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1 in the (several?) outstanding characteristics in the Beaux Arts Trio, of which Menahem Pressler was founding member and pianist, was the substantial breadth of repertoire. Now that the trio has disbanded, Pressler has entered a new phase of his profession in which he continues to take pleasure in the diversity of repertoire by other signifies. These implies contain an annual one-week residency in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, exactly where he provides a public Master Class and performs with each faculty and students to prepare a system within the Chamber Music Masters series. This is the week inside the Conservatory academic year for Pressler's check out, and his recital took location last evening in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.
The diversity covered reasonably familiar functions from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. The a single weakness occurred in the beginning in the evening using the eighteenth-century providing, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's second piano quartet in E-flat significant, K. 493. Possessing had the chance to observe Pressler in each a wide selection of recitals and several years' worth of Conservatory events, including numerous on the Master Classes, I have come for the conclusion that the eighteenth century is his least comfy element. Final February I was even bold sufficient to recommend that he may possibly have missed the point of a Joseph Haydn piano trio he was coaching in the Conservatory. The issue then surfaced again final night and generally involved giving an excessive amount of priority for the piano.
The outcome was the sort of discontinuity that is much more evident in chamber music than in an orchestral setting. We had a string trio of students, among whom there had been wealthy channels of communication as well as a keen sense of balance (even if the violin was somewhat around the weak side); and after that there was Pressler at the piano. For all of visual signs of attentiveness, it felt as if he was playing within a world apart from the students. Consequently, the quartet fractured into a trio and a piano solo; as well as the spirit on the intimate conversations of chamber music was lost.
After the system moved on from the eighteenth century, Pressler seemed to be on far more secure ground; and it may also be that he was much more comfortable performing with faculty members. The Mozart quartet was followed by Claude Debussy's 1915 cello sonata with cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau. This previous September the prodigious fifteen-year-old Tessa Seymour performed this sonata within a Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary's Cathedral; and she happens to be 1 of Fonteneau's students. Final night thus offered an opportunity to compare her voice with that of her teacher. This particular sonata provides an excellent point of comparison, since it is both highly cerebral and intensely emotional. It was the 1 portion of Seymour's recital in which I saw a spontaneous physical gesture interrupt her highly focused concentration. Fonteneau's gestures were considerably more under control, resulting within a somewhat higher level of precision that facilitates listening to a composition in which even the slightest in the auxiliary notes contribute for the expressiveness of the whole. In this respect Pressler was an idea partner, bringing that same sense of each the entirety along with the richness of every detail to complement Fonteneau's conception from the solo voice. As a student, Seymour is clearly in good hands with Fonteneau. As the master, Fonteneau has significantly to offer to not only his students but those of us who can only appreciate him from the audience side from the hall.
Following the intermission, the system reverted towards the nineteenth century along with a composer for which Pressler has always had great affinity, Antonín Dvorák. The work offered was his Opus 87 piano quartet in E-flat main, which Pressler performed with violinist Axel Strauss, violist Paul Hersh, and cellist Michelle Kwon. Kwon was the only student member of the ensemble; but she is already building up an impressive resume of professional appearances (1 of which will be tonight with all the Picasso Quartet). Thus, while she might have been the "junior member" from the team, she was definitely holding her own within a conversation among equals. This was particularly important since the nineteenth-century tradition of highlighting the slow movement with a wealthy cello passage was clearly operative in this particular composition; and Kwon has cultivated an impressive track record of performances of such passages. Most important, however, was that the entire ensemble was united in an integrated approach to the journey through the four movements of this quartet, in the opening Allegro con fuoco gesture (with particular emphasis around the "fuoco") to the three massive forzando chords that close off the Finale. This highlighted both the energetic and introspective sides of Dvorák's character with stimulating effect, leaving any weaknesses in the eighteenth century as a distant memory at the end of the evening.
The diversity covered reasonably familiar functions from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. The a single weakness occurred in the beginning in the evening using the eighteenth-century providing, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's second piano quartet in E-flat significant, K. 493. Possessing had the chance to observe Pressler in each a wide selection of recitals and several years' worth of Conservatory events, including numerous on the Master Classes, I have come for the conclusion that the eighteenth century is his least comfy element. Final February I was even bold sufficient to recommend that he may possibly have missed the point of a Joseph Haydn piano trio he was coaching in the Conservatory. The issue then surfaced again final night and generally involved giving an excessive amount of priority for the piano.
The outcome was the sort of discontinuity that is much more evident in chamber music than in an orchestral setting. We had a string trio of students, among whom there had been wealthy channels of communication as well as a keen sense of balance (even if the violin was somewhat around the weak side); and after that there was Pressler at the piano. For all of visual signs of attentiveness, it felt as if he was playing within a world apart from the students. Consequently, the quartet fractured into a trio and a piano solo; as well as the spirit on the intimate conversations of chamber music was lost.
After the system moved on from the eighteenth century, Pressler seemed to be on far more secure ground; and it may also be that he was much more comfortable performing with faculty members. The Mozart quartet was followed by Claude Debussy's 1915 cello sonata with cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau. This previous September the prodigious fifteen-year-old Tessa Seymour performed this sonata within a Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary's Cathedral; and she happens to be 1 of Fonteneau's students. Final night thus offered an opportunity to compare her voice with that of her teacher. This particular sonata provides an excellent point of comparison, since it is both highly cerebral and intensely emotional. It was the 1 portion of Seymour's recital in which I saw a spontaneous physical gesture interrupt her highly focused concentration. Fonteneau's gestures were considerably more under control, resulting within a somewhat higher level of precision that facilitates listening to a composition in which even the slightest in the auxiliary notes contribute for the expressiveness of the whole. In this respect Pressler was an idea partner, bringing that same sense of each the entirety along with the richness of every detail to complement Fonteneau's conception from the solo voice. As a student, Seymour is clearly in good hands with Fonteneau. As the master, Fonteneau has significantly to offer to not only his students but those of us who can only appreciate him from the audience side from the hall.
Following the intermission, the system reverted towards the nineteenth century along with a composer for which Pressler has always had great affinity, Antonín Dvorák. The work offered was his Opus 87 piano quartet in E-flat main, which Pressler performed with violinist Axel Strauss, violist Paul Hersh, and cellist Michelle Kwon. Kwon was the only student member of the ensemble; but she is already building up an impressive resume of professional appearances (1 of which will be tonight with all the Picasso Quartet). Thus, while she might have been the "junior member" from the team, she was definitely holding her own within a conversation among equals. This was particularly important since the nineteenth-century tradition of highlighting the slow movement with a wealthy cello passage was clearly operative in this particular composition; and Kwon has cultivated an impressive track record of performances of such passages. Most important, however, was that the entire ensemble was united in an integrated approach to the journey through the four movements of this quartet, in the opening Allegro con fuoco gesture (with particular emphasis around the "fuoco") to the three massive forzando chords that close off the Finale. This highlighted both the energetic and introspective sides of Dvorák's character with stimulating effect, leaving any weaknesses in the eighteenth century as a distant memory at the end of the evening.
