by Marvin J. Ward

Holyoke, MA, 17 May 2009.  The Chamber Music at Wistariahurst series concluded its 4th season quartet of always delightful performances with a program of music by Clara and Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms bearing the above title in the historic house museum’s Music Room this afternoon.

The opener was Clara’s Op. 20, Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, dating from 1853, performed by Monica Jakuc Leverett.  Readers might think that I am following her around in some sort of adulatory devotion, since I just wrote about her performances with an entirely different ensemble, repertoire, and instruments last weekend…, but, while she is certainly worthy of such behavior, and does indeed have many devoted admirers, her presence here is in fact an indication of the esteem in which she is held and the demand for her artistry.  We are fortunate that she is able to do so much more performing than previously, now that she has retired from her position at Smith College.

Before playing the work, Jakuc Leverett spoke about the theme upon which the work is based; it was from Robert's Bunte Blätter, Op. 99 from 1852, but she later worked into them a reference to her Romance variée that she had given to Robert for his birthday in 1833 (the year of Brahms’ birth), when she was 13!  He used it that year as the basis for his Op. 5 Impromptus on a theme by Clara Wieck.  Brahms quoted the same reference some 21 years later at the end of the 10th variation in his Op. 9, Variations on a theme of Robert Schumann, which uses the same theme from the Bunte Blätter.  Jakuc Leverett played the appropriate passages demonstrating these quotes, and then gave a warm, sensitive rendition of this, Clara’s finest solo piano work and her next-to-last composition before she devoted her life to keeping her late husband’s music in the public’s ears.

Robert finally overcame Clara’s father’s opposition to their marriage in 1840, success that resulted in an outpouring of songs in several sets and cycles, 2 of which, 1of 9 poems by Heine, Op. 25, and 1 of 12 by Eichendorff, Op. 39, are entitled Liederkreis (= Set of Songs).  The series Artistic Director, David Perkins sang the latter, accompanied by Tanya Blaich.  Perkins came late to solo singing, after many years in choruses, and his voice, like good wine, has become steadily richer, his interpretive skills steadily more assured and natural.  His performance was excellent; I couldn’t help but think that it would be even more convincing were he to take the next step and commit the songs to memory to be able to divorce himself from the printed score, but I realize all too well the difficulty this represents as one grows older.  Blaich is a sensitive and supportive accompanist.

She was next joined at the piano by Jakuc Leverett in the upper register for 3 of Brahms’ 1st set of Hungarian Dances for piano duet composed in 1852, Nos. 2, 3, and 5 (of 21 in all, in 4 volumes published over a 17 year period).  They were well played; the audience could not resist applauding after each.  The venue’s 5-foot Kawai, which worked well for the Schumann pieces, seemed less than ideal for these, however.  I could not help but imagine how much better they would sound on 1 of the Frederick Collection’s late 19th century grands, the Blüthner or the Streicher, for example.  Perhaps the pair will put together a duet program for that venue and series another year?

There are always refreshments at intermission in this series, offered in the Conservatory that connects the Music Room to the house and features a white peacock stained glass window by Tiffany, whose companion facing him was unfortunately damaged, and there are no funds to replace it.  Part of the pleasure of attending a concert here is savoring the sheer beauty and craftsmanship of the modest, unpretentious spaces.  This was a home, not a mansion; the Skinners put a lot of their fortune back into the community, not into self-aggrandizing ostentation.

After intermission, the Schubertians Chorus, generally consisting of 4 singers per voice, but this time 1 shy in the bass and alto sections, and directed by mezzo-soprano Jane Hanson, who conducted this time from her position in the group, offered Brahms’ 18 Liebesliederwaltzer, Op. 52 from 1868 with both pianists again at the keyboard.  The work has much built-in variety with alternations between the male and female voices and between the chorus and solos, duets, and a trio among the numbers, and occasionally within a single waltz, so that one is always wondering what configuration is up next.  It was a fine, not overly ebullient rendition (interrupted twice by the ringing of an audience member’s cell phone, alas!), and a bright conclusion to a pleasant spring afternoon that followed a gray morning.