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Janáček, Dalbavie, Brahms: Ensemble ACJW, Weill Recital Hall, New York City, 10.2.2009 (BH)

Janáček: Mládí (1924)
Marc-André Dalbavie: Piano Trio No. 1 (2008)
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F. Minor, Op. 34 (1862-1865)


Perhaps it was fitting that this superb concert by Ensemble ACJW at Weill Recital Hall began with Leoš Janáček's Mládí, the title of which means ""youth."  With support from Carnegie Hall, cooperating with three other organizations, talented young musicians play challenging repertoire and at least in my outings to date, often at a very high level of artistry.  This concert, with three chamber works from the 20th, 21st and 19th centuries, made a particularly balanced, satisfying menu.

The Janáček, a sextet written at a particularly happy time in the composer's life, is in four movements, often with infectious folk rhythms weaving in and out.  The six musicians here deftly captured the ebullient spirit, including a droll second movement, an effect that sounds like chirping birds in the third, and a sunny finale, albeit one that seems to have dark shadows just below the surface.  The outstanding players included Julietta Curenton (flute), Cheng-Wen Winnie Lai (oboe), Alicia Lee (clarinet), Sarah Beaty (bass clarinet), Seth Baer (bassoon) and Eric Reed (horn), all catching the Czech breeze beautifully.

Marc-André Dalbavie was on hand for a bracing reading of his Piano Trio No. 1, which had its world premiere in Carnegie Hall in 2008.  The piano begins with insistent repeated chords, to which the violin and cello respond with breathy, almost sickly downward scales, which grow into a torrent of motion.  Sometimes the textures grow dense with clusters, but then they are just as likely to hover around a single pitch.  Eventually the chords return, with an otherworldly spin, and then a series of slashing moments pelt down as the work spirals to its close.  Although Dalbavie has roots in the spectralist movement, his work has broadened to include so many compositional styles that it now seems difficult to classify his work, and in my book that's a positive thing.  In any case, the musicians—William Harvey on violin, Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir on cello, Angelina Gadeliya on piano—managed this challenging work as many of their young colleagues do these days: with finesse unimaginable even as recently as say, a decade ago.

After intermission came Brahms's Piano Quintet in F Minor, given an appropriately dramatic reading.  There were elements of surprise in the stormy opening: the Allegro non troppo was more like Allegro con fuoco, with some gutsy playing.  The third movement Scherzo was particularly well done, like scaling a mountain of contrasts.  And as if to display total versatility, the wan opening of the finale proved deceptive, quickly blooming into a passionate utterance before the irresistible theme takes over.  A breathless Presto brought out some of the most committed playing of the night, from Joanna Marie Frankel and Yonah Zur on violins, Leah Swann on viola, Julia MacLaine on cello, and Gabriela Martinez on piano, all capping an evening of heroic musicianship.

Bruce Hodges


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