Reviews

Feldman Chamber Music Society Hosts Neave Trio
September 16, 2019, Kaufman Theater, Chrysler Museum
Review by John Campbell and Adelaide Coles

The Neave (Gaelic for bright/radiant) Trio, is Anna Williams, violin; Mikhail Veselov, cello; Eri Nakamura, piano. The two attractive, young women in floor-length eveningwear and the bearded young man in a suit with multi-colored socks formed the trio in 2010. As predicted early on, it has become one of “the busiest chamber ensembles going.” Their goal of championing new works by living composers and reaching a wider audience was in evidence in a performance that offered music by two women composers, one born in 1962 and the other a champion of live music who died in 1944.

Neave opened with Franz Joseph Haydn's (1732-1809) delightful Piano Trio in D Major, Hob. XV:16 (1790). They played the Allegro's bubbly opening with high spirits and great accuracy. In this late trio, one of Haydn's last three, though written for flute, it was arranged for violin which often captured a flute's lightness and glamour. The piano was a recent invention in 1790 and its bright melody was often doubled by the violin. With Haydn the violin had begun to have its own identity and the conversation between the two was brilliantly played though the cello only doubled the lower piano notes.

The second trio was by Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), who was a concert pianist and composer of some 400 works. The New Grove Dictionary (1980) dismisses her in one paragraph as a provider of drawing room music but in the era of CDs a surprisingly large catalog of her charming and idiosyncratic pieces has become available. I found the best biography in the booklet of the CD Mots d'amour: Songs by Cécile Chaminade with art songs and piano pieces (performed by Annie Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg on Deutsche Grammophon). I have had her Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 11 (1880) on a Vox CD for many years. Hearing it live and played so rapturously brought out all the joy and charm to be found there.

Here we have an independent woman composer who lived her own life in music (she died at 87). She was often a guest of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. She did not have children and her burgeoning career as a pianist, playing her own compositions, took her all over Europe and culminated in a triumphant tour of the USA—twenty-five concerts in 1907-08.

The opening, played rapturously by the trio, was soulful and romantic and curiously autumnal for a twenty-three year old. In the second, andante movement, unlike Haydn, she gave the lead melody to the cello (Mr. Veselov) with a slightly contrapuntal midsection. Freed from the piano, the cello sings! The third movement has florid, elegant piano music, both fast and lightweight. This leads into the last movement with its big opening sound. As this passes there is a threatened dark cloud of slower and dramatic music which was a transversal of distantly related keys as if presaging the progressive tonality developed by a generation to come. The rapid, streamlined conclusion was breathtaking.

After intermission we heard an easy-paced lyrical piano in Piano Trio, I Pale Yellow (2003) by American contemporary composer Jennifer Hidgon (b. 1962). The sound swelled and evoked tears as the violin and cello touched a tender place in me. The richness of sound with its probing depth developed a grandeur. The sound slims with an edgy violin sonority. Back to a measured tone, the sound seems to melt in midair. Our fellow reviewer Adelaide Coles had this reaction: “The introspective Pale Yellow [8 minutes] deserved to be paired with its "other half"—Fiery Red [5 minutes]. Whereas the program highlighted the vitality of Haydn and the passion of Piazzolla for three and four movements apiece, Higdon's accessible and enthralling piano trio was limited to the vanilla of its first movement. A performance of Pale Yellow alongside its fiery counterpart would have been a much better illustration of the talented (living) composer's spirit.”

Adelaide continues: "During Pale Yellow, I noted the flowers on the violinist's dress, gold on black, and her gold hair. Maybe a coincidence, but it was well-suited to the Higdon piece especially." Ms. Higdon is a world-class composer and you can hear both pieces on Youtube by chamber musicians of the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory. Her works have been recorded by the Lark Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Hilary Hahn, Alisa Weilerstein and major symphony orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.

The Argentine Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) composed Cuatro estaciones porteñas (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) (1970). He was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina but raised by his father in New York. His musical education was shaped by American jazz and pop. To keep the family connection to his native culture his father gave him a bandoneón, a large Argentine concertina that became his life-long instrument. He also had classical training, including studies with Alberto Ginastera in Buenos Aires and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He is now known for Nuevo Tango, his classical take on Argentine dance rhythm.

The four movements began with Otoño porteño (Fall). The cello becomes like a string bass and we hear an abrupt, grating sound of insects on the violin. There are speedy dance sections of great intensity and the thunder from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Percussive strikes of the violin bow add to the forward rush. The drawing back for intimacy is accomplished on the violin followed by wild rhythms in the piano glissandi and an abrupt climax that evoked a nightclub.

Ms. Coles' take: “The violin had arrogant solos, the piano was cocky. Piazzolla's writing alternated between extremely dense busy textures with all three instruments playing, and pared back sections with just one or two voices--this musical contrast is appealing.”

Invierno porteño (Winter) features a high cello solo that is so very romantic but sad below the glittering surface. The cellist's eyes were shut during his solos, including the difficult passages with harmonics--he played them by feel/sound rather than by sight, which I presume is very very tricky to do. He would have only done such a thing if he felt a strong connection to the music. The violin and cello had a duet back and forth with glissandi—very romantic.

Primavera porteña (Spring) is all about love, led by the pianist as a cabaret performer with string accents. The piano writing imitated a bandoneon, and offered a deeper connection to Piazzolla's spirit. The pianist understood that connection and sought to bring the soul of Argentina to us.

In Verano porteño (Summer) the melodies were very catchy and the rhythms were created by hand strikes on the body of both the cello and piano while the violin offered the melody. Emotions continue with sad weeping in the violin, giving way to frantic exuberance to end the piece. The music transformed from sexy tango to sunrise/dawn. Neave Trio played with great technical skill, brilliance and daring. The audience loved it.