Mark Teplitsky (flute), Ilya Shterenberg (clarinet), Euntaek Kim (piano) and Paul Lueders (oboe) tke bows on Aug. 13. Below: Mr. Kim and Eric Gratz (violin) gave a recital on Aug. 10.
incident light
respond
Humdingers
music
August 17, 2017
A fellow who hums audibly while
playing the piano had better be either
Glenn Gould or a reasonable facsimile
thereof. By virtue of his astonishing
technical facility, and more, Euntaek
Kim earned the right to his
extracurricular vocalizations in two
Olmos Ensemble programs that
considerably brightened the dog days
of August.
On Aug. 10 the pianist, based in New
York, joined violinist Eric Gratz (the
Olmos artistic director and San
Antonio Symphony concertmaster) in
music by Mozart, Prokofiev, Bartok,
and others. (The two collaborated in a
2016 CD, so this performance was a
reunion.) Then on Aug. 13, Mr. Kim
joined three Olmos wind players –
Mark Teplitsky (flute), Paul Lueders
(oboe) and Ilya Shterenberg (clarinet)
in a concert of French music, most of
it from the 20th century. The venue
for both was the acoustically splendid
sanctuary of Laurel Heights United
Methodist Church.
When I’m taking notes at a concert,
the notation !!! indicates a
performance of a movement or a
whole work that rises far beyond
excellence and grabs me by the throat.
I don’t often resort to that shorthand,
but a veritable gully-washer of
exclamation points rained down on my
notes for the Gratz-Kim recital.
Granted, the opening work, Mozart’s
Sonata in E minor for violin and pian0,
K. 304, did not inspire such
enthusiasm. Mozart composed the
piece in Paris in 1788, possibly after
his mother became ill and died, but also possibly before. At any rate, this is the only one of Mozart’s many violin sonatas to be composed in a minor key; the opening allegro is deeply serious, and the second movement, a menuetto, differs from the norm in its slow tempo and melancholy mien. The performance was technically impeccable but, in my view, given to a lapidary, stiff-upper-lip restraint, from both musicians, that made the music seem too abstract.
The two slower movements of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 in D also tended to interpretive reticence, but the scherzo (!!!) and the final allegro con brio (!!!) sizzled. Both players clearly felt complete sympathy for Prokofiev’s jutting rhythms and pungent harmonies, for his angular lyricism, for the electricity in his demanding virtuosic passages.
From then on, it was an uninterrupted feast. In Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances (!!!), both musicians got that composer’s style right from the inside. Wieniawski composed his early Cappricio-Valse (!!!) to show off his own brilliant technical chops; the piece waved a white flag of docile surrender to Mr. Gratz’s technical wizardry, and the salon-music sweetness also came through in the violinist’s pure, richly textured tone. There was personality in every note of Fritz Kreisler’s Sicilian Rhapsody. The “Danse Russe” (!!!) from Stravinsky’s Petrouchka crackled with Mr. Gratz’s fearless attacks and bold gestures and Mr. Kim’s explosive power. After all that excitement, the calm encore came as a relief – Debussy’s La plus que lente (originally for piano solo), a sentimental waltz with a twinkle in its eye.
The most exhilarating piece on the French program lasted a mere four and a half minutes, but that’s actually pretty long for a roller-coaster ride. Guillaume Connesson’s Techno-Parade (2002) for flute, clarinet and prepared piano is a driving, rhythmically complex work built on an insistent fast beat elaborated with nervous rat-a-tat pulsings and wailings. All three players get quite a workout. The pianist sometimes directly plucks strings through which pieces of paper have been woven to produce a sort of buzzing sound; at the keyboard, the demands for speed and stamina are merciless. All hands contributed to a breathtaking performance.
Darius Milhaud composed his Sonata for flute, oboe, clarinet and piano in 1918 while he was a member of the French embassy staff in Brazil. The piece is something of a shocker in that the four instruments pull in different tonal directions, violating expectations at first but providing a payoff in the form of very dense, richly colored harmonies. The witty third movement is aptly designated “emporté” – fiery – as the music evokes a hubbub of fire trucks and ambulances. Jean-Michel Damase’s Quartet for the same instruments is less outré, but its jocular second movement (allegretto) is a delight.
Two tarantellas followed intermission – Camille Saint-Saëns’ for flute, clarinet and piano, Philippe Gaubert’s for flute, oboe and piano. The first is light, graceful and slightly spooky, with a flowingly lyrical middle; the fun, however, is in the jet-propelled accelerando at the end. The second was welcome for its fresh modern harmonies. The closer, Saint-Saëns’ Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs, for flute, oboe, clarinet and piano, is a pleasant enough collection, but not compelling enough to justify assembling such a talented group of musicians.
Ensemble unity was exemplary throughout, and the local wind players matched Mr. Kim in technical brilliance, clarity and spiritedness.
Mike Greenberg
Olmos Ensemble, Euntaek Kim