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One in the (many?) outstanding characteristics on 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 brand new phase of his profession in which he continues to appreciate the diversity of repertoire by other means. These implies include an annual one-week residency at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he provides a public Master Class and performs with each faculty and students to prepare a system inside the Chamber Music Masters series. That is the week in the Conservatory academic year for Pressler's pay a visit to, and his recital took location last evening in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.
The diversity covered fairly familiar performs in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. The 1 weakness occurred at the beginning from the evening using the eighteenth-century offering, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's second piano quartet in E-flat main, K. 493. Possessing had the chance to observe Pressler in both a wide number of recitals and several years' worth of Conservatory events, which includes several from the Master Classes, I have come for the conclusion that the eighteenth century is his least comfortable element. Last February I was even bold sufficient to suggest that he may have missed the point of a Joseph Haydn piano trio he was coaching in the Conservatory. The dilemma then surfaced once again final night and essentially involved providing a lot of priority for the piano.
The result was the kind of discontinuity which is a lot more evident in chamber music than in an orchestral setting. We had a string trio of students, among whom there have been wealthy channels of communication along with a keen sense of balance (even if the violin was somewhat around the weak side); and after that there was Pressler in the piano. For all of visual signs of attentiveness, it felt as if he was playing inside a world aside from the students. Because of this, the quartet fractured into a trio and a piano solo; along with the spirit on the intimate conversations of chamber music was lost.
As soon as the plan moved on from the eighteenth century, Pressler seemed to become on more safe ground; and it may also be that he was far more comfortable performing with faculty members. The Mozart quartet was followed by Claude Debussy's 1915 cello sonata with cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau. This past September the prodigious fifteen-year-old Tessa Seymour performed this sonata in a Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary's Cathedral; and she happens to be 1 of Fonteneau's students. Last night thus offered an chance 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 one particular portion of Seymour's recital in which I saw a spontaneous physical gesture interrupt her highly focused concentration. Fonteneau's gestures had been considerably a lot more under control, resulting inside a somewhat higher level of precision that facilitates listening to a composition in which even the slightest on the auxiliary notes contribute to the expressiveness of the whole. In this respect Pressler was an idea partner, bringing that same sense of each the entirety and also the richness of every detail to complement Fonteneau's conception of the solo voice. As a student, Seymour is clearly in good hands with Fonteneau. As the master, Fonteneau has much to offer to not only his students but those of us who can only appreciate him from the audience side of the hall.
Following the intermission, the plan reverted towards the nineteenth century as well as a composer for which Pressler has always had great affinity, Antonín Dvorák. The work offered was his Opus 87 piano quartet in E-flat major, which Pressler performed with violinist Axel Strauss, violist Paul Hersh, and cellist Michelle Kwon. Kwon was the only student member from the ensemble; but she is already building up an impressive resume of professional appearances (a single of which will be tonight with all the Picasso Quartet). Thus, while she may possibly have been the "junior member" of 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 towards the journey through the four movements of this quartet, in the opening Allegro con fuoco gesture (with particular emphasis around the "fuoco") for 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 inside the eighteenth century as a distant memory at the end of the evening.
The diversity covered fairly familiar performs in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. The 1 weakness occurred at the beginning from the evening using the eighteenth-century offering, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's second piano quartet in E-flat main, K. 493. Possessing had the chance to observe Pressler in both a wide number of recitals and several years' worth of Conservatory events, which includes several from the Master Classes, I have come for the conclusion that the eighteenth century is his least comfortable element. Last February I was even bold sufficient to suggest that he may have missed the point of a Joseph Haydn piano trio he was coaching in the Conservatory. The dilemma then surfaced once again final night and essentially involved providing a lot of priority for the piano.
The result was the kind of discontinuity which is a lot more evident in chamber music than in an orchestral setting. We had a string trio of students, among whom there have been wealthy channels of communication along with a keen sense of balance (even if the violin was somewhat around the weak side); and after that there was Pressler in the piano. For all of visual signs of attentiveness, it felt as if he was playing inside a world aside from the students. Because of this, the quartet fractured into a trio and a piano solo; along with the spirit on the intimate conversations of chamber music was lost.
As soon as the plan moved on from the eighteenth century, Pressler seemed to become on more safe ground; and it may also be that he was far more comfortable performing with faculty members. The Mozart quartet was followed by Claude Debussy's 1915 cello sonata with cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau. This past September the prodigious fifteen-year-old Tessa Seymour performed this sonata in a Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary's Cathedral; and she happens to be 1 of Fonteneau's students. Last night thus offered an chance 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 one particular portion of Seymour's recital in which I saw a spontaneous physical gesture interrupt her highly focused concentration. Fonteneau's gestures had been considerably a lot more under control, resulting inside a somewhat higher level of precision that facilitates listening to a composition in which even the slightest on the auxiliary notes contribute to the expressiveness of the whole. In this respect Pressler was an idea partner, bringing that same sense of each the entirety and also the richness of every detail to complement Fonteneau's conception of the solo voice. As a student, Seymour is clearly in good hands with Fonteneau. As the master, Fonteneau has much to offer to not only his students but those of us who can only appreciate him from the audience side of the hall.
Following the intermission, the plan reverted towards the nineteenth century as well as a composer for which Pressler has always had great affinity, Antonín Dvorák. The work offered was his Opus 87 piano quartet in E-flat major, which Pressler performed with violinist Axel Strauss, violist Paul Hersh, and cellist Michelle Kwon. Kwon was the only student member from the ensemble; but she is already building up an impressive resume of professional appearances (a single of which will be tonight with all the Picasso Quartet). Thus, while she may possibly have been the "junior member" of 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 towards the journey through the four movements of this quartet, in the opening Allegro con fuoco gesture (with particular emphasis around the "fuoco") for 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 inside the eighteenth century as a distant memory at the end of the evening.
