We're now into the full flow of the Festival, with the standard weekday schedule of 3 daily concerts:
[1] Concert at 1:30 pm, 60-75 minutes.
[2] Concert at 3:30 pm, 60-75 minutes.
[3] Concert at 7:30 pm, 120-150 minutes with intermission.
Festival Artistic Director Jim Campbell has had another one of his programming inspirations, taking advantage of the presence this week of 3 cellists, to have each of the # 1 & 2 concerts on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday begin with one of the six Suites for Solo Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach.
So, on Wednesday we had # 1 in G Major played by Cameron Crozman, and # 2 in D Minor played by Rolf Gjelsten. Thursday we heard # 3 in C Major played by Rolf Gjelsten, and # 4 in E-flat Major played by Rachel Mercer. Then on Friday, the cycle wrapped up with # 5 in C Minor played by Rachel Mercer, and # 6 in D Major played by Cameron Crozman.
For many years, these pieces were regarded exclusively as study material for practice and technical perfection, not as public performance music. However, once Pablo Casals completed his premiere recorded cycle in 1939, the suites became more and more a part of the performance repertoire, and now are among the best-known and best-loved of Bach's instrumental works. They've also been transcribed by various composers and arrangers for a bewildering variety of other instruments -- to say nothing of the ongoing "authentic" arguments about which particular instrument was actually meant to be used for playing which suites.
One thing is certain: there is almost no limit to the possible interpretive directions performers could potentially take with these eternally fresh masterworks. So here's the special fascination of this week's programming: the chance to hear three very different cellists, at three very different ages in their careers, each giving their own take on two of these suites.
All three, of course, played with great insight and character, and none of their interpretations were excessively wayward or eccentric. Personal choice, then, would depend very much on a listener's reaction to the particular styles of playing. I enjoyed all three of these interpreters, each for his/her own particular qualities.
Of the three, I felt that Cameron Crozman was the most precise and clear in playing all of the notes, especially when crossing the strings and double-stopping. Rolf Gjelsten brought the largest degree of energy and passion, with some of the most forceful moments in his fast movements. Rachel Mercer played with a wider dynamic range and more use of rubato, in a style that recalled memories of the more "romantic" Bach playing of my younger days without actually going clear back to that approach.
This division of the suites across three performers gave us a particularly fascinating journey through Bach's remarkable music.
The works that were partnered with the six suites also presented an intriguing cross-section of the chamber music repertoire: a Mozart piano quartet, Debussy's string quartet and cello sonata, Dvorak's wonderful string sextet, Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata in an arrangement for clarinet and string quartet, Schumann's fantasy in C major for piano, and the first piano quartet by Brahms. Speaking of which....
* * * * * * * * * *
The Dvorak String Sextet, Op. 48, was a new find for me, and I instantly fell in love with it. Mind you, I've always found Dvorak to be an easy composer to love. I look forward to acquiring a good recording of this work, and getting to know it much better.
The final concert of these six, with the Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25, by Brahms, brought a performance of this evergreen standard like none I have heard before.
This work, by the way, was my gateway to chamber music. Starting with a broadcast of the Arnold Schoenberg orchestral arrangement, I worked through to the original Brahms text, and then branched out from there to listen to other Brahms chamber works with piano. Then the Festival of the Sound popped above my mental horizon and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Every time I have heard this quartet played live, whether in Parry Sound, or Toronto, or on a video, it's always been a "pickup" ensemble. I'm using that term to denote a group of players who do not habitually or regularly play music together. Sometimes, these pickup performances can be among the most exciting at the Festival.
But this was a peculiar case, since the Ensemble Made in Canada is in fact a piano quartet. This meant that their interpretation took on uncommon unity of direction. More important than anything else, the balance was exemplary, and the three string parts were always audible through the heaviest piano writing.
That's a huge bonus, since the piano parts in these earlier Brahms chamber works are heavily, densely written to the point that drowning out the string colleagues is the # 1 peril for the pianist.
