Krist\u00f3f Bar\u00e1ti, the Hungarian-born violinist well-known in Europe but not in the U.S., introduced himself to Aspen Music Festival audiences Tuesday evening in Harris Hall with a recital that ranged from the intricate counterpoint of J.S. Bach to the Gypsy-inflected show-off music of Ravel\u2019s \u201cTzigane.\u201d<\/p>\n
A violinist who commands attention for the music without calling too much attention to himself, Bar\u00e1ti executed it all with remarkable tone, articulation and detailed expression.<\/p>\n
Opening with Bach\u2019s Sonata No. 1 for Unaccompanied Violin in G minor, he made the counterpoint flow as if two violins were playing. Octave double-stops in the Adagio came to life as the top note crescendoed while the bottom note faded away gently. Phrases pulsed within the Allegro\u2019s fugue with a spicy flavor, and the final Presto dazzled with its brilliance.<\/p>\n
Totally different, Ysa\u00ffe\u2019s Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin in D minor \u201cBallade,\u201d by the Belgian virtuoso who was the preeminent violinist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, teems with technical challenges. Bar\u00e1ti let it unfold like a well-told story, starting slow and ending with the appropriate direction \u201cwith bravura.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Anton Nel, who seems to be everyone\u2019s favorite piano collaborator at the moment, Bar\u00e1ti went for sinuous execution in Brahms\u2019 Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, and found a sense of elation and spirited expression in Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cSouvenir of a Beloved Place.\u201d<\/p>\n
As if the musical bond here was not already palpable, the unanimity of wit and purpose in Ravel\u2019s \u201cTzigane\u201d was unmistakable, almost euphoric in its \u201canything you can play I can outdo\u201d spirit. The encore, the opening movement of Beethoven\u2019s \u201cSpring\u201d sonata, reflected a musical pairing that made the music play out as it should.<\/p>\n
A two-evening journey through J.S. Bach\u2019s Brandenburg Concertos on Wednesday and Thursday in Harris Hall had its high points, but it started off shakily and a misguided change of instrumentation waylaid another of the concertos.<\/p>\n
No. 1, with a solo violin and an oboe-and-horn quintet out front, never quite achieved lift or sprightliness, not even in the dancelike finale. Elaine Douvas contributed a lissome solo in the Adagio, and John Zirbel enunciated high-lying French horn phrases with his usual aplomb. But they could not overcome stodgy tempos and mostly lifeless phrasing from the ensemble.<\/p>\n
Jory Vinokour, conducting from the harpsichord, had replaced the usually vigorous Nicholas McGegan, originally slated to run this show, but who stepped aside to undergo a long-needed hip replacement. Vinokour, a brilliant harpsichordist, made a delicious moment of the instrument\u2019s extended cadenza in No. 5, but some of the conducting choices left this listener puzzled.<\/p>\n
The biggest question mark was why Tam\u00e1s P\u00e1lfavi was allowed to play the trumpet part in No. 2 on a flugelhorn fitted with a trumpet mouthpiece. He played it flawlessly, of course. But Bach\u2019s orchestrations for these concertos are landmarks of instrumental balance and color, and he called for a tiny piccolo trumpet, which has the brilliance and the range to match the other soloists in from the ensemble \u2014 violin (Chad Hoopes), oboe (Douvas) and flute (Nadine Asin). The mellow, caf\u00e9-au-lait sound of the flugelhorn stuck out egregiously, and deprived us of the piccolo trumpet\u2019s brilliant high notes \u2014 catnip for a virtuoso in P\u00e1lfavi\u2019s class.<\/p>\n
I missed the toy trumpet, but even more I missed McGegan\u2019s witty commentary, a staple of his Baroque presentations here. Vinokour focused on his harpsichord and conducting.<\/p>\n
The best performances involved the ones with nothing but strings and harpsichord. No. 3 achieved a lightness of tone and freshness of pace that was missing in No. 1 (which preceded it). And No. 6 showed a spotlight on violists Matthew Lipman and Timothy Ridout, who supplied the flair and energy to bring the cello, bass and harpsichord along for the lively ride.<\/p>\n
With No. 4, Nadine Asin and Calvin Mayman floated graceful flute lines over the gently pulsing ensemble and Paul Huang supplied eye-opening violin filigrees. And in No. 5, Asin and violinist Angelo Xiang Yu created a soft-hued, amiable mood to set the tone Thursday.<\/p>\n
Both programs finished with unrelated multiple-violin concertos. On Wednesday, Fabiola Kim and Blake Pouliot competed for attention as soloists in Bach\u2019s Concerto for Three Violins in D major. Thursday introduced a little Vivaldi, with Pouliot, Huang, Yu and Hoopes vying for supremacy in the Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, which turned into a rhythmic romp reminiscent of a mini-\u201cFour Seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s chamber music included a world premiere and a spiky sonata for viola and piano, getting only its fourth performance.<\/p>\n
The freshest work, Three Chorale Preludes for Eight Trombones, by festival CEO Alan Fletcher, was played actually by 12 trombones, all students conducted by veteran festival trombonist Per Breving. The piece\u2019s instrumentation employs bass trombones, tenor trombones and alto trombones to create rich textures, and emphasizes legato over punchy phrases. The result was an engaging piece that sustained its message over 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
The first prelude set a pattern, presenting a hymn tune with richly textured polyphonic writing, then stepping up the level of dissonance in variations or development before returning to a pleasing consonance. The first uses a tune associated with \u201cSlane,\u201d an old Irish hymn, and the finale expands upon a hymn written for the U.S. centennial in 1876. The most moving part of the work, the second chorale, is based on \u201cLove Unknown,\u201d a hymn by the 20th-century composer John Ireland that\u2019s used in the Anglican church just before Easter. Fletcher\u2019s rich writing tugged at the heart.<\/p>\n
If the preludes called our better angels, Caplet\u2019s \u201cConte Fantastique\u201d went for sheer fright. Written in 1908 for harp and string quartet by a friend of (and occasional orchestrator for) Debussy, it sketches the Edgar Allan Poe story \u201cThe Masque of the Red Death\u201d with chilling potency. As played by the Pacifica Quartet and harpist Sivan Magen (principal harpist of the Finnish Radio Symphony), the music took no prisoners and outlined the grisly death of self-satisfied aristocrats with striking vigor.<\/p>\n
John Harbison\u2019s Sonata for Viola and Piano got a dedicated reading from James Dunham and Nel. The pair beavered away at the often-grating dissonances. It looked like they were having much more fun playing it than we were hearing it.<\/p>\n
NOT TO MISS IN THE COMING DAY<\/p>\n
After all those violins, tonight\u2019s recital in Harris Hall presents pianist George Li in a program of Beethoven and Schumann. Esther Shoo, an Aspen alum and the youngest prize winner of the Sibelius Violin Competition, takes on the Tchaikovsky violin concerto on Sunday afternoon\u2019s Aspen Festival Orchestra program in the tent. And Monday is the last chance to catch the Opera Center\u2019s production of \u201cA Little Night Music\u201d at the Wheeler Opera House.<\/p>\n
Harvey Steiman has been writing about the Aspen Music Festival for 24 years.<\/p>\n