Peter Duggan and Charles Yang

PIANO SONOMA JAMS IN FINAL WEILL CONCERT

PianoSonoma concluded its artist-in-residence performances August 3 in a sparkling Weill Hall concert where mostly new music overshadowed conventional fare.

Mendelssohn’s popular D Minor Trio began the program in a workmanlike performance that never quite caught fire. Tempos throughout were judicious, supported by the warm bottom register of cellist Julian Schwartz, and pianist David Aladashvili’s legato scale passages were, as usual for chamber music in Weill, often indistinct.

The lyrical Andante was lovely with fetching piano duos with violinist Yevgeny Kutik, the latter’s sound having pitch problems and a thin treble tone. The Scherzo was lively and the headlong rush of the finale well controlled. It was trio playing that was light on thematic projection and rubato but deserved the loud applause from the audience of 300.

A seven-section Thomas Cabaniss work, “Movements for Tiny Bits of Outrageous Love,” was boisterously played four hands from score by PianoSonoma directors Jessica and Michael Shinn. In his pre-performance remarks, Mr. Shinn asked the audience to make connections between the work’s witty titles and their own lives. Virtuosity was on display in every piece, from the quotidian “One and One” through “Flutter Flutter” (long shimmering trills and tremolos) and the new age and minimalist “Love Song.” In the nocturne-like “Respite” there was an air of nostalgic Brahms that quickly moved to a brief toccata and a charming slow waltz.

The only astringency was “Crossings,” wild at times with each pianist crossing both hands and making verbal shouts and looks of feigned surprise. The “Two” finale had relaxed playing with a deft rise and fall of phrase. Here the control of dynamics was perfect and the playing was justly received with one of the afternoon’s many ovations. What a showpiece “Movements” is!

A local premiere followed, composer-in-residence Paul Frucht’s unnamed piece for two pianos. Peter Duggan and Mr. Aladashvili played it wonderfully. At turns percussive, rumbling and busy, Mr. Frucht (in the audience and shouting “bravos” at the end) has written a work with cascades of notes and some inside-the-piano string plucking. The artists made the most of the short lyrical sections amid the raucous grand sweep that grew inexorably to a powerful conclusion.

Violinist Charles Yang and Mr. Duggan concluded the program with Ravel’s exciting Tzigane, the long solo violin introductory passage carrying clearly in the hall. Though sporadically clipping off phrase endings. Mr. Yang took his time in the 1924 piece, eschewing the often seen flamboyant body motions for lithe leaning into the gypsy harmonics and rhythms. Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies (6, 9 and 12) for piano seemingly were models for this impassioned work. Both artists played off the other’s energy and conveyed a bit of menace in the scintillating score, a staple for virtuosi. The string pizzicato was convincingly forceful, as were Mr. Duggan’s even trills and athletic right hand skips. The acceleration of the coda to presto was dramatic.

Speaking of skips, after an unprogrammed five-minute piano-violin jam session that finished the concert to a standing ovation, Mr. Yang skipped off the stage with a full cartwheel.

PianoSonoma’s final concert was a cheerful event with serious and genial music captivatingly played.