So it was a real pleasure for once to hear all the inner voicings in the viola and cello parts, and all the little counterpoints from the violin. Pianist Angela Park absolutely hit the sweet spot, where she was loud enough for the necessary impact but not enough to overwhelm the others. For my money, that's a very tiny target point that most pianists end up missing at one time or another in the work. But then, her three string colleagues played with great fervour and power -- the other half of the equation.
I would especially commend the Ensemble Made in Canada for the finale -- the famous Rondo alla zingarese or "gypsy rondo." For once, the movement launched out at a tempo that was not overly fast. It doesn't need to be; the music is quite exciting enough as it stands. The payoff here came in the final coda where the performers had ample room to really rev up the engines in the exultant dash to the finish line. At this point, again, the unanimity of the playing was striking.
All three, of course, played with great insight and character, and none of their interpretations were excessively wayward or eccentric. Personal choice, then, would depend very much on a listener's reaction to the particular styles of playing. I enjoyed all three of these interpreters, each for his/her own particular qualities.
Of the three, I felt that Cameron Crozman was the most precise and clear in playing all of the notes, especially when crossing the strings and double-stopping. Rolf Gjelsten brought the largest degree of energy and passion, with some of the most forceful moments in his fast movements. Rachel Mercer played with a wider dynamic range and more use of rubato, in a style that recalled memories of the more "romantic" Bach playing of my younger days without actually going clear back to that approach.
This division of the suites across three performers gave us a particularly fascinating journey through Bach's remarkable music.
The works that were partnered with the six suites also presented an intriguing cross-section of the chamber music repertoire: a Mozart piano quartet, Debussy's string quartet and cello sonata, Dvorak's wonderful string sextet, Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata in an arrangement for clarinet and string quartet, Schumann's fantasy in C major for piano, and the first piano quartet by Brahms. Speaking of which....
* * * * * * * * * *
The Dvorak String Sextet, Op. 48, was a new find for me, and I instantly fell in love with it. Mind you, I've always found Dvorak to be an easy composer to love. I look forward to acquiring a good recording of this work, and getting to know it much better.
The final concert of these six, with the Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25, by Brahms, brought a performance of this evergreen standard like none I have heard before.
This work, by the way, was my gateway to chamber music. Starting with a broadcast of the Arnold Schoenberg orchestral arrangement, I worked through to the original Brahms text, and then branched out from there to listen to other Brahms chamber works with piano. Then the Festival of the Sound popped above my mental horizon and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Every time I have heard this quartet played live, whether in Parry Sound, or Toronto, or on a video, it's always been a "pickup" ensemble. I'm using that term to denote a group of players who do not habitually or regularly play music together. Sometimes, these pickup performances can be among the most exciting at the Festival.
But this was a peculiar case, since the Ensemble Made in Canada is in fact a piano quartet. This meant that their interpretation took on uncommon unity of direction. More important than anything else, the balance was exemplary, and the three string parts were always audible through the heaviest piano writing.
That's a huge bonus, since the piano parts in these earlier Brahms chamber works are heavily, densely written to the point that drowning out the string colleagues is the # 1 peril for the pianist.
So it was a real pleasure for once to hear all the inner voicings in the viola and cello parts, and all the little counterpoints from the violin. Pianist Angela Park absolutely hit the sweet spot, where she was loud enough for the necessary impact but not enough to overwhelm the others. For my money, that's a very tiny target point that most pianists end up missing at one time or another in the work. But then, her three string colleagues played with great fervour and power -- the other half of the equation.
I would especially commend the Ensemble Made in Canada for the finale -- the famous Rondo alla zingarese or "gypsy rondo." For once, the movement launched out at a tempo that was not overly fast. It doesn't need to be; the music is quite exciting enough as it stands. The payoff here came in the final coda where the performers had ample room to really rev up the engines in the exultant dash to the finish line. At this point, again, the unanimity of the playing was striking.
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