by Mike Telin
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. The 50th anniversary of this horrific event was the focal point of Cleveland Chamber Choir’s recent program “We March On! Music of Social Justice.” The thought-provoking concert also poignantly addressed anti-Semitic violence, the civil rights movement, hate crimes, police brutality, and women’s suffrage. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
During Tuesday Musical’s pre-concert chat at E.J. Thomas Hall on January 23, one of the members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center referred to the touring ensemble who were appearing as part of the Clara I. Knight Young Artists Series as “Wu Han and the boys.” Afterwards, the seasoned chamber music pianist teamed up with her younger colleagues — pianist Michael Brown, violinists Chad Hoopes and Paul Huang, violist Matthew Lipman, and cellist Dmitri Atapine — for fresh, riveting performances of works by Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák that melded experience with youthful exuberance. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“I love playing chamber music, and CMS concerts are some of the highlights of my season,” violinist Chad Hoopes said by telephone from New York. “You’re playing some of the greatest music and traveling with wonderful people, which is fun because you’re not alone.”
On Tuesday, January 23 at 7:30 pm in E.J. Thomas Hall, Hoopes will join his Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center colleagues — Wu Han and Michael Brown, piano, Paul Huang, violin, Matthew Lipman, viola, and Dmitri Atapine, cello — in a concert presented by Akron’s Tuesday Musical Association. The program juxtaposes music by two giants of Romanticism — Antonín Dvořák and Johannes Brahms. Click here for program details and ticket information.
by Mike Telin
“It doesn’t get much better than this,” cellist Nicholas Canellakis said during a recent telephone interview. “There’s something about the sonority that you can get from a string sextet that is so satisfying. Obviously the composers who wrote for that combination felt the same way, because they seem to luxuriate in every possible sound.”
On Tuesday, April 19 at 7:30 pm, Canellakis will join violinists Ani Kavafian and Erin Keef, violists Yura Lee and Matthew Lipman, and fellow cellist David Finckel, in a program of string sextets by Richard Strauss, Antonín Dvořák, and Johannes Brahms on the next Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. [Read more…]
Our second date with Saturday evening’s quintet of pianists revealed some shortcomings we hadn’t noticed before, and one pianist quite happily presented a completely different personality from our first encounter on Wednesday evening.
Kwan Yi (USA) was all robotic energy three nights ago, plowing breathlessly through Beethoven and Chopin with admirable technique but not pausing to enjoy the sights along his musical journey. On Saturday, he revealed his gentler, more expressive side with a ruminative performance of Bach’s g minor Prelude and Fugue (WTC I) and a fine trek through Dutilleux’s ‘Le jeu des contraires’ in which he demonstrated varieties of touch and an ability to draw a big sound out of the Hamburg Steinway without succumbing to harshness. An impressively clear performance of Chopin (Ballade No. 3 in A-flat and Scherzo No. 3 in c-sharp) also showed that he’s able to be simultaneously dramatic and sensitive. Some of the quirky body language remains, but there was less of it (the Dutilleux ended with Yi frozen in a long pose facing the audience).
Saturday, August 1
1:00 pm – Esther Park (USA): Scarlatti’s Sonatas: K. 531 in E Major, K. 322 in A Major, K. 203 in E Minor, Chopin’s Etude in C Major, Op. 10, No. 1, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35. 1:40 pm – Evgeny Brakhman (Russia): Kopelman’s “Everything Is Foreseen And Free Will Is Given” 2007, Brahms’s Seven Fantasies, Op. 116. 2:20 pm – Pallavi Mahidhara (USA/India): Beethoven’s Sonata in C Major, Op. 53 (Waldstein), Walker’s Sonata No. 2. 3:15 pm – Zhang Zuo (China): Bach ‘s Partita No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825, Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13. 3:55 pm – Martina Filjak (Croatia): Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C sharp Major, WTC II,3, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35, Book II, Bartok’s Out of Doors. 4:35 pm – Yunqing Zhou (China): Beethoven’s Sonata in A flat Major, Op. 110, Kapustin’s Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40, Nos.1,4,6,7,3.
