By Paul Horsley

The Harriman-Jewell Series’ auspicious 50th anniversary season has been a wild ride, and it’s not over yet. Recently the Series presented two notable performances within a week of each other, a violin-piano recital by Joshua Bell and Sam Haywood and an orchestral program with the Academy of St. Martin in Fields and pianist Jeremy Denk. They fell in the middle of a season where the bar has been set especially high by programs such as that of cellist Yo-Yo Ma with Kathryn Stott, the Kronos Quartet’s joltingly effective World War I tribute with music of Aleksandra Vrebalov, the stellar Acis and Galatea with Mark Morris Dance Group and his group of world-class collaborators, a Gala bel canto-fest featuring Joyce DiDonato and Juan-Diego Flórez, the San Francisco Symphony’s performance with with soloist Gil Shaham, and the strikingly fresh recital by pianist Yun-Chin Zhou.

From the look of the 2015-2016 season just announced, there will be no resting on laurels at HJS: Audra McDonald, Itzhak Perlman, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, the Chicago Symphony with Riccardo Muti. (See our upcoming column on the season.) “We sold more tickets and … raised more money this year than we ever have in our history,” said Series Executive and Artistic Director Clark Morris. “That seems to be how the 50th year should go.” More to the point, the 50th celebration has pushed everything upward from this point on, Clark hastened to add. “We’re spending more money in the 51st season than we did in the 49th season. We’ve ratcheted up what our standard is.”

But that is to digress. At his March 14th recital at Helzberg Hall, violinist Joshua Bell displayed his capacity for “singing” gorgeously spun, operatic melodies with his “Gibson ex Huberman” Strad; and this innate capacity for tunefulness and solid musicianship was matched by pianist Sam Haywood. In Beethoven’s A-minor Sonata, Op. 23, Bell seemed to pull back on sound, perhaps in order to adopt a more “Classic” style, with the result that Sam’s full-bodied sound sometimes drowned the violin. The slow movement presented a sweet dialogue, though, in which the duo approached the composer’s directness with commonly gauged groundedness. The finale raced like the wind: It was straight enough to be taken seriously but with an edge that reminded us of the young Beethoven’s subversive side.

Balance between violin and piano ceased to be a problem in the Grieg First Sonata, where the vibrant Romantic vein seemed to bring out a more full-blooded sound from the violin (and Sam at the same time seemed a bit more temperate in his approach). Brahms’ First Sonata in G major, which opened the program’s second half, was imbued with the same mature musicianship and friendly, well-rounded balance. The program’s highlight was the closer, Bartók’s Second Rhapsody, which brought both musicians to hyperactive life: Joshua played with rare fire, dazzling pitch and pizzicatos, dead-on harmonics and rightness of style; Sam joined as an equal in investing Bartók with full folkloric flair.

Six days later Jeremy Denk, who has also performed in recital with Joshua at times, sat in a different seat this time, as soloist in two concertos by J.S. Bach—on a program that also included two Stravinsky works with connections both overt and subliminal to the Bach. After a lightning tempo for the Allegro of the D-minor Concerto, Jeremy took up a pensive, even rhetorical discourse in the Adagio; the Allegro again raced with excitability. The sober balance between piano and the handful of strings, and the forthright approach to the keyboard, made it clear this was being approached as a piano concerto, as distinct from a harpsichord concerto. (“I’m a pianist,” Jeremy said in a talkback after the concert. “I can’t play the harpsichord worth a darn.”) The F-minor Concerto, BWV 1056, was a more studied affair, its stately opening movement enticing the mind on an almost intellectual level; one only yearned at times, in music by a composer so steeped in vocal sensibilities, for more of a singing approach to long-breathed melodies.

The program opened with Stravinsky’s brief Concerto in D for String Orchestra, which has the flavor of a concerto grosso but does not overthink its connections to early music. Led by first violinist (“leader”) Tomo Keller, the Academy played with impeccable tone and articulation. They sounded remarkably unified—there were 21 in all—in Stravinsky’s big Apollon Musagète, a pinnacle of the composer’s neoclassic approach and the score for one of Balanchine’s most vivid choreographic works. Without an actual conductor this piece can easily become bland, but Tomo’s leadership was felt in subtle ways.

For more upcoming Harriman-Jewell Series presentations, including the lineup for 2015-2016, go to hjseries.org or call 816-415-5025.

Photo of Joshua Bell by Eric Kabik.

To reach Paul Horsley, performing arts editor, send email to phorsley@sbcglobal.net.

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