Chamber Music Northwest premieres a new concerto by David Schiff at Concertos through the Centuries.

David Schiff

The CMNW Summer Festival continued on Monday, July 8 with a program entitled  Concertos through the Centuries, featuring works by Bach, Brahms, and a newly commissioned chamber concerto by long-time festival collaborator David Schiff.

The first piece, Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C Minor by Bach (BWV 1060R)  left much to be desired. While recognizing that this concert did not purport to use period instruments or historically informed performance techniques, still there are things that can be imitated on modern instruments: the dry saltando of a gut string, or the quavering softness of an un-keyed hole, for instance, and certainly conscientious phrasing and attention to small details can go along way in giving a baroque 'feel' to a performance on modern instruments (as was later achieved in the second Bach concerto of the evening.) All of these performers are aware of that, yet it was not apparent from this performance. While possessed of a full and even rich timbre, the outing was plagued by mushy phrasing and lack of a strong pulse.

The world premiere of Schiff's Chamber Concerto No. 1 for Clarinet and Ensemble was a different matter entirely.  The opening movement, Playing with Friends (Jeux d'Enfants) must have been a somber game to start, but with Schiff directing, David Shifrin navigated these still waters with a delicious huskiness on his clarinet, and was joined by bassoonist Julie Feves for some hypnotic chordal work. It exploded into a cacophonous exultation, followed by a dizzying solo turn for the clarinet. A saucy pizzicato from the strings and spare punctuations from the percussion sounded more like childish jubilation; one felt a bit of Bernstein at times. As the strings and horns burst into wild discord and the percussionist dished out ridiculously tasty syncopations, it was as fun as eating too much candy when you're six years old...and then subito al niente.

The second movement, Arietta, seemed to border on the humdrum at times until it all began to make sense in the larger context of the movement. By the end everything came together and it was truly poignant. The last movement, Rondo al'ebraica, was true to its title. Wild and wonky, non-traditional but unmistakably klezmer,  Shifrin was constantly simmering on the clarinet, always threatening to explode into a full rolling boil but somehow never reaching that crest. The percussion was fascinating, as long, expansive hits on the ride cymbal lay a groundwork for the wild partying above.

The Brahms was a scaled down version of the Adagio from Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major. Arranger Daniel Schlosberg did duties as the soloist.  Sophie Shao's broad, comely cello solo complemented the rich and convincing arrangement. Yearning and poignant, the piano and cello loomed out of the dense texture like a purring of enamored titans. Schlosberg's huge solo work made the whole thing feel like a cloud on which one could dream and never want to wake.

The final concerto of the evening was Bach's Brandenburg No. 4, (BWV 1049) and it suffered from none of the lethargy of the evening's opener.  There was crispness of articulation from the flutes and a judicious, minimalist rubato from violist Yura Lee. The interplay between the ripieno and concertante was absolutely seamless and exciting. The Andante was heavy-handed yet not unlovely, and in the finale the solo work from the concertante was magnificent. Lee's job as band-leader held everything together; her unflagging pace and vibrant playing set the tone that everyone followed.

Northern Lights: Scandinavian Gems lives up to its billing

The fruits of composer David Schiff's skills as an arranger were evident on Thursday, July 21st as the Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival continued. Kaul Auditorium was the perfect acoustical space for an evening of Scandinavian composers as the program Northern Lights: Scandinavian Gems took place.

Opening the evening was a brace of works by Carl Nielsen, beginning with Serenata in vano, a work like all the works of the evening for strings and winds. This work began with a rhythmically intense three-quarter time signature dissolving into languid arias for horn and clarinet.  Exciting annunciations from the contrabass came to the forefront as the extremely well-balanced wind section swelled and receded, leaving the air cleared for exciting, razor-accurate doublings between horn and bassoon. Like much of the evening it was redolent with the richness of the Fenno-Scandia folk tradition, and was over too soon.

David Shifrin had another chance to shine as Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57 was next. This brilliant work opened with a crisp fughetta, one which Shifrin infused with electricity, and a rich, throaty sound from the basso register of his instument. The texture was widely varied...at times Shifrin was mysterious and unhurried, other times the strings spun a glorious web upon which Shifrin went spidering along, and there were great moments from William Purvis on the solo horn as well. Shifrin's playing felt like storytelling as he navigated the ever-shifting shoals with his usual grace and dexterity.

After intermission the audience was treated to the ever-popular Peer Gynt Suites, arranged for a 13-piece orchestra by Schiff.   It was an interesting dichotomy to see such a large orchestra (for this festival) on stage as Schiff spoke a bit on the challenges of boiling down these huge orchestral pieces for such (relatively) spare ornamentation. Seven of the eight movements from both suites were on the bill; Peer Gynt's Homecoming presented too large a task for the composer vis-a-vis the need for such radical reductions in the number of instruments he had to work with.

The order of presentation was different as well, so it was fun to hear these movements juxtaposed in an unfamiliar manner. Beginning with the Death of Ase, the theme shifted from primarily winds to the strings, a nice subtle change of color. It retained most of the gravitas of the full orchestral work. For Morning Mood, the sonority of all those winds didn't quite work...at times it felt a bit hokey for Grieg's grand gesture, though it was fun to watch the string players standing in bravely for an entire section. Anitra's Dance featured brilliant solo work from Matt Landry who throughout the work shifted between a number of different saxophones. Theodore Arm's solo work also stood out as particularly fine.

The Abduction of the Bride held a fascinating sonance; the winds constantly uplifting the small string band almost felt like human voices somewhere in the background. The Arabian Dance and Solveig's Song were truly delightful, especially the latter. What a joy it was to hear such necessarily sparse scoring--every single player had to be completely on top of their game or all would have been lost. Percussionist Jonathan Greeney deserves high praise for his performance, which was nothing short of heroic at times. And finishing off with In the Hall of the Mountain King? Well, how could you go wrong? Schiff's arrangement was fascinating, fun and inspired, and was a wonderful new way to hear such beloved old gems.