7:00 pm – Anzhelika Fuks (Ukraine): Chopin’s Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3, Chopin’s Etude in B Minor, Op. 25, No. 10, Chopin-Liszt. Six chants polonaise, Op. 74 No. 1, 2, 6,Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48, No. 1, Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23. 7:40 pm – Gerhard Vielhaber (Germany): Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825, Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12: No. 1-3, 5, Kalabis’s Akzente, Op. 26 (1967): No. 4, 8. 8:20 pm – Michael Brown (USA): Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6. 9:15 – Kwan Yi (USA): Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, WTC I: 2, Dutilleux’s Le jeu des contraires (Trois Préludes, No. 3), Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 in A flat Major, Op. 47 Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp Minor, Op. 39. 9:55 – Kuok-Wai Lio (China): Nan’s Piano Suite “Chopin and the Cat” (2006) No. 1, 3, Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6
Tuesday evening’s quintet of pianists inspired a variety of reactions in a tradition-heavy choice of repertory leavened by two post-1950 pieces and the different sounds of the contest’s two Steinways. The stagehand was busy swapping out no. 1 (a mellow, bass rich New York instrument) with no. 2 (a brighter in the treble — and under some fingers rather steely — instrument made in Hamburg). It was interesting to see which piano each performer chose.
The evening began with Piano. No. 1 and Ukrainian pianist Anzhelika Fuks’ presentation of Sosjko’s Sofija Kijevsjka, an impressionistic soundscape that began with dramatic low notes and progressed to chord clusters and pointillism. (Anybody know anything about this composer and work? Please share!) Fuks’ Bach (the b-flat minor Prelude & Fugue from WTC II) was momentarily derailed in the fugue by the first real memory slip we’ve heard so far. Mozart’s Sonata in E-flat, K. 282 sounded subdued. Fuks, who has an impressive resume, seemed to be having an off night.
Wednesday, July 29
1:00 pm — Esther Park (USA): Schnittke’s Improvisation & Fugue, Beethoven’s Sonata in c, op. 111. 1:35 pm — Evgeny Brakhman (Russia): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in f, WTC 1:12, Mozart’s Sonata in C, K. 330 & Chopin’s Etude in C, op. 10, no. 1. 2:10 pm — Pallavi Mahidhara (USA/India): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in C, WTC II, 1, Chopin’s Etude in f, op. 10, no. 9 & Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, op. 12. 3:00 pm — Zhang Zuo (China): Haydn’s Sonata in G, Hob. XVI:40, Chopin’s Etude in F, op. 10, no. 8 & Ginastera’s Sonata No. 1, op. 22. 3:35 pm — Martina Filjak (Croatia): Haydn’s Sonata in c, Hob. XVI:20, Berio’s Wasserklavier, Feuerklavier & Luftklavier (Six Encores) & Chopin’s Etude in b, op. 25, no. 10. 4:10 pm — Yunquing Zhou (China): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in B, WTC II:23, Chopin’s Etude in C, op. 10, no. 1 & Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini.
7:00 pm — Anzhelika Fuks (Ukraine): Sosjko’s Sofija Kijevsjka, J. S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in b-flat, WTC II:22 & Mozart’s Sonata in E-flat, K. 282. 7:35 pm — Gerhard Vielhaber (Germany): Beethoven’s Sonata in D, op. 10, no. 3 & Chopin’s Etude in b, op. 25, no. 10. 8:10 pm — Michael Brown (USA): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in C, WTC II:1, Beethoven’s Sonata in F, op. 54, Perle’s Six Celebratory Inventions (excerpts) & Chopin’s Etude in c, op. 10, no. 12 (‘Revolutionary’). 8:55 pm — Kwan Yi (USA): Beethoven’s Sonata in C, op. 2, no. 3 & Chopin’s Etude in a, op. 10, no. 2. 9:30 pm — Kuok-Wai Lio (China): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in b, WTC II:24, Haydn’s Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI:49 & Chopin’s Etude in F, op. 10, no. 8.