Let’s Call This …

In Boston, we are surrounded by world class performing arts, and there is perhaps no finer example of this than our Boston Symphony Orchestra. But equally telling in my opinion are the number of fantastic music resources outside of the BSO, whose members number among the faculty at area schools. While we are perhaps best known for the Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory, the faculty of Boston University College of Fine Arts are outstanding performing instrumental musicians as well. Tonight, several faculty members and doctoral degree candidates performed a concert of chamber music free to the community. While their performance tonight was largely superb, a few strange rough spots and imperfections slightly colored the otherwise wonderful music.

Four unique but overlapping ensembles played four different compositions, two of which were single movements. The Allegro Moderato from Schubert’s Trio in B Flat Major (D471) was performed by a trio of Korean musicians who are studying at BU. The performance was quite wonderful, especially from violinist Ku Yeon Kang, whose bowing technique certainly contributed to her well articulated phrasing. On loud, legato passages, she utilized the entire length of the bow, while relegating short staccato notes to what must have been the bow’s perfect balance point. The trio played well together, though group entrances were all preceded by an audible breath to signal one another, which was not overly distracting but still present.

The second piece performed on the program was an interesting Beethoven that featured a violist and a cellist, two relatively lower and midrange string instruments. This combination of instruments was commissioned to play the Allegro of his Duet in E-Flat Major. I likened the sound of this combination of instruments to a devil’s food cake that was covered in fudge icing — incredibly rich and satisfying. Unfortunately, someone had left the cake out a day too long, as the violist seemed out of pitch with the cellist for the entire movement. It was unclear if this was a problem with tuning to the same tone pre-concert, since the violist had just played in the first piece, but it was off enough to be distracting throughout the piece. I look forward to hearing the Beethoven again without this glaring problem present.

The violist had opened the evening’s program with Bayla Keyes, the wonderful violinist with whom she played Mozart’s Duet in G Major, KV 423. It was very much in the spirit of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, a piece with full orchestra that features dual soloists on violin and viola. While the viola/cello duet was pure indulgence, the viola added a dimension to the violin that was the well-baked brownie: perfectly rich for my tastes. The Mozart was interpreted beautifully by the two musicians, trading off passages in a playful style. While some of the quick staccato passages were slightly imperfect in their execution, the overall spirit was fully in tact and quite enjoyable. Based on Keyes’ otherwise successful attention to bowing, it was also clear that Kang’s bowing technique may well have been perfected by Keyes, her current advisor and teacher.

Finally, the evening ended in style with Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36. It was a fitting end to a wonderful program of music, bringing on stage many musicians, teachers and students together, in nearly every part. The piece calls for two of each violins, violas, and cellos, and student-teacher combinations played both the violas and cellos. Not at all to knock the excellent performance of second violinist Heather Braun, but there would have been a nice symmetry had Kang been playing alongside her mentor as well. Nevertheless, the group’s dynamic sensibility was on display in this piece, as they move throughout the decibel scale seamlessly and to a nice effect dramatically. The interpretation was wonderful, colorful, and technically impressive, capping of the program with an excellent performance. The six musicians spoke to one another individually and then synchronously, trading parts throughout the piece. This Brahms’ is one in which I find the first movement and its theme rather strange, but the other movements only get better as the piece progresses.

It is true that we are fortunate in Boston to have access to such a depth of talented musicians. An under-advertised and under-appreciated resource, BU’s CFA performs a few times each semester and should not be missed, especially in chamber recitals such as tonight’s which was largely a resounding success.