Review: Path of democracy leads to enjoyable evening
By: Arthur Kaptainis
Solomonic decisions are often necessary in Montreal, which is the world capital of scheduling conflicts, at least where music is concerned. The principal choice on Sunday was between a more interesting program (pianist Anne-Marie Dubois for Pro Musica) and a bigger audience (the Miró String Quartet and pianist Shai Wosner for the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club).
I followed the path of democracy to Pollack Hall and did not regret it after the Mirós (formed in 1995 but still young-looking) and Wosner (an Israeli-American in his early 30s) collaborated in Dvorak’s Piano Quintet Op. 81. Warm, playful and powerful elements were held in a tight balance; rapid tempos did not attenuate the sweet first violin of Daniel Ching or the oaky viola of John Largess.
The latter was heard in a particularly fruitful dialogue with Wosner in the Dumka, the most overtly Czech-sounding of the four movements. The Scherzo, repeated as an encore, was a marvel of gracious levity. Throughout, the listener was made newly aware of harmonic and rhythmic detail. This was the sort of performance you carry happily in your head for the rest of the day.
Playing was less fastidious before intermission in Schumann’s Piano Quintet. The solemn march was fairly captured but the fast movements were pushed in both volume and velocity. The opening chord of the finale sounded like an atonal thrust.
There was nothing this extreme in Beethoven Op. 135, offered as a demonstration of what the Miró players (including Sandy Yamamoto, second violin, and Joshua Gindele, cello) could do without a pianist. Still, the tone was flinty and the Vivace movement surpassed the speed limit, with inelegant results. Beethoven’s last completed quartet is not an ideal forum for ramshackle energy.
A fashion footnote: we are not supposed to care, but given the wide identification of string quartet playing with togetherness, is it really wise to wear four different outfits, as the Mirós did? A travel question: since Wosner was playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with the Chicago Symphony on Saturday night, just when and where was this program rehearsed?
