Batia Murvitz, Igal Levin and Laura Albers perform trios and duos at the Brigham Young University, Jerusalem

Laura Albers,Batia Murvitz,Igal Levin (photo:Nadav Horesh)

Two members of Ensemble Colláge Tel Aviv -  pianist Batia Murvitz and clarinettist Igal Levin – hosted violinist Laura Albers (USA) at a Sunday Evening Classics concert at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, Brigham Young (Mormon) University, Mount of Olives, on April 9^th 2017.

Opening the program of European music spanning the 18^th to 20^th centuries, the artists performed Darius Milhaud’s Suite for violin, clarinet and piano op.157b. The trio’s playing of the light, playful Ouverture set the scene with bold gestures, its hints of jazz- and Latin styles making for an altogether colourful and hearty performance. Following the Divertissement, in which violin and clarinet begin in imitative dialogue without the piano, with all three then engaging in the delicate dovetailing of its polyphonic strands, the third movement – Jeu (Game) – played by clarinet and violin, resorts to a hearty folk melody, with Albers’ easeful and convincing playing evoking the style of traditional fiddling and Levin’s agenda also suggesting strumming, folksy elements. The opening tutti of the final movement, with its unsmiling, substantial piano chords, whisks away any memory of the jocular Jeu, only to quickly give way to light-hearted music, peppered with Milhaud’s characteristic jazz-flavoured polytonal writing and small harmonic jests, to end with the wink of an eye. Composed in Paris in 1932, the work, showcasing the composer’s adept incorporating of instrumental colours, his theatrical blend of styles and ideas, was given a delightfully entertaining performance.

Then to the wistful mood of W.A.Mozart’s Sonata for piano and violin in E-minor K.304 (from his time in Paris, which ended with his mother’s death), its dramatic intensity signalling the 22-year-old composer’s emotional upheaval. From its piano-and-violin unison opening, Albers and Murvitz’ playing was incisive, intense at times, at others – tender, it was dynamic and well-shaped. Based on attentive listening, their rendering of the work constituted a feast of eloquent, melodic playing, textures, balance, articulacy and expressiveness. With Albers’ cantabile melodious sound and Murvitz’ discreet use of flexing and of the sustaining pedal, their playing was rewarding, the work’s soul-searching message delivered with subtlety.

In 1849, a year for Robert Schumann of many new works, also the publication of “Album for the Young” and of an increased income as a result, the composer wrote: “I have never been busier or happier with my work”. One of the chamber works seeing light that year was his Three Romances for oboe and piano op.94, which he presented to his wife Clara as a Christmas present. He also published versions of it for violin or clarinet (and it can be heard on the’ cello and horn). In fact, the Three Romances were first performed at the Schumann home with Joseph Joachim on violin with Clara at the piano. Introducing it at the Jerusalem concert, Levin spoke of the work as indicative of the “Romantic, international language”. He and Murvitz both initiated and intertwined Schumann’s sweeping melodic lines in the first expressly tranquil piece, in the second marked “Einfach, innig” (Simple, ardently), the middle section – urgent rather than stormy – was comfortably placed between the two honeyed outer sections. Moving together in the outer sections of the third, the central section saw the artists tossing ideas to each other in friendly banter, then allowing for small hesitations to lead them to the end of the work. A work focusing less on virtuosity than on profound expressiveness, playing its long, meandering phrases makes great demands on the wind player’s breath control. Igal Levin’s tone is supple and vibrant and his performance gave credit to the clarinet’s larger dynamic range than that of the oboe, although, by nature, the clarinet’s tone quality will always be less plaintive than that of the oboe. Murvitz’ playing was vigilant and sensitive.

Concluding the concert on a very “different note”, the trio played the Suite from Igor Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale”. The work, based on a Russian folk tale, a collaboration between Stravinsky and Swiss writer C.-F. Ramuz, was referred to by the composer as a work “to be read, played and danced”. Its original scoring calls for two dancers, three speaking parts and seven instruments. The Suite for piano, violin and clarinet was first performed in Lausanne in November 1919, long before the work in its original setting for seven instruments was performed publicly.  To put the audience at the Mormon University into the picture, Igal Levin recounted the story – of a deserting soldier possessing a magic violin, which he trades with the devil, who promises to grant him his every wish. One wish is winning the hand of the king’s daughter. Throughout the story, the devil proves to be a cunning and tricky protagonist. The artists’ playing of the Suite opened with “The Soldier’s March”, a parody on militarism, vivacious and feisty in its cynicism, followed by the typically Stravinsky repetitiveness of “The Soldier’s Violin”. Taut, seamless and unrelenting, “The Little Concert” was presented boldly in its vivid and defiant idiom, as it constantly shifted between atonal textures and modality, to be followed by the “Tango-Waltz-Ragtime”, with the artists displaying Stravinsky’s somewhat disturbing distortions of them. Altogether, their outstanding- and carefully detailed performance enquired into the dry, acerbic agenda of the work, whose text (and the musical motifs threaded throughout) concludes with a few tough home truths:

You must not seek to add
To what you have, what you once had;
You have no right to share
What you are with what you were.

