By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — With the opening strokes of her bow on the lower strings, Alisa Weilerstein drew us into the moody world of Brahms’ Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, the first work on Summerfest’s August 13 program at the Conrad.
Brahms had just moved to Vienna from his native Hamburg when he began writing this sonata, and it has the bittersweet quality characteristic of much of his music.
The first movement’s introspective melancholy, so beautifully projected by Weilerstein and carefully supported by Inon Barnatan’s piano, rose to passionate heights, then, receded to its quiet conclusion.
The second movement, Allegretto quasi Menuetto, served as a charming interlude with its light-hearted ¾ meter. The finale, Allegro opened with a powerful fugue, derived from Bach’s Art of the Fugue. Begun in the piano and then taken up by the cello, it served as the driving force throughout the movement, which ended with a thunderous climax.
Alisa Weilerstein is an internationally acclaimed cellist who appears frequently with the San Diego Symphony (she is the wife of SDSO conductor, Raphael Payare), and with Summerfest. Inon Barnatan is the Director of the La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest and an internationally recognized pianist.
Next on the program were four miniatures for violin, horn and piano by a little-known French composer, Charles Koechlin, who was a prolific composer and taught such luminaries as Milhaud and Poulenc.
The four movements, Quatre petites pieces: Andante, Tres modere, Allegretto quasi andantino, Scherzando alternated with the opening instrument. The Andante began with the violin, then was joined by the horn, the Tres modere opened with the horn, and so on. The Scherzando contained horn calls similar to that of hunting horns. The music was sunny, simple and direct, a contrast to the complexity of the Brahms Cello Sonata.
The miniatures were nicely played by violinist Erin Keefe, horn player Stefan Dohr, and pianist Inon Barnatan. Keefe is concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and Dohr is the principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic.
The last work on the program was Glazunov’s String Quintet in A Major for two violins, viola and two cellos. Alexander Glazunov composed this work when he was 26 years old.
He produced the bulk of his music during the years before his 40th birthday, probably because of the large amount of administrative work he was required to do after that, as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
The first movement of the quintet opened with a beautifully played viola solo by Teng Li, principal viola of the Chicago Symphony. The first violin, Tessa Lark, soon commented with well defined high notes. Lark is an acclaimed classical violinist and fiddler. During the Quintet, Glazunov wrote solos for all the instruments so we heard the second violin, Erin Keefe, and the two cellists, Sterling Elliott, Avery Fischer Grant recipient; and Nicolas Altstaedt, German-French soloist, as distinct voices as well as part of the thick ensemble.
In the second movement, Scherzo: Allegro moderato, pizzicato and bowing contrasted to create interesting textures.
The third movement Andante sostenuto was beautifully introduced by a cello solo and the last movement, Finale:Allegro Moderato featured a raucous Russian dance.
One of the cellists even stamped his feet in exuberant excitement as the movement came to its vigorous conclusion.
The audience rose to its feet for a standing ovation.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.