Thursday morning's concert in the main lounge of the AmaSerena brought us a delightful programme of music by Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert -- delightful in every way, both the choice of the music and the performances by our resident artists and friends.
Some of Robert Schumann's most beautiful inspirations came in the form of short works that could be called "character" pieces. It's a term often applied to piano music, less often to chamber music. And yet, such works as the Drei Fantaisiestücke, Op. 73, the Fünf Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102, or the Märchenbilder, Op. 110, encompass a world of moods and pictorial imagery in short movements lasting no more than 5 minutes or so each. In each of these works, a solo instrument is partnered with Schumann's beloved piano.
On this occasion, the Gryphon Trio and James Campbell gave us three samples which highlighted not only the breadth of Schumann's inspiration but also the flexibility which allows at least some of these pieces to be played by instruments other than the composer's first choices.
James Campbell opened with one movement of the Drei Fantaisiestücke, playing the clarinet part with smooth mellow tone and subtle phrasing.
Annalee Patipatanakoon followed on violin with the second of the Drei Romanzen, Op. 94, Schumann's only composition for oboe. Although this brief yet telling music has been frequently performed on violin or clarinet, Schumann explicitly told his publishers that he would not permit such adaptation to be made:
"If I had originally written the work for violin or clarinet it would have become a completely different piece. I regret not being able to comply with your wishes, but I can do no other."
Not for the first or last time in the history of music publication, the publisher (Simrock) ignored the composer's wishes and went ahead with issuing the alternate versions anyway!
This performance proved once again that the adaptation of the music to violin works very well indeed, with the beautiful opening melody played with a simple yet truthful response to the composer's direction of Einfach, innig ("Simple, heartfelt"). The contrasting middle section brought a nice sense of dramatic intensity without overloading what is still a miniature.
Roman Borys then finished this section of the concert with the final movement of the Drei Fantaisiestücke on cello, an adaptation which was sanctioned by Schumann. He gave a vigorous, intense reading to a piece which teems with drama, and pianist Jamie Parker -- excellent in all 3 pieces, by the way -- matched him in raising the emotional temperature of the piano part, right to the energetic conclusion.
After a brief pause, the Gryphon Trio then played one of Schubert's sunniest inspirations, the Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D.898. Like many other of his finest masterpieces, this work was completed during the last year of Schubert's life, part of an outpouring of creative activity almost without precedent in musical history.
This is one of that select company of musical compositions which is guaranteed to put a smile onto my face as soon as I hear the opening notes. (Just for the record, a few others would include the Trout Quintet, the sixth symphonies of Beethoven and Dvorak, Bach's Magnificat, Handel's Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music, Monteverdi's Vespers, Mozart's F Major Sonata, K.332, and almost anything by Vaughan Williams.)
Schubert's late music made creative use of silences, either rests or pauses, and the opening melody of this trio proves the point when it suddenly ends before beginning again in a different key -- and yet, you can almost hear the notes rolling on through that moment of quiet, carrying the players smoothly to their new point of departure. Throughout the work, the Gryphon Trio unfailingly conveyed the sense that the silent moments are as integral to the music as the notes we actually hear.
The nicely relaxed tempo of the opening allegro moderato definitely heeded the moderato direction, so essential to the feeling of warmth and sunshine which this music conveys so well. Lightly sprung rhythmic figures and dotted notes are an essential part of the recipe too, and Jamie Parker's piano part in particular stayed light-weight and light-hearted, never becoming too symphonic or weighty.
Although not explicitly named so, the second movement has always struck me as being in the character of a barcarolle. The Gryphons took us on a gentle voyage with much charm, and the more turbulent middle section didn't disturb the calm more than temporarily.
In the scherzo movement, the imitations of voices by the different instruments all registered clearly without the need for heavy underlining. The waltz-like trio swept through gracefully and easily.
The finale seems to me like a kind of subtle musical joke, since I always get the feeling that there's some sort of an off-beat effect going on -- I sense that my leg is being pulled gently. The music also feels a little akin to a polonaise. Sure enough, there are several contrasting sections of this rondo where the time signature flips to 3/2 and here the polonaise rhythm becomes more overt. The Gryphons played this movement with plenty of fire matched by impeccable balance. Even the final frantic rush to the finish line in the presto coda was both unified and energetic. A most satisfying performance of a truly fun piece of music.
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