In the first of this season’s concerts Byron Schenkman (and his Friends) chose to highlight the connection between Bach and his enthusiastic promoters of the next century, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, making for a highly interesting concept for a program.
Bach was somewhat neglected by the time the 19th century rolled around, and it was Felix’s presentation of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829 which put him back on the map. Both Felix and Fanny were knowledgeable about and influenced by Bach, and Schenkman’s program included a Bach sonata and a concerto, two works of Fanny’s (only one of which was published under her name in her lifetime, given upper-crust young women, especially Jewish ones, were expected to devote themselves entirely to family life), and a trio by Felix.
Musical artist Byron Shenkman
The Bach works however were not presented as they would have been in the 18th century, but closer to a 19th-century ideal, though no piano then was a nine-foot Steinway. Schenkman, on piano, and principal violist of the Seattle Symphony Susan Gulkis Assadi, undertook the Sonata in G Major, composed originally for viola da gamba or two flutes and harpsichord.
Gulkis is not known as a Baroque performer, but it was a pleasure to hear the gorgeous tone she drew from her viola, played with sensitivity and only slight vibrato. The piano tended at times to overwhelm her, though Schenkman was not playing loudly. The instrument, in the somewhat dry acoustics of Nordstrom Recital Hall, felt too bright in contrast to the softer-edged viola sound. It might have helped had the piano lid been down, or only up a few inches.
The match sounded more equal in Fanny Mendelssohn’s beautiful Fantasy in G Minor for cello and piano, a work which should surely be in many more repertoires than it is. Cellist Geoffrey Dean made no concessions to 19th-century sentiments about vibrato, using plenty, but he had a fine tone and was well matched by Schenkman.
One of the few works by Fanny published under her own name was “Il Saltarello Romano,” another work many pianists should embrace. She was as fine a composer as her brother, but with far less opportunity. What a loss to us! Schenkman played the solo “Saltarello” with flair. However, he is not—yet—as fine a pianist as he is a harpsichordist. Runs were sometimes less clear, less clean, less even than we expect from him.
With an unusual combination of instrumentalists, Bach’s Concerto in F Minor nevertheless fared quite well: two Baroque violinists, Ingrid Matthews and Liza Zurlinden, Matthews using a Baroque bow, a modern violist in Gulkis Assadi, playing with no vibrato; and Dean, the modern cellist playing with plenty, plus the piano. Perhaps in the early middle years of the 19th century, there were people playing older style instruments together with some playing newer style ones and making it work (though at that time surely with a fortepiano not a Steinway grand).
Yet Bach can be played on any instrument and in any combination and it always sounds wonderful, that’s his genius. I’ve heard it on steel band, not to mention jazzed up, and enjoyed it very much.
I was amazed to find I had never heard the finale, Felix Mendelssohn’s big Trio in C Minor, well played by Zurlinden (on a modern violin), Dean and Schenkman. It’s a terrific work, the distinctive, haunting opening almost Schubertian in its ability to create a mood, and moments later on where the far more familiar “Midsummer Night’s Dream” music came to mind.
