WESTMINSTER COLLEGE CONCERT SERIES, “Four Great Sonatas,” Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Jan. 27

The sonata is a form that has a long history in most genres of western art music, with seemingly every major composer regularly employing the structure in a wide variety of works. On Monday evening the Westminster College Concert Series presented a program of chamber works based on the sonata form. Featuring works by Brahms, Prokofiev, Ives and Rachmaninoff, the concert displayed a wide range of examples of the form from a large swath of musical history. The results were exhilarating.

Karlyn Bond

The Brahms Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano is unabashedly romantic, and pianist Karlyn Bond and violinist Alex Martin successfully conjured up the characteristic Brahms mood. While Brahms is best known for his full scale orchestral efforts, this lean pairing of instruments offered a different look at what the composer was capable of.

Martin then teamed up with Yuki MacQueen for Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins, op. 56. Absent the piano, the music took on a sparser, more angular quality, but the intensity of sound remained. The contrapuntal first movement led perfectly to the intense, even violent opening of the second, which consisted of a dense network of pitches and complex phrases. The contrastingly serene third masterfully set up the finale, with its flurry of activity and energy.

Bond returned to the stage to perform Charles Ives’ Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano with MacQueen. The pairing led to an exuberant, powerful performance. Ives’ style is completely unique and requires performers willing to immerse themselves in the quirky, yet tremendously intellectual scores the composer produced. Bond and MacQueen had previously performed this particular work, and the experience they brought to the performance was almost certainly instrumental in furthering the cause of their interpretation of this score by the American master.

For the final piece of the evening Bond, who curates the concert series in addition to being a regular performer in it, joined veteran cellist Pegsoon Whang for Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano. The music flowed with the distinctive Rachmaninoff fire, and the third movement practically radiated sheer beauty.

The Westminster concert series has become a must for fans of classical chamber music. The talent is always top notch, and the programming is thoughtful and often challenging. Wonderful!