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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
November 17, 2006
When The New Grove was published in 1980, just five years after Shostakovich's death, it was still possible for Boris Schwarz to write that "[he] will be remembered primarily as a composer of symphonies."
Today, in the "post-Testimony" era, this position is somewhat harder to maintain, particularly in the light of his string quartets and other chamber music.
Although Shostakovich's reputation has, in sharp contradistinction to the normal course of events, risen since his death, there is still a good deal of his output left to explore and, I am happy to report, Friday's UVic concert, celebrating the music of 2006's two birthday composers, eschewed the obvious and included three pieces of Shostakovich that I imagine few, if any, in the room had heard previously.
The Three Duets for two violins and piano, Op.97d definitely come under the heading of "fairly obscure" - they are not even included in the Grove works list. And they are certainly a far cry from the anguish we so often associate with the composer.
They are, in fact, charming, delightful pieces and this is exactly how they were played by Ann Elliot-Goldschmid, Sharon Stanis and Arthur Rowe.
The two violinists, playing almost as one, produced a wonderful "zigeuner" tone and their rubatos were both perfectly judged and exquisitely synchronised - both with each other and with pianist Rowe. The second, almost perky, piece put me in mind of some of the Op.34 piano preludes, but it was the final duet, with its portentous opening piano chords rapidly yielding to a waltz of almost Kreislerian affection that will stay with me the longest.
"The Limpid Stream" is one of the handful of ballets Shostakovich wrote - and probably the least well-known. Eugene Dowling triumphantly showed that the tuba is capable of far more than the occasional "oom-pah" at the bottom end, in a lyrical and mellow-toned account of the Adagio.
The real find, though, was the Seven Songs, Op.127 of 1967. Ostensibly scored for soprano and piano trio, in fact each song has a different accompaniment: three each with a solo instrument, three with each of the possible pairings and only the final song featuring the entire trio.
Shostakovich conveys a variety of moods (most of them, admittedly, fairly gloomy) in the songs and soprano Susan Young, it goes without saying, captured every single one of them, even that fine sense of the overwrought which singing in Russian often seems, for some reason, to engender.
Whether it was the melancholy cello of the opening song, the hugely dramatic piano chords of the second, or the more consoling violin of the third, Elliott-Goldschmid, Stanis and Rowe provided the perfect foil for Young's exceptional singing. More please.
Whatever Mozart is primarily remembered for, I suspect that it is not his songs; it is clear, however, that had he only written music for the solo voice, he would still be remembered as one of the great composers.
Newly-appointed Head of Voice Benjamin Butterfield and pianist Harald Krebs gave us two lieder in the first half and a dramatic aria in the second.
The first of these, "An Chloe" was utterly charming, the second "Abendempfindung" almost Schubertian in its twilit beauty.
But it was perhaps the aria, "Misero! O Sogno, O son desto", K.431 which impressed the most - both for the quality of the music and for its performance. Butterfield's easy command of the music, whether in its pathetic recitatives or the agitated, dramatic music was more than impressive - if he teaches even half as well as he sings, the university has definitely made a shrewd choice. And Krebs was the perfect accompanist, unobtrusive yet firmly supportive.
What is there to say about Mozart's Clarinet Quintet - or indeed Friday's performance?
The quintet itself is as close to perfection as music ever comes; Patricia Kostek and the Lafayette String Quartet gave it one of the most delicious performances I have ever had the good fortune to hear.
I have very few remarks in my notebook - because I was so engrossed in the music, which always sounds fresh, no matter how many times one has heard it before - and one has, many, many times.
A wonderful evening.
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