Greg Stepanich

Review: Stellar chamber concert enlivened by premiere

As it turns out — though you can be excused for not wondering — the bassoon makes quite a handsome partner for a string quartet.

Local composer Clark McAlister has entered the arena normally occupied only by the likes of Franz Danzi and Anton Reicha with his L'Estivant, a single-movement work that premiered this week in the second group of concerts in the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival's summer series. McAlister's piece proved to be a carefully crafted, gentle rhapsody that hinted at richer possibilities that the composer might have done well to pursue.

Formally, as the composer explained from the stage of the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach this afternoon, the whole piece — written for bassoonist Michael Ellert,a festival co-founder — the material of L'Estivant (Summer Visitor) is crafted entirely from the opening gesture played by the bassoon, a sinuous, lightly melancholy theme that was promptly echoed in the string quartet (violinists Mei Mei Luo and Dina Kostic, violist Rene Reder and cellist Susan Moyer).

And the narrative of this pleasant piece followed that idea throughout; when there was a fragment of the theme in one instrument or another, it generated an echo response elsewhere in the fabric of the quintet, which made the work easy to grasp and follow. McAlister's language is mild but deeply expressive, and the overall mood of L'Estivant is quiet and unruffled.

So gentle and serene, indeed, that it came across to me as though it were the middle movement of a larger work and not a standalone piece. And while McAlister's aesthetic makes much of the music suggested by the fragments, there were tantalizing hints of other avenues, At one point in particular, the strings played something almost like a Viennese waltz, which made me wish McAlister had spent a few more measures in that mode, not because I'm mad for three-quarter time but because it could have given the work a more elaborate palette.

Nonetheless, L'Estivant is a worthy, if somewhat slight, work. I'd like to see McAlister write a couple other movements to go with it; Ellert and his compatriots played with beauty, sensitivity and delicacy, and a larger new piece of American music for them to play would be welcome.

The McAlister was one of five utterly fresh works on the festival program, which was played to a substantial house. The musicianship was excellent overall, and stellar in two cases.

One of those instances was the Prélude, Récitatif et Variations, Op. 3, for flute, viola and piano, written in 1928 by a young Maurice Duruflé. This is a gorgeous work, utterly French and redolent of Fauré and Debussy. Dark and funereal at times, it also rises to huge, chordal climaxes that point the way to the organ music that lay ahead.

Pianist Lisa Leonard was the exceptional heart of this piece, demonstrating beautiful technical command and power and passion to spare. Reder and flutist Karen Dixon were fine partners; Reder's chaste, somber tone made an effective counterweight to the rolling arpeggios of Leonard's piano, while Dixon ably joined the pianist for some sparkling figurations in one of the later variations,

A splendid discovery, this work, and it would make a wonderful program companion for pieces such as the Ravel A minor Trio, the Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, or the Poulenc Flute Sonata, to name a few.

The audience responded most fervently to another standout performance, that of the Duetto for cello and double bass, written in 1824 by Gioachino Rossini, who was then still writing operas. Cellist Moyer and bassist Jason Lindsay gave a marvelous rendition of this delightful and witty duet, and in so doing showed how a great composer can build an entire epic statement out of just two solo instruments — and instruments that spend much of their time down in the tonal depths at that.

From the opening bars of this three-movement piece, Moyer and Linsday demonstrated impressive technique and a profound understanding of the work's sense of fun. Rossini's writing for the bass (the piece was written with the virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti in mind) is every bit as difficult as that of the cello, with no quarter given from rapid, dashing scales or songful melodies.

Most moving was the middle Andante molto, which featured Moyer's cello singing out a long aria over Lindsay's fat pizzicati. And the finale had showmanship to spare, as Moyer gave out the expansive theme over a broken-thirds accompaniment in the bass, only to have the two instruments switch roles halfway through.

The Rossini Duetto offered high spirits along with illumination, and that sense of merriment extended to the closing work on the program, Franz Hasenöhrl's 1954 arrangement for wind trio, violin and bass of Till Eulenspiegel, Richard Strauss' tone poem about the medieval prankster whose tricks finally end on the gallows. Hasenöhrl's Cliff Notes-style version of the tone poem (it's condensed to about 8 minutes) nevertheless clearly illustrates Strauss' vivid harmonic imagination and virtuoso approach to the instruments of the orchestra. Violinist Kostic, in particular, gave an impressive performance of her highly athletic part.

The concert opened with a brief group of miniatures by the American composer Jan Bach composed for flute and horn. Bach's 2-Bit Contraptions had the audience laughing several times, especially during the third movement (Gramophone), in which hornist Thomas Hadley and flutist Dixon imitated the sound of a jazzy tune getting stuck on the old Victor Recording Machine in the parlor.

Equally as amusing was the second-movement Calliope, which gave both players strenuous work as they leaped from register to register in almost every bar, handling melody and accompaniment in both parts.

All told, a deliciously inventive, unhackneyed program with first-rate performances throughout. Concertgoers looking for refreshment for the mind and ears could hardly do better on a hot July afternoon.

(This review is an expanded version of an earlier posting, which ended with this: As I noted at the beginning, I found the combination of bassoon and string quartet quite lovely, and it's another reminder that the sound world composers can create is unlimited if they're unafraid to construct something outside the norm. (Here's a review of a disc of music for bassoon and string quartet.)