February 18, 2024
First Presbyterian Church
Atlanta, GA – USA
“German Inspired”
David Coucheron, Helen Hwaya Kim & Kenn Wagner, violins; Catherine Lynn, viola, Brad Ritchie, cello; Jesse McCandless, clarinet; Elizabeth Pridgen, piano.
Johannes BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Benjamin KRAUSE: Origin Stories (world premiere)
Johannes BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in B-minor, Op. 115
Mark Gresham | 24 FEB 2024
Just one month after presenting a concert focused on modern French repertoire (“Tributes from France”) at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, the Atlanta Chamber Players took to the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church-Atlanta to perform a program entitled “German Inspired” — which would far more accurately have been called “Brahms Inspired.”
The concert opened with Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 (1886–88), performed by violinist David Coucheron and pianist Elizabeth Pridgen.
The first movement began sotto voce with the violin introducing a lyrical melody over a quietly agitated piano accompaniment. After this first statement, the roles suddenly switched: the piano took up the melody with heroic intensity while the violin provided accompaniment. A romantic second theme and the piece developed in an expected sonata-allegro form but with a set of modulations at the end that wound up in D major, setting up the second movement in that key, in which a gentle and lyrical cavatina unfolded, primarily focused on the violin.
In contrast, the third movement highlighted the piano, initiating a stammering, uneasy F♯ minor theme to be echoed by the violin, which ultimately interrupted with a passionate outburst, leading to a recapitulation and subdued ending.
Returning to D minor, the fourth movement, with a frenzied “Presto agitato” tempo reminiscent of a tarantella, was the Sonata’s dramatic apex &Mdash; a display of virtuosity that Coucheron and Pridgen brought to a thunderous conclusion.
David Coucheron, violin, and Elizabeth Pridgen, piano, performing Brahms’ “Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 108,” February 18, 2024, at First Presbyterian Church-Atlanta. (credit: Chris Helton)
Robert Schumann publicly noticed the young Brahms’ remarkable compositional skills in 1853, and among the works Brahms wrote during the several following years were a pair of Gavottes (WwO 3) and a pair of Sarabandes (WwO 5) for solo piano, which exhibit neo-baroque influences. Musicologist Robert Pascall has pointed out that Brahms later incorporated elements from these dances into three chamber music masterpieces at different points in his life: the String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36 (1864-65), the String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Op. 88 (1882), and the Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 (1891).
Composer Benjamin Krause (b. 1985) emulated this process when composing his own two-movement clarinet quintet, Origin Stories, commissioned by Atlanta Chamber Players and given its world premiere in this concert by clarinetist Jesse McCandless, violinists Helen Hwaya Kim and Kenn Wagner, violist Catherine Lynn and cellist Brad Ritchie. Krause first wrote a Sarabande and Gavotte for solo piano, then deconstructed that music to write the “Sarabande in Stained Glass” and “Gavotte and Interludes” movements that comprise his quintet.
In addition to the copious written program notes, Krause, who was present, spoke and gave a brief demonstration at the piano before the musicians performed the piece. They gave it a credible performance, although the piece felt cool and distant, more intellectual than emotionally engaging, despite being transparent enough to hear much of the inner details and the sanctuary’s well-known acoustical friendliness to chamber strings and clarinet. Perhaps the spoken introduction and demo contributed to that feeling. Often it is better to just experience the music — like enjoying a fine meal in a restaurant without the waiter having to explain the recipe and how the chef prepared it; instead just experiencing the presentation and how the food tastes.
After intermission came the natural follow-up to Krause’s piece: Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B-minor, Op. 115. It was my second time to hear it played in Atlanta with McCandless as clarinetist in the span of one week, the first being the previous Sunday when he performed it with the Peachtree String Quartet.
The difference in acoustic factors between the two performance spaces came into play here in these contrasted listening experiences. The Peachtree String Quartet performance at the small and drier Garden Hills Recreation Center was buoyant and had more immediacy; this performance by Atlanta Chamber Players picked up upon the softer glow afforded by First Presbyterian’s larger and more gently reflective sanctuary, but like the Krause Quintet felt more distant, with Brahms’ music feeling the more emotionally engaged of the two pieces — the musical abilities of the two ensembles being otherwise essentially equivalent. The differences between the week-apart performances of the Brahms Quintet were primarily a matter of character encouraged in each space, with clarinetist McCandless being the factor in common between the two. Both experiences of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet proved engaging and enjoyable, with this ACP performance feeling the more autumnal of the two.
The Atlanta Chamber Players will perform gain on April 14, when they present their Rapido! Finals Concert — the competitive presentation of short compositions by the selected finalists from this season’s national Rapido! Composition Contest — with concert details to be announced soon. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Atlanta Chamber Players: atlantachamberplayers.com
Read more by Mark Gresham.
.png){kind=logo}