A WEEKEND WITH THE CARAMOOR VIRTUOSI

Reviewed by Bill Breakstone, Somers, NY
July 26, 2010

The Caramoor Virtuosi perform two programs each summer at the festival for which the group is named, and each year they invariably encounter bad weather. Such was the case Friday night, July 24th, as thunderstorms rolled through Katonah prior to and during the concert, forcing management to move the affair from the Spanish Courtyard to the Venetian Theatre for the second year in a row.

The instrumentalists for this ensemble change from time to time depending on availability. Its Music Director, cellist Edward Arron, is the one steady member. Joining him this weekend were his wife, pianist Jeewon Park, violinists Jesse Mills and Arnaud Sussman, violists Max Mandel and Yura Lee, and cellist Priscilla Lee.

Year after year, the Virtuosi always come up with fresh chamber music programs, be the music older classics or newer contemporary pieces. They specialize in works that are seldom performed, and this weekend hit the jackpot. Friday evening’s concert offered three compositions—Schubert’s Adagio and Rondo Concertante in F Major for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano, D. 487; Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57; and Beethoven’s String Quintet in C Major, Op. 29.

These three varied works offer stark contrasts, from Schubert’s broad melodic strokes, the dark, somber mood of the Shostakovich Quintet, and the beautifully molded Beethoven, a perfect example of his early period, written contemporaneously with his “Pastoral” Piano Sonata, Op. 26.

The performances were all outstanding, each player obviously relishing each note and phrase of the three pieces. These young musicians are a joy to listen to and watch. Caramoor should make their appearances a weekly affair during the Festival, and take advantage of the excellent acoustics in the Venetian Theatre, far preferable in my opinion to the dry sound that mars performances in the Spanish Courtyard.

The weather was more agreeable on Sunday afternoon, but the attendance was regrettably sparse for what turned out to be a memorable concert. The old saying goes “you can’t tell a book by its cover.” Such could certainly apply to Sunday’s program. There were no blockbuster chamber pieces offered; just three works of relative obscurity—Dvorak’s Op. 47 Bagatelles for Two Violins, Cello and Harmonium; Selections form Viaggio in Italia for Two Violins, Viola and Two Cellos by Giovanni Sollima; and the Concerto in D Major, Op. 21 for Violin, Piano and String Quartet by Ernest Chausson.

The charming Dvorak Bagatelles opened the program and acquainted the audience with an instrument seldom encountered in the concert hall—the harmonium, a sort of miniature organ but without that instrument’s percussive effects. The five pieces were upbeat and brisk, with the exception of the very brief No. 4, Cannon: Andante con moto.

The five movements from Sollima’s Viaggio in Italia, a 14 movement composition composed in 2000 and lasting in total 75 minutes, are all intensely rhythmical and genuinely lyrical, if in a contemporary vein. They were extremely interesting, and further proof that contemporary music these days can be listenable. It was a credit to the performers that they bring this music to audience’s attention.

The music of Chausson is having a virtulal rebirth this year. Usually, all we hear from this late 19th Century (1855-1899) French composer are his art songs. In June, the New York Philharmonic and Sir Andrew Davis, with soprano Susan Graham, presented Chausson’s Poeme de l’Amour et de la Mer, a lavish diptych-with-interlude in which Wagnerian opulence mingles with daubs of nascent impressionism.

Here at Caramoor, we were treated to another large-scale composition by the Frenchman, the Concerto for Piano and String Quartet. The work is seldom performed, no doubt due to its unusual combination of instruments. It is a fiendishly difficult piece, thoroughly absorbing, and magnificently performed by six consummate string players. The two violinists, Jesse Mills and Arnaud Sussman, are both virtuosi of the highest artistry. And enough can not be said of the rest of the ensemble: violinist Yura Lee, violist Max Mandel, cellist Edward Aaron and pianist Jeewon Park.

The three works were all new to these ears, and made quite an impression. The concert was further proof that programmers need not rely solely on the old favorites of the repertoire. It was just a shame that a larger audience was not able to enjoy this kind of brilliant music making.