No one can have it all,
That is forbidden.
You must learn to choose between.

One happy thing is every happy thing:
Two, is as if they had never been.

Giving their all to the triumphant, jeering and diabolical “Devil’s Dance”, Albers, Levin and Murvitz ended their recital, one of chamber music of the highest standard. 

 

 

 

The Orchester Jakobsplatz Munchen opens the JMC's 2009-2010 Chamber Music Series

The Jerusalem Music Centre, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Jerusalem, hosted the Orchester Jakobsplatz Munchen November 11th 2009 as the opening concert of its 2009-2010 Chamber Music Concert Series at the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Friendship, YMCA Jerusalem. The Orchester Jakobsplatz Munchen was founded in 2005 by its current artistic director and conductor Daniel Grossmann, together with young members of the Jewish community of Upper Bavaria. Coinciding with the construction of Munich’s Jakobsplatz Jewish Centre, its goal has been to create a dialogue between young Jewish- and non-Jewish musicians, eventually attracting players from 23 countries. Daniel Grossmann (b.1978) studied piano, ‘cello and viol and is having an illustrious conducting career. The OJM also provides a stage for his interest in the works of forgotten and persecuted Jewish composers, in music of the 20th- and 21st centuries as well as for newly commissioned works.

Following a few words of welcome by the JMC’s executive director Hed Sella, the concert opened with French-born, Jewish composer Darius Milhaud’s (1892-1974) “Jeux de Printemps” opus 243 (1944), ballet music for chamber orchestra (it was choreographed by Martha Graham.) In this work of light, whimsical colors and textures colored with jazzy- and Latin American touches, Grossmann creates a delicate string- and wind collage in six short movements, each instrumental solo a delight, each movement a sketch rich in understatement. In the final clustery chord, Milhaud leaves us 20th century.

Milhaud’s Concert de Chambers for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (wind quintet and string quintet) opus 389, composed in 1961, presented a very different soundscape. Grossmann placed his strings on the left of the stage, woodwinds and brass on the right and the piano in the centre, but to the back of the stage, adding a visual dimension to Milhaud’s scoring. More atonal in approach, this later work in three movements, is a tight series of mood pieces. Articulate and accurate in performance, Grossmann’s reading of it allowed for much play of textures and color.

The concert included two works by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the first being his Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C major, Hob. VIIb:1. Composed for Joseph Weigl, a gifted ‘cellist of the Esterhazy orchestra, the score, presumed lost, was only found again in 1961 in the National Museum in Prague. Soloist with the OJM was Adrian Brendel (b.1976, London). Doubling as orchestral player cum soloist, Brendel went for musical depth rather than a showy approach. His wide experience as a chamber music artist has groomed him well for the delicate balance needed for soloing with such a small ensemble. Following the Haydnesque joy and freshness of the Moderato movement, Brendel’s expressiveness in the Adagio, the absence of wind instruments contributing to its intimate atmosphere, showed that understatement can be meaningful and wistfully subtle. In the joyful Finale, with Grossmann’s contrasts ever present, the virtuosic ‘cello part was alive with articulate gestures.

Haydn’s Symphony no. 44 in E minor Hob.1:44 (Mourning) brought the concert to a close. Composed in 1771, all four movements are in E minor. (Later in his life, Haydn requested that the slow movement be played at his funeral.) The Allegro con brio was well nuanced, its motifs clearly chiseled, with fine and sensitive brass playing. In the Menuetto, the interest and playful aspect of the canon were played in mellow shades with clear dynamic changes. Following the richly flowing eloquence of the Adagio, the Finale, opening with unison urgency, was infused with young energy. Grossmann’s reading of Haydn’s music is rich in Classical color, placing emphasis on directness and human spirit.

Listening to the Orchestra Jakobsplatz Munchen, I felt that a chamber orchestra of this size and quality invites its audience to listen more actively to each instrument than does a large orchestra; its players retain their individuality and initiative, with Grossmann addressing each of them personally at given moments. The orchestra also boasts fine players – kudos to the wind players for creating such a delicate blend. Grossmann’s good taste shows in stylistic fine detail and elegance.



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