Reviews: Mendelssohn To Cheer For

Mendelssohn To Cheer For

by Beverly Wilcox
San Francisco Classical Voice

February 27, 2007

As Mendelssohn’s D Major Sextet accelerated into the turn toward its spectacular conclusion, the excitement in the audience exceeded that of the rather staid performers at the Sonoma County Day School in Santa Rosa. While the last chord was still reverberating, a blonde woman with pink cowboy boots leapt to her feet in spontaneous tribute to a fine performance. The rest of the audience soon joined her in vigorous, albeit seated, applause.

Perhaps they disagreed with her assessment. There were the inevitable, minor imperfections, such as a slightly too loud piano and momentary miscommunications over tempo. But the ensemble playing was terrific, as befits a group composed entirely of the Santa Rosa Symphony’s first-chair players, joined by long-time Bay Area pianist Mack McCray. A special kudo goes to Concertmaster Joseph Edelberg, who subbed in at a late date—so late, in fact, that McCray drew a chuckle when he accidentally introduced him as Joe Lieberman, the former vice-presidential candidate.

Romanticism Through a Classical Lens

The Sextet in D Major, Op. 110, was an excellent choice to open Saturday’s second concert of the Santa Rosa Symphony’s Early Romantics Festival. It was written in 1824, only 15 years after the death of Haydn, and it begins with a classical regularity more typical of Mozart than Mendelssohn. The SRS players even took the optional repeat of the opening movement’s exposition, emphasizing its similarity to 18th-century works, and making the point that the Romantic era began much later in music than in literature and painting, and developed more gradually. The Romantic elements of this work lie beneath the surface, as, for example, in the second movement, in which the performers’ flawless intonation hid the fact that it is written in the very un-classical key of F-sharp major.

The program was changed to put the pieces in chronological order, so it continued with McCray’s lyrical performance of two of the Songs Without Words. He did a marvelous job of overcoming the percussive tendencies of the modern piano to make it sing, while accompanying himself, often with a few spare fingers of the hand with the melody.

Ironically, McCray picked two of the few Songs that actually do have words—although they appear in Mendelssohn’s titles rather than in the musical score. The first was the “Duetto” from Book III, with which Mendelssohn is supposed to have proposed to his future wife, making the piano imitate tenor and soprano voices that eventually merge together. The other, from Book II, was one of his “Venetian Gondola Songs,” minor-key barcarolles inspired by his fond memories of Italy.

McCray, Edelberg, and SRS Assistant Principal Cellist Robin Bonnell took the stage immediately afterward for the Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66. (At two hours sans intermission, the concert was a long sit, but well worth it.) The three had the rapport more often found in long-established groups. Their tutti passages had bite and they gave each other room to shine in the solos, although McCray’s piano occasionally overpowered the others. A spontaneous murmur of appreciation ran through the audience after the wispy, crispy, madcap scherzo.

What’s in a Chorale Tune?

In his introductory remarks, McCray put forward his own ideas about the much-discussed chorale tune in the last movement of the trio. Rejecting the notion that it was a metaphor for Mendelssohn’s conversion from Judaism to Christianity (the first movement has a slightly Hebraic-sounding theme), he speculated that it was instead a manifestation of the Romantic enjoyment of ancient ruins. Just as Victorians and their Continental counterparts used new materials to build faux-antique ruins in their gardens, Mendelssohn might have indulged in the fabrication of a musical antique—a new chorale tune that sounded old.

The musicians played it with verve and dash. The final triumph of the chorale tune was also the triumph of three individuals arriving at a miraculous unity that included the audience. The applause that followed was heartfelt, prolonged, and well-deserved.

The next concert in the Early Romantics Festival is on Saturday, March 31, at 5:30 p.m., and continues the chronological survey of the Romantic era with Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt. Those who fear attending a concert in a school auditorium may rest easy, for the County Day School possesses a world-class hall for chamber music, with excellent acoustics, elegant appointments, and intimate seating close to the players. The artwork of CDS students, lovingly displayed in the lobby, is also worth seeing. Hunger pangs can be held at bay by visiting the excellent patisserie just down the street before the show, and returning afterward for dinner.

(Beverly Wilcox, a natural hornist, is a graduate student in music history at UC Davis.)