Music review: La Musica

The third La Musica concert April 9 featured a last-minute substitution: a somewhat well-known Mendelssohn quintet, and for me, a welcome musical surprise from Smetana.

Violist Hsin-Yun Huang’s flights from Atlanta were cancelled, making it impossible to arrive in time for rehearsals, so the Schubert Piano Trio in E flat Major (Nocturne) was substituted for the originally programmed String Trio, Op. 797. Dedicated to the memory of the late John Hunter, long a friend of La Musica, the Nocturne is in one movement and presents us with a lovely lyrical composition. Even with the minimum rehearsal available, the performance by Claudio Cruz, violin, Derek Han, piano and Antonio Meneses, cello, was nicely nuanced and began the evening in a tranquil, lovely mood.

Mendelssohn’s String Quintet in A major featured a double substitution, with Claudio Cruz switching to viola and joining Cecilia Ziano and Frederico Agostini, violins, Bruno Giuranna, viola, and Antonio Meneses, cello. The first movement began with a few miscues, but the musicians soon settled into a good performance. A lovely elegy-like second movement was followed by a typical Mendelssohn scherzo, introduced by a quick fugal theme that scampered through all five voices like fireflies on a still night. The strong finale showed good balance and dynamic range, but the first violin was occasionally overbalanced in the soft passages. Truly Mendelssohn at his best, with his spare but effective writing and natural scoring.

For me, the big surprise of the evening was the final work, the Piano Trio in G Minor, by Smetana. No wonder it was championed by Franz Liszt, who must have had a special fondness for the piano writing, here well played by Derek Han. Even though the work was written in memory of and in tribute to Smetana’s musically talented daughter, who died  an untimely death at the age of 4, this work is hardly a lament. The first movement opens with its very angular theme, stated by solo violin, soon joined by the cello in a musical dialogue that adds the piano and progresses through modulations and development to a recap of the solo violin, leading to a thrilling finale.

The second movement is a loving musical tribute to the daughter, from the springing lightness of the first theme through moments of drama and beauty, leading us to the finale, opening with a furious presto with its challenging juxtaposition of duple against triple rhythms, which suddenly stops to give forth a lovely elegiac cello solo, brilliantly played by JeongHyoun Lee with a soaringly beautiful sound. The opening theme returns and alternates with the cantabile themes, which develop and finally emerge into a deceptive, then explosive finish to an exquisite performance of this monumental work.

La Musica has been bringing outstanding chamber music to Sarasota for over 30 years now, but in many ways, the repertoire has grown a bit stagnant and predictable with some variable performances and smaller audiences. With the addition of fresher performers, such as JeongHyoun Lee and works like the Smetana Trio, La Musica  could very well enjoy another 30 years of bringing chamber music to larger Sarasota audiences.