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1 of the (numerous?) outstanding features from the Beaux Arts Trio, of which Menahem Pressler was founding member and pianist, was the extensive 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 means include an annual one-week residency in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, exactly where he provides a public Master Class and functions with each faculty and students to prepare a system in the Chamber Music Masters series. This can be the week inside the Conservatory academic year for Pressler's visit, and his recital took location final night within the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.
The diversity covered comparatively familiar functions from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. The a single weakness occurred in the beginning on the evening together with the eighteenth-century providing, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's second piano quartet in E-flat major, K. 493. Obtaining had the chance to observe Pressler in both a wide variety of recitals and numerous years' worth of Conservatory events, such as several in the Master Classes, I have come towards the conclusion that the eighteenth century is his least comfy element. Last February I was even bold enough to recommend that he may have missed the point of a Joseph Haydn piano trio he was coaching in the Conservatory. The problem then surfaced once again last night and essentially involved providing a lot of priority to the piano.
The result was the kind 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 have been wealthy channels of communication as well as a keen sense of balance (even though the violin was somewhat on 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 planet aside from the students. As a result, the quartet fractured into a trio along with a piano solo; as well as the spirit in the intimate conversations of chamber music was lost.
As soon as the program moved on in the eighteenth century, Pressler seemed to be on more safe ground; and it may also be that he was 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 within a Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary's Cathedral; and she happens to become a single of Fonteneau's students. Last 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 have been a lot more under control, resulting within 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 both the entirety and the richness of every detail to complement Fonteneau's conception in 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 from the hall.
Following the intermission, the system 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 of the ensemble; but she is already building up an impressive resume of professional appearances (a single of which will be tonight together with the Picasso Quartet). Thus, while she may possibly have been the "junior member" on the team, she was definitely holding her own inside a conversation amongst equals. This was particularly important since the nineteenth-century tradition of highlighting the slow movement with a rich 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 for the journey through the four movements of this quartet, in the opening Allegro con fuoco gesture (with particular emphasis on the "fuoco") to the three massive forzando chords that close off the Finale. This highlighted each the energetic and introspective sides of Dvorák's character with stimulating effect, leaving any weaknesses in the eighteenth century as a distant memory in the end on the evening.
The diversity covered comparatively familiar functions from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. The a single weakness occurred in the beginning on the evening together with the eighteenth-century providing, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's second piano quartet in E-flat major, K. 493. Obtaining had the chance to observe Pressler in both a wide variety of recitals and numerous years' worth of Conservatory events, such as several in the Master Classes, I have come towards the conclusion that the eighteenth century is his least comfy element. Last February I was even bold enough to recommend that he may have missed the point of a Joseph Haydn piano trio he was coaching in the Conservatory. The problem then surfaced once again last night and essentially involved providing a lot of priority to the piano.
The result was the kind 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 have been wealthy channels of communication as well as a keen sense of balance (even though the violin was somewhat on 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 planet aside from the students. As a result, the quartet fractured into a trio along with a piano solo; as well as the spirit in the intimate conversations of chamber music was lost.
As soon as the program moved on in the eighteenth century, Pressler seemed to be on more safe ground; and it may also be that he was 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 within a Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary's Cathedral; and she happens to become a single of Fonteneau's students. Last 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 have been a lot more under control, resulting within 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 both the entirety and the richness of every detail to complement Fonteneau's conception in 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 from the hall.
Following the intermission, the system 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 of the ensemble; but she is already building up an impressive resume of professional appearances (a single of which will be tonight together with the Picasso Quartet). Thus, while she may possibly have been the "junior member" on the team, she was definitely holding her own inside a conversation amongst equals. This was particularly important since the nineteenth-century tradition of highlighting the slow movement with a rich 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 for the journey through the four movements of this quartet, in the opening Allegro con fuoco gesture (with particular emphasis on the "fuoco") to the three massive forzando chords that close off the Finale. This highlighted each the energetic and introspective sides of Dvorák's character with stimulating effect, leaving any weaknesses in the eighteenth century as a distant memory in the end on the evening.
