall, an event just as carefully and successfully sculpted as this season’s other SummerFest offerings.
Schumann, like Brahms, takes an ambivalent stance toward the Classical Era, sometimes affirming its assumptions, sometimes rejecting them. In the first approach, Schumann writes works like the Quintet for Piano and Strings in E-flat, Op. 44. This is perhaps Schumann at his most ebullient and forward, his “Florestan” personality. Here Schumann demonstrates his mastery of multi-movement, discursive forms combined with his tendency to imbue themes and melodies with their own psychological identity.
Violinists Erin Keefe and Alexi Kenney combined with a buoyant, forward drive in their tandem moments in the first movement, while cellist Efe Baltacigil and violist Masumi Per Rostad became one instrument in the lyrical, singing second theme. Pianist Roman Rabinovich has been very impressive at the Baker-Baum this season: his playing combines immediacy and power with elegant soft edges and an ability to fuse with other ensemble members.
Per Rostad was perfectly gritty as he took his turn with the melody in the second movement, one of the gems for the viola in the literature. The tempo of the scherzo bordered on alarming, save for the group’s ability to bring out inner syncopations, shape rushing scales, and give every subsidiary theme its own character and detail.
The other Schumann, which eschews older forms for shorter, through-composed ones, was there in the concert’s opener, his Fantasiestücke for Cello and Piano, Op. 77. In Schumann’s music, “Fantasy” always connotes churning and rhapsodic textures. To this end, Baltacigil and Rabinovich roved moodily and lyrically through phrases, unified in their mutual concept, with fine chamber playing throughout. Baltacigil’s judicious and expressive vibrato and shining intonation were especially moving.
Thomas Adès is this Summerfest’s composer-in-residence, though his roles in the festival take many forms. He was pianist/conductor for Leos Janácek’s Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Two Violins, Viola, and Piano. This is a surprising, programmatic work — multicolored, long on humor and showing Janácek’s mastery of timbre and color. Focusing on narrative over virtuosity, this is as much a story as a concerto.
Adès knows this piece: he played and directed superbly, from memory, taking the ensemble through their respective character roles, eliciting from them a vibrant array of timbres and personalities. Clarinetist Mark Simpson was especially vivid on sopranino clarinet, playing staccato passages with color and intensity; horn player Stefan Dohr joined Adès in the first movement duet, playing with broad tone and deep expression. Violinists Blake Pouliot and Diana Cohen and violist Rostad were masterful in their bowing and articulations, as they alternatively writhed, argued, and sang in the third movement. Bassoonist Eleni Katz was as she has been in other concerts, thoughtful and expressive with a handsomely shaped sound.
Adès’ own music was a high point of the evening, as violinist Anthony Marwood joined the composer in the U.S. premiere of the violin and piano version of Adès’ Märchentänze. He has a strikingly original voice; in his work we hear clear architecture and the details of winning instrumental writing. The first movement was a loping dance, ablaze with harmonics and left-hand pizzicati; Marwood handled extremes of register and mood, switching easily between aggressive fiddling and moments of delicacy with polish and control.
Adès has a keen sense of timbre: the second movement’s elegiac and sunken chords sounded behind a stained curtain of piano resonance that was mystifying. Above all, he has taste — a savvy ability to correctly gauge the appropriate rates of change, repetition, surprise, and complexity. This, combined with a knack for clear, audible structures, make a music that is as giving to his listeners as his musicians.
Schulze is a freelance writer.