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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
September 23, 2012
"He is the most wanton of composers...Only his wantonness is not vicious; it is that of a great baby...rather tiresomely addicted to dressing himself up as Handel or Beethoven and making a prolonged and intolerable noise."
As a music critic, George Bernard Shaw certainly turned a fine phrase. Whether or not there are many remaining music lovers who view Brahms through Shaw's eyes is a moot point.
It was about 1890 - when he was fifty-seven years old - that Brahms resolved to retire from composition (a decision with which Shaw would presumably have been in heartfelt agreement).
Unfortunately for those with a Shavian turn of mind, but fortunately for the rest of us, Brahms was unable to stick to his resolution. The reason for this is usually cited as his encounter with the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld (with the two sonatas, trio and quintet adduced as evidence); while this is almost certainly the case, this late surge of compositional activity also had the unexpected bonus of producing Brahms's last piano pieces - all twenty of them, divided into four sets. (Incidentally, his final work, the Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op.122, is also for keyboard, although in this case it is the organ.)
In the opening half of Sunday's concert, Robert Silverman revealed himself to be a Brahmsian par excellence, a first-rate guide to what can sometimes seem enigmatic music.
The Rhapsody, Op.79, No.1, with which he opened the programme, is what we might call late-middle-period Brahms: it comes directly between the first violin sonata and the Academic Festival Overture.
Silverman's performance was painted in beautiful, echt-Brahmsian colours and its concentration prevented any sense of the music's rambling.
For me, though, and I am sure for many others, it was the late pieces - the six of Op.118 and the last of Op.119 - which provided the highlights.
It would be pointless to discuss each and every one of the pieces; Silverman played them virtually attacca, employing a wide dynamic range and a rubato so natural as to be almost imperceptible. I was most taken with the way he held the final pedal F of the fourth piece until the beginning the fifth (F minor to F major), the lullaby-like second piece and the majestic sweep of the entire set (to which the Op.119 rhapsody was also adjoined seamlessly).
This was playing of the highest order: refined, aristocratic and profound.
For Robert Schumann 1840 was his year for composing songs (his Liederjahr), 1841 for symphonies (the first and the first version of what would ultimately be published as the fourth) and 1842, chamber music - during this year he composed his three string quartets, the piano quartet and the piano quintet.
It was this last work which closed Sunday's programme, with the Lafayette String Quartet joining Silverman for a performance which, if it did not ultimately persuade me of the music's greatness, at least allowed me to suspend my disbelief (for the most part).
The entire performance revealed a partnership which might have been made in heaven: balances were all but immaculate and tonally, as well as interpretively, all five musicians were in perfect accord.
The opening movement was fresh and energetic (and the glorious sharing of the second subject between Pamela Highbaugh Aloni and Joann Hood displayed the rapport that - only - comes after playing together for a quarter of a century).
The spectral second movement had a lighter, more airy centre, although still imbued with a distinct sense of mystery. The scherzo was very bouncy and extrovert, its pair of trios having a more thoughtful air, although the scherzo feel was never far away.
It is in the finale that Schumann and I part company; it begins well - and sounded particularly determined on Sunday - but just when it seems to be approaching a sensible, if conventional, conclusion, Schumann attempts a double fugue, not once, but twice, something for which he has never seemed temperamentally suited. I doubt if I shall ever be reconciled to this movement, no matter how well played; and, make no mistake, it was superbly played.
Despite my personal misgivings about the Schumann, this was a wonderful afternoon's music-making.
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