The Catskill Chronicle

Review by Barry Plaxen

SHANDELEE, NY (August 6, 2013) – I once heard choreographer Alvin Ailey describe dancer Judith Jameson, as “painfully charismatic.” That phrase came to mind during the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players’ August 1, 2013 concert for the 20^th Anniversary Shandelee Music Festival Season in the Sunset Concert Pavilion on Shandelee Mountain.

The Jupiter Players are many and varied, but on August 1 the audience was exposed to and treated to the remarkable talents of (top to bottom in photos) William Wolfram, piano; Josef Spacek, violin; Lisa Shihoten, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Bronwyn Banerdt, cello and Vadim Lando, clarinet. Yes, a pianist, clarinetist and a string quartet. Why choose this configuration?

Well, of course – to perform Prokofiev’s “Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34”.

Prokofiev’s short work opened the program. He wrote it as a commission in 1919 during a trip to the United States, for the unlikely combination of clarinet, string quartet and piano, the exact configuration that performed August 1. Apparently, no one is sure if the themes were Hebrew, in the sense of Cantorial music one hears in a synagogue, or if the themes were Jewish folk songs, or, as spokesperson Vadim Lano said, if Prokofiev actually composed the themes. But what did transpire seemed, to me, like two themes with ‘classical’ and (obvious) Klezmer expositions, as the work was both romantic and lively, with the cello (romantic) and clarinet (Klezmer) taking precedence.

That entertaining piece was followed by Mozart’s “Quintet in A Major for Clarinet and Strings, K.581.” It was written for clarinet “inventor” Anton Stadler, whom Mozart admired for his innovations on the “new” instrument. The Quintet, considered to be one of the monumental peaks in Mozart’s oeuvre, is – here we go – painfully beautiful.

After the beautiful opening Allegro, the second movement – an even more beautiful Andante with exquisite passages – very much like his symphonies where the second (slow) movements contain all the “meat” – was so intense, so profound, and deeply moving, that Ailey’s phrase instantly came to mind as I felt I could not bear the beauty and perfection of the music and the perfection achieved by the ensemble’s phrasing. (As it began, the woman sitting in front of me had to reach over to her husband and put her hand on his knee where it remained for the rest of the movement. As soon as the third movement began, she was able to take her hand off his knee.)

The impeccable, inspired and deeply felt phrasing began when the first note of the first movement was played and continued throughout. A remarkable masterwork – in the third Scherzo movement the clarinet disappears for a while, and then comes in, creating some kind of inexplicable and unexpected texture.

Many in the audience thought the Quintet to be delightful, while others including myself found it to be much more. After some thought, I think the “pain” comes from perfection being achieved, or perhaps from perfection and beauty becoming one and the same.

As with the Prokofiev work, 34 is also the opus number for Brahms’ “Piano Quintet in f minor,” my favorite piece of chamber music with its relentless energy in the third and fourth movements that causes my own energy to accelerate “to fever pitch” – pun intended. The entire work is rich, dramatic, vigorous, intense and driving. In many ways it was a showcase for the ensemble as it requires great technical and musical skills and they certainly did not disappoint. It closed the program.

I would say the musicians were six lucky people. Because of the two masterworks chosen, they were free to be inspired and expressive without having to expend any energy “deciphering” music. The genius of Mozart and the genius of Brahms enabled them to disregard any intellectual considerations and freely access their world class interpretive skills and freely express and fully communicate their emotions. I would say the audience was lucky, too. It was truly an outstanding concert.

As for me, now I have to ponder if Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet has superseded Brahms’ Piano Quintet as my favorite piece of chamber music.

The Shandelee Music Festival continues through August 17 in the Sunset Pavilion at Shandelee with a variety of ensembles, soloists and the International Artists of Shandelee, on-the-rise concert pianists who come to Shandelee to hone their skills in an intensive summer program for young professionals. www.shandelee.org, 845-439-3277.