By Eileen Wingard in La Jolla, California
“Lost and Found” was the title of the August 9 matinee Summerfest concert featuring a program of unfamiliar music by familiar composers.
It included a minute-long Chopin Waltz, found in the Morgan Museum in New York in 2024; a Vaughan Williams Piano Quintet, not published until 40 years after the composer’s death; a Loeffler Octet for Clarinets, Strings and Harp, unpublished, unrecorded and unheard since 1897, discovered in the Library of Congress by clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson, whose arrangement was heard this evening; and Mozart’s Horn Concerto #1, whose second movement was written in 1791, the year of the composer’s death. Musicologists are still scratching their heads about whether the two movements go together—the instrumentation in the second movement differs from the first–and whether the second movement might have been written by Mozart’s pupil, Skussmayr.
The concert opened with the Croatian accordionist, Radu Ratoi, playing his arrangements of Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor (not the famous one), and Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, both originally written for organ, and sounding convincing on the accordion, whose timbre resembles that of the pipe organ.
This was the final appearance at Summerfest of accordion virtuoso, Radu Ratoi, and he added a new dimension to the three programs in which he participated.
Pianist for the Chopin Waltz and the Vaughan Williams Quintet was Henry Kramer, a native of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He began piano studies at the advanced age of eleven and later studied at Juilliard and Yale. His playing proved masterful, both for the brief Chopin Waltz and the three-movement Piano Quintet by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Among the many venues where Kramer has played are synagogues, such as Beth Israel of Detroit, and JCCs, such as the Bender JCC of Greater Washington.
The quintet’s instrumentation was modeled after Schubert’s Trout Quintet, with only one violin. Performers were the brilliant Canadian violinist, Blake Pouliot; violist, Brazil-born Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt; cellist, Turkish-born Efe Baltacigil; and bassist, American-born Anthony Manzo.
The three-movement work, Allegro con fuoco, Andante, and Fantasia (quasi variazioni) Moderato, was written between 1903-1905.
The first movement opens with four abrasive chords in the piano and a fiery first theme, followed by a second theme which begins with somber lyricism, then grows more strident. The movement ends serenely.
The second movement is romantically expressive and the last movement, built on five variations, rises to dramatic turbulence, only to resolve in a tranquil conclusion.
The five high-caliber musicians played the work with excellent ensemble and energy.
After intermission, the two-movement Mozart horn concerto seemed like a palette cleanser. Its joyful themes and transparent structure were easy to absorb and enjoy and the superb playing of horn soloist, Stefan Dohr, made it sound like child’s play. He was accompanied by violinists Rkoger Shao and Anthony Chan, violist Brian Jennings, cellist Eliana Razzino Yang and bassist Anthony Manzo.
The concert concluded with an Octet for Clarinets, Strings, and Harp, by Charles Martin Loeffler, arranged by clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson and only recently discovered by the clarinetist in the archives of the Library of Congress.
Loeffler was once considered the foremost composer in America and one of the leading composers of the Western World. He was born in Germany, where he studied violin in Berlin with the great Hungarian-Jewish violinist, Joseph Joachim, but, because of the maltreatment of his father, the family moved to France, where Loeffler studied and played in orchestras. At the age of 20, he came to Boston and became assistant concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which performed his works over 100 times during his lifetime.
This octet, a post-romantic work in three movements, last heard in 1897, was performed at this Summerfest concert by clarinetists Graeme Steele Johnson and Osmo Vanska; violinists Erin Keefe and Andrew Wan; violist Matthew Lipman; cellist Sterling Elliott; bassist Anthony Manzo; and harpist, Julie Smith Phillips, principal harp of the San Diego Symphony.
Both Graeme Steele Johnson, first clarinet and arranger, and violist Matthew Lipman were on the recently made Delos recording of the work, but all the other players were new to this composition, inspired by Brahms, Debussy and Schoenberg. They all played with heartfelt commitment. Particularly engaging was the folksy section of the last movement, Allegro alla Zingara, which brought the audience to its feet.
Bravo, director Barnatan, for finding such lost musical treasures for us to enjoy.
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Eileen Wingard, retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.