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Symphony
TWO OLD, TWO NEW AT THE SR SYMPHONY'S MARCH CONCERT IN WEILL
by Peter Lert
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Chamber
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THIRTY-THREE PLUS VARIATIONS AND AN OCEAN VIEW
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Choral and Vocal
A ST. JOHN PASSION FOR THE AGES
by Abby Wasserman
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Choral and Vocal
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Chamber
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by Peter Lert
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Chamber
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by Terry McNeill
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Symphony
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by Terry McNeill
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Chamber
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by Abby Wasserman
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Recital
ELEGANT VOCAL MASTERY AT ROSES SIGNATURE RECITAL
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Sunday, February 25, 2024
CHAMBER REVIEW

Celist David Goldblatt

STRING QUINTETS, RARE AND FAMILIAR, IN SCHROEDER HALL CONCERT

by Sonia Morse Tubridy
Sunday, January 26, 2020

One hundred attendees in Schroeder Hall were treated Jan. 26 to a pair of stirring two-cello string quintets: Schubert’s much beloved masterpiece Quintet in C (D. 956), and Catoire’s Quintet in C minor (Op. 16), the latter mostly a forgotten work written in 1909. The performers were violinist Victor Romasevich and cellist Jill Rachuy Brindel, both from the Trio Navarro, and guests David Goldblatt (cello), Michael Jones (violin) and violist Stephen Levintow from the San Francisco Symphony and the Jupiter Quartet.

Composed during the last two months of his life and only published twenty five years later, Schubert’s String Quintet has been praised as “sublime”, “extraordinary” and filled with “bottomless pathos”. The sounds, shapes and emotional impact of this piece often transcend description by words, and the musicians gave it a moving and intelligent performance. The first movement’s opening is stunning with mysterious sounds which seemed to move from invisible worlds to the visible. Searching harmonies alternated with brisk rhythms, eeriness with lyricism, drama with dancelike moments. There were solo lines, unisons, duos all the way to five part writing, including many beautiful moments of pizzicato. Sometimes the effect of agitato was like being tossed on stormy seas to realms of light and calm. The second movement, with its searching call in the violin over muted woodwind-like chords, was lonely and plaintive until a loud trill interrupted with agitated syncopations and big orchestral sounds, and in turn interrupted by a return to the lone seeking voice. Tone qualities and balance of ensemble were excellent, and a high point was the vibrancy of the movement’s concluding chord.

Great moments in chamber music happen when the individual players connect in a way that transcends the sum of their parts, reaching beyond the sound of expected ensemble. This group of musicians found that level of music.

The third movement was rich and rollicking, with hunting calls, a village dance, excitement mounting and leading to dramatic unisons pairing different instruments and somber descending lines. Schubert’s creation of scenes, characters and extremes of universal emotions were well brought out. The final Allegretto returned to a jolly dance featuring different combinations of the instruments, sometimes fading and then opening new doors with lovely cello duets and fluttering birdlike sounds.

After intermission the musical scene changed. The Russian Catoire, after studying mathematics and science in St. Petersburg, came under Tchaikovsky’s influence, and then studied with Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky and Tanayev. He came from a French immigrant family and was also an admirer of Wagner. His very original style was influenced by Russian, French and German composition characteristics, and his championing of Wagner led to a shunning of his music in Russia. The harmonic and melodic textures of this Quintet are very dense and the rhythmic layering is complex. The musicians built emotional intensity gradually and attained many expressive heights. This is unique music that drew Romantic to Impressionist sensibilities with added Modernist elements.

The first movement, Allegro moderato, was restless, then dramatic, leading to an Allegro e molto agitato second movement where the massed strings wove their way to feverish expression. The Andante with its “haunted world of shadows” was strange in design and sound, and highlighted the ensuing finale (Allegro impetuoso) with its contrasts of lyricism and violent outbursts. The Catoire quintet performance was a welcome introduction to an unfamiliar and unexpected treasure, whereas the playing in the magisterial Schubert had the effect of revisiting an eternally wonderful musical friend in sorrow and in joy.

There was a standing ovation for this beautifully performed concert.