The St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble crossed the river and
descended upon the Brooklyn Museum’s Cantor Auditorium Sunday afternoon,
presenting a varied, yet cohesive, afternoon of trios that traced an unlikely
stylistic lineage between two Viennese titans and a Hungarian ethnomusicologist.
Paired with a one-movement Schubert piano trio on each half
were two large-scale works featuring the clarinet: Brahms’ autumnal A minor
Trio and Bartók’s blues-inflected Contrasts.
Hardly presented in chronological order, the Bartók’s spiky rhythms were well
matched with Schubert’s early B-flat Major Trio, composed at the tender age of
15. Although simplistic in its construction, the work provides many glimpses
into the sophisticated sense of melodic contour Schubert was to develop in his
later output.
Unfortunately, only guest pianist Benjamin Hochman truly
excelled in delivering an energetic sense of style, playfully accenting the
many march figures peppered throughout. Violinist Naoko Tanaka and cellist
Myron Lutzke were both reticent to make their voices heard, often leaving
Hochman to lead the direction and color changes, even when the strings should
have been the dominant voices.
Similarly in the Bartók, Tanaka relied on a submissive sense
of music-making, hardly digging into the fiendish rhythms and aggressive violin
effects needed to convey the music’s gypsy-like qualities. Clarinetist Jon
Manasse, however, made bold choices and showed a complete mastery of the
instrument’s virtuosic material—the serpentine cadenza of the “Verbunkos”
reached to the uppermost register before tiptoeing around in pointillist fashion,
while the “Sebes” had many knuckle-busting flights of fancy that were delivered
with agile grace.
Although written 63 years apart, Schubert’s E-flat Major
Trio and Brahms’ A minor Trio have many shared traits, having been written during each composer’s twilight years. Schubert’s early march rhythms gave way to
elegantly rolled chords and expressive vocal writing, brilliantly played once
again by Hochman. After the brief lullaby, Hochman soon showed his true
merit in the Brahms, navigating the rhythmic intricacies and thick writing with
a great sense of clarity.
Once again, Manasse was the center point of the ensemble,
rising in and out of the group’s texture as needed while always filling the hall
with his rich vocal styling. As sensitive as Manasse and Hochman were, though,
Lutzke failed to make the cello an equal voice—his strained tone never quite
cutting through enough, especially in the numerous melodic leaps that should
have provided an overwhelming sense of German Romantic drama. Only in the
second movement’s serene Adagio did
Lutzke’s sound fit into the proceedings, as all three musicians united for a
poignant and reflective account of one of the composer’s sincerest musical statements.
Three Part Inventions will be performed at the Morgan Library & Museum on May 1st and 3rd. Tickets can be purchased through Orchestra of St. Luke's website.