NOTE: The following review is reproduced here by Chamber Music Columbus as a public service with permission from the Columbus Dispatch. The views expressed by the reviewer do not necessarily reflect those of Chamber Music Columbus or its audience.

MUSIC REVIEW | AMERICAN CHAMBER PLAYERS

Schumann work brings performance to peak

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Mary Hoffman
For The Dispatch

The American Chamber Players brought a varied program to the Southern Theatre last night to open the 56th season of Chamber Music Columbus (formerly the Columbus Chamber Music Society).

The players were violinist Joanna Maurer, violist Miles Hoffman, cellist Alberto Parrini, flutist Sara Stern and pianist Jean-Louis Haguenauer.

A familiar Schumann work was preceded by pieces by Gaubert, Poulenc, Ginastera and Mahler in a period of composition from the 1840s to the mid-20 th century.

Given the world’s catalog of chamber music, such diversity in the recital hall should be refreshing. And in some respects, it was.

Interest was slow to develop. The opening Three Watercolors by Philippe Gaubert for flute, cello and piano offered delicate images, but the work lacked character and imagination.

Flutist Stern and violinist Maurer had more substantial material in the Alberto Ginastera Duo, Op. 13. The brief Sonata movement breezed along, the two instruments like chatting friends; the Pastorale was an attractive mood piece, but, it was the tricky Fuga that let the two women truly shine.

Suddenly, the audience was entranced by the all-too-brief Piano Quartet in A Minor by Mahler, a remarkable work apparently written when the composer was a teenager. It was lovingly presented: Maurer’s violin produced the purest tones, Haguenauer was a dramatist at the keyboard. A wistful melody acquired power and passion, was resurrected, then vanished abruptly.

Stern’s performance of the Francis Poulenc Sonata from 1956 was her best vehicle of the evening, save for a less-secure conclusion to the Cantilena. She was well-partnered by pianist Haguenauer.

Schumann brought the recital to its peak performance with the Piano Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 47, beautifully performed, especially in the expressive writing for the cello and violin. The work was in secure and understanding hands; most notable were the magical and tender middle movements.