March 15, 2025
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, TX – USA
Anton Ilyunin and Gary Levinson, violins; Dmitry Pitulko, viola; Anna Gorelova, cello; Jihye Chang, piano.
Alexander BORODIN: Grand Trio in G Major
Gabriel FAURÉ: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15
Johannes BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor Opus 25
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs | 24 MAR 2025
The Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth (CMSFW) typically presents concerts performed by existing professional touring groups or members of the resident ensemble. However, on this particular Saturday afternoon, in the intimate surroundings of the recital hall in Fort Worth’s Modern Art Museum, the society had to improvise.
The group that was supposed to appear canceled at the last minute because one player had visa troubles. So, an ensemble was hastily assembled involving three members of the Atrium Quartet plus pianist Jihye Chang, and a change in the program to piano quartets.
While the individual performances were excellent, as you would expect with players of this caliber, the unity of stylistic concepts such masterworks deserve could never be achieved in just a few rehearsals. Nevertheless, there was something exciting about this edge-of-the-seat performance that a highly polished touring ensemble could never capture.
The program opened with a rarity, Alexander Borodin’s (1833-1887) Grand Trio in G Major for two violins and cello. Once upon a time, there was an uncompleted third movement. However, these two movements work so well together that the work is always performed this way.
Gary Levinson, who is also the artistic director of the society, was joined by violinist Anton Ilyunin and cellist Anna Gorelova to give a spirited reading of this charming score. The players showed flash in the opening “Allegro” but took a more appropriately relaxed approach to the second, marked “Andante.”
In the first movement, the two violinists took care to merge into one as Borodin constantly switched the melodic interest between the two. Harmonies and counterpoint were ably supplied with the cellist’s more independent music. In the second movement, primarily in duplets, the performers displayed a clever switch to triplets, which had the effect of speeding up without actually doing so.
Gabriel Fauré was the embodiment of French Romanticism, right down to his elegantly flowing moustache. As a composer, he forged his own church-directed path between the chromatic hyper-romanticism of Richard Wagner and the impressionistic dreams of some other French composers, such as Debussy. As such, and in an odd way, his music actually helped effect the transition to the highly experimental twentieth-century composers. Violist Dmitry Pitulko and pianist Jihye Chang joined Ilyunin and Gorelova for Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15.
Fauré labored for years on this work, even completely replacing the last movement long after he had finished it. Further, even his approach to the scoring is unusual. This is most noticeable in the piano part. He uses the instrument in a more ancillary manner than customary in this genre, especially when writing for his own instrument. Thus, most of the melodic materials throughout are given to the strings.
Chang took charge in the first movement, propelling forward the boldly lyric music in the strings, with strongly played offbeats. She backed off some for the contrasting second theme, but in the recapitulation, she returned the first theme to its opening vigor.
The second movement is a jolly scherzo, replete with technical difficulties for all concerned. All four players rose to the challenge, resulting in an exciting performance.
In the third movement, an “Adagio,” the players completely changed the mood to one of lingering sadness. Perhaps this is a result of Fauré losing his fiancé earlier, but his natural elegance prevented him from descending into self-pity and this sensitive performance complied. However, the players completely changed the mood to perform the vigorous (and newly added) finale.
After intermission, the same ensemble gave a rip-roaring performance of Johannes Brahms’ frequently programmed Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, celebrated for its blindingly virtuosic final movement marked “Presto, Rondo alla Zingarese” (a rondo in the gypsy manner).
Just getting through this finale is an accomplishment. But the super-prestissimo tempo set by Chang gave this reading all the thrills and chills of a roller-coaster ride. Because once started the tempo couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be slowed, the other three had to stay with her tempo, which they did with remarkable ensemble playing, leaving a thick cloud of rosin dust hanging in the air. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth: cmsfw.org
- Atrium Quartet: atriumquartet.com
- Gary Levinson: garylevinson.com
- Jihye Chang: brevardmusic.org/institute/faculty/
Read more by Gregory Sullivan Isaacs.
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