Robert Schumann, in an 1850 daguerrotype. (Johann Anton Völlner/Wikimedia Commons)
By Robert Croan
With live classical music scarce at this time of year, South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music series in Miami and Fort Lauderdale has been a welcome addition to the cultural scene, as well as continuing evidence of the organization’s self-described commitment to community engagement.
The third and final program (heard July 22 at Fort Lauderdale’s Center for Spiritual Living) comprised quartets for piano and strings by Mozart and Schumann, along with a new work by the orchestra’s composer-in-residence, John D. Gottsch.
The playing by violinist Huifang Chen, violist Felicia Besan, cellist Claudio Jaffé and pianist Catherine Lan – all SFSO members – was less sleek and polished than last month’s recital by the Salimdjanov violin-piano duo, but the SFSO quartet’s music making had an exuberance and energy of its own, a refreshing and invigorating asset on a hot July evening.
Gottsch’s Impromptu No. 3 for Cello and Piano, which opened the program, proved to be a pleasant confection. Its brief (approximately 6 to 8 minutes) duration encompasses an aggressive, mildly dissonant introduction that melts quickly into a meditative midway passage for cello unaccompanied, then settles into a playful conclusion. The work also served as a warm-up for cellist Jaffé, whose sizable, penetrating tone dominated much of the music for the full ensemble that was to come.
Uncertainties of intonation and ensemble in the first piece gave way to authority and accord in Mozart’s sublime Piano Quartet in G minor (K. 478). Mozart reserved this key for his most profound, often agitated outpourings, and the opening movement is filled with storm and stress, etched into the notes and overtly embodied in the present rendition.
The spirit of chamber music is the joy of playing together in small groups, and there was a conviviality among the musicians that came across in the intimate physical surroundings of the small auditorium. The central Andante movement gave pianist Lan opportunities to showcase pearly tones and seamless legato, while the Rondo-finale resolved the emotional ambiguities, reflected in the performers’ attention to variety of color and nuance.
Mozart essentially invented the so-called piano trio (piano-violin-cello), an outgrowth of the Baroque trio sonata, although he created only two works in this format. By the time the Romantic composer Robert Schumann got to it more than half a century later in his Piano Quartet in E-flat major (Op. 47), the piano itself had grown and taken on a quasi-orchestral character. The piano, Schumann’s own instrument until he injured his hands by a botched experiment to expand his finger span, takes the lead in every movement of this quartet, although the cello gets some prominent solo turns as well in the slow movement.
Pianist Lan proclaimed as required the arpeggiated opening chords, maintaining her crucial role throughout, without sacrificing tonal beauty. The full ensemble managed the runaway Scherzo with a remarkable degree of accuracy and togetherness.
But the heart of this work is the Andante cantabile that follows, where the cellist first states an exquisite broad main melody, then gives it over to the other strings, the cello recapitulating with even more intensity and assertion. There is even an instruction in the score for the cello to re-tune its lowest string so as to emphasize the key bass note as a pedal foundation.
Jaffé’s force and bandwidth were particular assets here, along with an emotional palette that extended to his colleagues as the movement progressed. The finale, as in the Mozart quartet, is a lively rondo. These artists executed its rippling keyboard arpeggios and sprightly string phrases with appropriately robust enthusiasm, sending the enthusiastic audience home with a sense of optimism and cheer.
No more chamber music concerts this summer, but when SFSO initiates its 2022-23 season at the Parker on November 9, the July-featured Askar Salimdjanov will return to solo in Tchaikovsky’s popular Violin Concerto in D major.