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IN REVIEW: Musical giants collaborate in a night of conversations with the masters

Few things in concert life are as satisfying as hearing musicians who have attained near-legendary status actually live up to those legends. On November the 19th at the Folly Theater, Pinchas Zukerman and Yefim Bronfman played the Brahms’ Second Viola Sonata so gorgeously and insightfully, and with such detailed nuance and color, that one was reminded why these artists have achieved the stature they have. The recital, part of the Friends of Chamber Music’s 35th anniversary season, counts as one of the high points of the season so far.

Brahms composed two Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano late in life which, along with the Clarinet Trio and Quintet, number among the most profound works of the chamber literature. He later adapted the clarinet part for viola, an instrument of similar range but of markedly different timbre and sonic character. The viola versions are suave, intimate, with flashes of brightness like a sun-dappled forest in autumn. In Pinchas’ hands the B-flat Sonata took on the character of sage wisdom, almost like a rhetorical oration by a Greek philosopher. It is hard to imagine anyone on earth who gets a more beautiful sound from this instrument, and who makes it seem so far beyond effortless that you stop thinking about how effortless it is. (In the hands of many violists, even prominent ones, the viola sounds difficult to play.) His tone is filled with a glow of red-hot embers; it can sing with honey-colored full voice or whisper in a conspiratorial hush.

“Fima” was a more stolid presence in the piano part, creating a foundation of warmth and flexibility yet always mindful not to drown his partner. The two played remarkably in sync, rhythmically, gesturally and musically. At the same time, one constantly had the sense of two very strong — and quite distinct — personalities coexisting side-by-side onstage: Pinchas the wilder, more extravagant spirit, Fima the cooler, more nonchalant one. A friendly duo of titans.

The program had begun with Pinchas on violin for Mozart’s B-flat major Sonata, K. 545, which received an openly Romantic rendering filled with color and sentimental textures. The lush pedaling and rubato were not to my liking, nor were the sudden and at times exaggerated swells and slides. But I loved the way the first-movement exposition took on a markedly different character when repeated, and the manner in which the Andante — one of the composer’s more glorious slow movements — allowed Pinchas to demonstrate his full lyrical gifts.

Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata was lovely if a tad extravagant. It showed once again the complementary nature of Pinchas’ lyricism and Fima’s firm command of texture and large-scale structure. But the violinist’s  fortissimo had a harsh edge at times, and Fima sometimes seemed purposely to avoid playing a violin line in the same way Pinchas had — as for example at the opening of the first movement, where the violin was tuneful and the piano answered with a sort of detachment. Odd, I thought. But this is, after all, a collaboration of two willful souls, who are engaged in a lively conversation with the even more willful spirit of Beethoven. In the end, the discussion seemed to result in a draw, rather than in a clear victory for the composer.

Paul Horsley, Performing Arts Editor 

Paul studied piano and musicology at WSU and Cornell University. He also earned a degree in journalism, because writing about the arts in order to inspire others to partake in them was always his first love. After earning a PhD from Cornell, he became Program Annotator for the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he learned firsthand the challenges that non profits face. He moved to KC to join the then-thriving Arts Desk at The Kansas City Star, but in 2008 he happily accepted a post at The Independent. Paul contributes to national publications, including Dance Magazine, Symphony, Musical America, and The New York Times, and has conducted scholarly research in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic (the latter on a Fulbright Fellowship). He also taught musicology at Cornell, LSU and Park University.

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