PIETER WISPELWEY, CELLO, PEI-SHAN LEE, PIANO, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, Nov. 18

In a break from its usual string quartet offerings, the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City brought in cellist Pieter Wispelwey for its second concert of the new season Tuesday.

Accompanied by pianist Pei-Shan Lee, the Dutch cellist played a program that included two works with piano that he arranged for his instrument: Brahms’ Sonata in E flat major, op. 120 (originally for clarinet) and Schubert’s Fantasy in C major, op. 159 (originally for violin).

Also on the program were the Poulenc and Debussy cello sonatas.

Both players are technically sound, but at Tuesday’s concert they lacked musicality and commitment. In fact, it was a performance that was devoid of passion. Their approach to the program was very clinical. They have the technical chops to play these works, but they weren’t investing themselves emotionally in the music. And it didn’t help that there was no chemistry between them.

A collaboration isn’t just two people who happen to find themselves onstage together at the same time and decide to toss off a couple of pieces. Ideally, it’s a meeting of the minds; two musicians who decide to work together because of their similar approach to music and their innate desire to convey what is on the page to the audience and engage that audience in an intimate conversation. Granted, this is a seldom occurrence, but when it does happen, the result is pure magic. One needs only to think about pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel, who have appeared in Utah several times, to know what this is all about. Of course being married to each other doesn’t hurt, but beyond that they have the ability to grab the audience and mesmerize everyone in the hall with their consummate artistry and take them on a fabulous musical journey.

Unfortunately, the magic wasn’t in Libby Gardner Concert Hall Tuesday evening. There were moments when Wispelwey and Lee were actually making glorious music together. There were sections in the Schubert Fantasy, for example, that were beautifully crafted and executed. But the overall performance was marred by Wispelwey’s occasional clumsy playing of scales and trills and sloppy harmonics.

The most successful part of the recital were the two encores: a movement from one of Bach’s suites for solo cello and a transcription of Fauré’s evocative song Après un rêve. In these Wispelwey was relaxed and confident; he had something to say and he communicated that well with his audience.