Quintets
The Kennedy Center’s Fortas Chamber Music Series has been one of the jewels of concert life in this city for over a quarter-century, and its core ensemble – the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio – has anchored countless evenings of superb music-making.
So there was a large and loyal turnout for last night’s program, in the Terrace Theater, of string quintets by Schubert and Richard Danielpour (a D.C. premiere), anchored again by violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson, who began the concert with Erwin Schulhoff’s Duo for Violin and Cello.
Schulhoff (1894-1942) was a musical Zelig, who was mentored by Dvořák, had some lessons with Debussy, presented concerts of music by Schönberg and Webern, and sometimes made a living as a jazz pianist. But his own compositions lean too much on Kodály and Bartók, assimilating their language without enough of his own voice to shine through. The Duo, written in 1925, was clearly influenced by predecessor works by Kodály and Ravel, with many similar textures. The instruments are given a thorough workout, and the melodic elements are catchy and sometimes soulful. Good duos for this combination are rare, and this work should be played more often, even if it lacks originality.
As a genre, the cello quintet (string quartet plus a second cello) occupies a unique place in the literature. Schubert didn’t invent the form; there were already a number of such works by Boccherini and others, though giants like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven had no interest in the grouping. But Schubert’s 1828 masterpiece, written months before his early death, stands so far above all other entries since that one could be forgiven for thinking that it’s the only such work, even though you can find subsequent examples by Glazunov, Rochberg, Onslow, Borodin, Cherubini, and Taneyev. (The Schubert is performed more often than all of them combined.)
Thus, Danielpour’s Quintet, written in 2018, enters the lists holding its figurative breath; everyone who hears it will know the titanic piece that overshadows it and all others; will it have a future in such a rarefied environment? On the single hearing, I say yes. This is a substantial, four-movement work that pushes back against many dead-end movements of the recent past. Danielpour’s principal composition teachers (Peter Mennin and Vincent Persichetti) were conservatives of deep learning and high achievement, and the quintet has real musical substance while moving seamlessly between various tonal schemes. The opening of the second movement could have been by Dvořák or Bruch, but the ensuing development opened up new, modern worlds. A gentle Habanera in the finale morphed into a violent clash before matters worked themselves out, the quintet closing on a luminous Eb triad. Full of ideas, and well-written, this is one of the finest new pieces of chamber music I’ve heard in several years.
As for the Schubert, the performance was genteel, with sometimes a want of momentum. Laredo and Robinson’s partners were seasoned artists, all of whom knew the piece inside and out: violinist Cathy Meng Robinson, violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Keith Robinson (basically a family affair; two married couples and a pair of siblings). The affection all around may have drained some of the anguish and drama from the work. Tempos were all moderate, and the dynamic range was fairly narrow. Keith Robinson had a small iPad disaster in the Scherzo, momentarily having to drop out, and the performance in general had a blurry quality. Though everyone brought deep familiarity, that doesn’t mean that one rehearsal (which I’m guessing is all they had) sufficed to sharpen up all the myriad details.
Laredo, now in his ninth decade, still plays with warmth and majesty, but the ravages of time have diminished his basic equipment. His intonation issues often marred the Schubert and he struggled with the difficult artificial harmonics in the Schulhoff. That said, his august presence gave the proceedings a depth and weight that, despite everything, still offered musical enjoyment.
