INTERMEZZO CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES, Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Westminster College, July 9
For this summer’s concerts the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, took a somewhat unusual approach – it asked its audience members last year to submit the titles of their favorite pieces, which in turn served as the basis for the current season’s programming. The resulting offerings are varied and rather eclectic. But eclectic is good, since it does make concerts interesting.
That certainly held true for Monday’s opening night concert, which featured music by Antonin Dvorak, Leos Jánacek and Johannes Brahms, not exactly a groundbreaking concert in composer choices but certainly in the combination of pieces.
The program opened with University of Utah pianist Heather Conner playing Dvorak’s seldom heard but delightful Silhouettes, op. 8. These are charming short pieces that are light and entertaining and Conner captured the airiness of them with her lyrical and light handed approach.
The Dvorak was followed by Jánacek’s moody and dark String Quartet No. 1, Kreutzer Sonata, played by violinists Stephanie Cathcart and Emily Day-Shumway, violist Julie Edwards and cellist Kevin Shumway. They gave a fabulously nuanced account that brought out the complexities of the score. This is a difficult piece to pull off successfully, because there is a lot going on underneath the surface, but the four managed to dig down and extract the essence of the work. It was a perceptive, well thought out and incisive reading that was compelling for the emotional involvement of the players.
After intermission, Cathcart, Edwards, Shumway and Conner joined forces for a vibrant performance of Brahms’ Piano Quartet in A major, op. 26. This is an early work and is infused with youthful exuberance. The music is energetic and full of life and devoid of the somber reflectiveness and impassioned urgency that characterize much of the composer’s works. The four players gave a luminous reading that captured the lyricism of each of the four movements. Their playing was lustrous, expressive and insightful.