by Leaving aside its similarly long embracing of brand-new music via commissions, one of the great things about La Jolla Music Society’s annual SummerFest is its enduring love of underappreciated music. Carl Nielsen, Arnold Bax, and lesser-known pieces by canonical artists like Bartok were all presented in the inaugural Summer Fest in 1986.
That acceptance was aptly demonstrated by Friday’s all-strings event at La Jolla’s Conrad, Northern Lights. Jean Sibelius’ Voces Intimae string quartet in D minor (1909), which isn’t as well-known as his symphonies but is undoubtedly his most performed chamber work (Finland’s Meta4 quartet performed it here in April), was the evening’s cornerstone.
But the first half of the evening was classic SummerFest iconoclasm: the second nonet was performed by the still-living Finnish pianist/composer Ollie Mustonen (born 1967), while the first was an early string quintet by the late great Danish composer Nielsen (1865-1931). How much do they get overlooked? Mustonen’s Nonet No. 2 has only been recorded once in the last 25 years, and Nielsen’s quintet has gotten two performances globally in the last ten years (both this month).
On the grounds that music is disregarded for a cause, only Nielsen made any purchases. Only in his latter years did Nielsen himself publish this quintet, and he even withdrew it (as his Opus 3). In the SummerFest program, Eric Bromberger reports that Nielsen said, “How like Brahms it is!” after seeing it performed 37 years later. It also sounds a lot like Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen. Nielsen acknowledged that Svendsen’s clear influence was the reason he withdrew another composition he had written that year, the same year the quintet was performed.
The quintet’s star turn was provided by cellist Kajsa William-Olsson, violists Kyle Armbrust and Sohui Yun, and all-star violinists Blake Pouliot and Alan Gilbert (the former music director of the New York Phil). According to Gilbert in the concert’s prelude video, every movement was met with acclaim, thanks to Pouliot’s keening lyricism, Armbrust’s soaring gestures, and the quintet’s unity behind a composition no one in the ensemble has ever played before.
However, the second and third movements were tainted by textural muddiness, and the final movement was the only one that featured the strong, muscular voice that Nielsen started to develop with his first symphony three years later. To put it another way, this early piece was a fantastic fit for the Milestones subject of SummerFest music director Inon Barnatan, which is about pivotal milestones in a creative life.
The only reason Mustonen’s intriguing and endearing second nonet has been overlooked, based on Friday’s performance, is that no one has paid attention to it. According to Barnatan’s opening-night interview, “I was blown away when I first heard the nonet’s brooding, slashing opening.” The first two movements’ inventiveness, dramatic instinct, and rhythmic intensity really catch the ear.
However, the eight-minute adagio is the nonet’s mesmerizing essence. It is based on straightforward, recurring melodic themes and is dotted with the violins’ descending, darting patterns. It has an eerie, optimistic, and elegiac quality. The concluding vivacissimo’s speeding rhythms, thrumming pizzicato, and strangely Sibelian shimmer resulted in an exhilarating cliff jump that caused the Conrad crowd to yell.
Even though Stefan Jackiw and Liza Ferschtman, two of the four performers who were seated for Sibelius sVoces Intimae, had performed during the first half, there was a noticeable shift in the virtuoso intensity and aural magnetism after the intermission. Cellist Clive Greensmith and violist Jonathan Vinocur brought resting virtuosity to the stage, and it’s true that the D minor string quartet was the lone brilliant piece of the evening. However, the discernible change in character probably resulted from the affinity between these musicians and the luck that every canonical repertoire enjoys: players have had years to delve into their mysteries.
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This performance was captivating. First violinist Jackiw gave his top-voice role a thrilling energy by wielding his 1704 Vincenzo Rugeri. Goldsmith added a dark, pulsating burnish to his anchoring line with his deft, spiderlike fingering. Ferschtman and Vinocur were locked in, absorbing the blazing fire of the quintet. Surprisingly, these four produced a more powerful sound than Mustonen’s nonet’s four violins, two violas, two cellos, and bass put together.
“For me, it’s much more about the character of each instrument than it is the players’ ability to blend in a technically accomplished way,” Goldsmith said in reference to the quartet’s secret sauce in the prelude video. Voces in April was a success for Finland’s Meta4 due to telepathic unity and a psychological understanding of the task.Friday’s quartet’s dexterity and ferocity were the key factors in its visceral triumph.
For more than 30 years, Paul Bodine has written on music, ranging from pop/rock to classical, for magazines like Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Classical Voice North America, Classical Music Daily, Times of San Diego, and Orange County Register. Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Ivan Fischer, Bruno Canino, Christopher O. Reilly, Lindsay String Quartet, David Benoit, Laura Claycomb, Jon Nakamatsu, Paul Chihara, the Ahn Trio, Lucas Debargue, John Thiessen, and Herbert Blomstedt are some of the performers he has interviewed.
