Seattle Chamber Music Society has never heard anything like it. Usually the pre-concert recitals of the Summer Festival have one or two players performing a classical work of their choice, and talking about it. Wednesday night however, had Nordstrom Recital Hall rocking to a jazz combo which raised the roof with noise and rhythm.
It was all the brainchild of the featured player, trumpeter Jens Lindemann. The stage had a raft of percussion instruments, played by Seattle Symphony principal percussionist Michael Werner, no slouch in the jazz field either; fine local string bass and guitar player John Hamar, inappropriately identified by Lindemann as “Joe” without a last name; and gifted Bulgarian pianist Kristian Alexandrov, wearing a cap backwards. Lindemann strolled out from the back of the hall, starting the roof-raising and apart from the first and the last, the group departed from the listed music with a superbly played selection of pieces none of which were identified except for Dreaming of the Masters, the title of a CD released by Lindemann.
They sounded as closely together as if they’d been playing together for years, which they hadn’t. The arrangements by Lindemann and Alexandrov of a Bach toccata and the Air on the G String (played in F), the only classical reference, displayed all of their skill and imagination in riffs and technique. It went on from there, with Lindemann, a consummate showman, playing several trumpets including a blue one for the blues.
(Sometimes it was so loud that for protection, I and others actually covered our ears to reduce the sound level despite sitting in the penultimate row of the small hall. This was certainly the most unusual recital for SCMS, and while great fun, I’m not sure it is an idea that should be repeated, at least at this dynamic level.)
In the succeeding concert, Lindemann and Werner continued their collaboration with an unusual work, André Jolivet’s Heptade from 1970, a work in seven short movements of exceeding complexity for both instruments. To this listener, it was a revelation to see our symphony percussionist, usually at the back of the Benaroya stage, in front giving a virtuosic performance on at least thirteen percussion instruments at once at warp speed. Lindemann commented that it had taken them four days of rehearsal to get this work under their belts, a challenge which must also have been satisfying and fun for the performers. Much of the time the impression was of sounds from northern forests, ponds or tropical jungle, well worth hearing, at least once.
After this, it was a sea change to hear two quintets, the hallmark of both being their melodic content. Borodin’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in C Minor has one entrancing tune after another, almost as though he was a Russian Schubert. Largely lyrical or dance-like in its three movements, it was lovingly played by violinists James Ehnes and Jesse Mills, violist Cynthia Phelps, cellist Julie Albers, and pianist Andrew Armstrong.
The concert wrapped up with Dvořák’s familiar piano Quintet in A Major. What set this performance apart were the sonorous but restrained cello sound of Ronald Thomas at the start and his playing throughout, and the viola playing of festival newcomer Rebecca Albers (sister to Julie). Dvořák gives considerable prominence to the viola in this quintet, particularly in its lower registers and Albers drew a rich, warm sound, relaxed and singing, from her instrument. This is not to say violinists Augustin Hadelich and Ida Levin and pianist Inon Barnatan were in any way lesser colleagues. The whole work rang with vitality, melody and Czech country dance rhythms, bringing the performance to a satisfactory close.
