You don’t have to travel to Lincoln Center for world-class chamber music.
The renowned Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is giving three concerts at the Purchase Performing Arts Center, a 15-minute drive from Rye.
The opening concert was Oct. 25, and paired the composers Antonin Dvořák and his mentor and promoter Johannes Brahms, titans of the late 19th century Romantic era, in a faultless performance. The artists — each a virtuoso in his or her own right — were Sahun Sam Hong, piano; Sean Lee, violin; Danbi Um, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt, viola; and Clive Greensmith, cello.
Chamber music, typically composed for small ensembles, allows the listener to focus on the performance of individual musicians and on the close interplay among them. For the musicians it requires negotiation and compromise on issues such as tempo, phrasing, and tone to achieve a harmonious result.
The composers’ musical arrangers played a notable role in adapting three of the five selections. In fact, the Austrian-American violinist Fritz Kreisler, a frequent arranger, was credited as the composer of the opening piece, “Slavonic Fantasie” on Themes by Dvořák for Violin and Piano, published in 1914. Here Kreisler, along with the performers, Um and Hong, added subtlety, depth, and an occasional modern flourish to Dvořák’s folk melodies and rhythms. It was followed by the composer’s “Humoresque” for Violin and Piano, arranged by August Wilhelm, a German violinist.
Um and Hong gave a nuanced treatment to this piece whose familiar bouncy theme is often played only for comic effect. Lee joined Hong for Brahms’ popular “Hungarian Dances” for Violin and Piano, arranged by the Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, in a performance that stressed the dances’ rhythmic and melodic contrasts.
In the program’s two major works, Brahms’ Quintet in F major and Dvořák’s Quintet in E-flat major, subtitled “American,” the viola, often disparaged as a forgotten instrument, came into its own.
Both quintets add a viola to the traditional string quartet configuration of two violins, viola, and cello. In the plaintive slow movement of the Brahms, the violas were key to the movement’s feeling of sadness and melancholy. The Dvořák quintet, written after Dvořák’s brief New York residence, along with his New World Symphony and “American” string quartet, was infused with African-American folk themes and hymns.
Lipman opened the piece with a brief unaccompanied solo passage, a nod to violists by the composer (Dvořák himself was a talented violist), and in the third movement, the Lipman and Pájaro-van de Stadt duo were joined by the cellist, Clive Greensmith, in a soul-stirring trio. The concert concluded with the quintet’s riveting finale taken at lightning speed speed to the delight of the audience.
The two remaining concerts are on Feb. 21 and May 16. There is a free artist talk at 4:15 p.m. before each 5 p.m. concert. The Feb, 21 concert is billed as a “Violin Celebration” and features works by Bach, Tartini, Mozart, and Beethoven. The May 16 program is a “Schubertiade,” a term invented by Franz Schubert’s friends, who would gather for long evenings to hear his music. The all-Schubert program includes works for piano, violin and cello.
Concerts are held in the Performing Arts Center’s Recital Hall, a venue designed specifically for chamber music. Tickets are $72, but discounts are available for seniors, students, children, Purchase College alumni, veterans and groups.
