Monday night’s program of Chopin and Schumann was full of surprises, a fact that shouldn’t surprise the regular fans of Frank Almond’s Frankly Music concert series. In introducing the concert, Almond compared the lives of the two composers, both born 200 years ago this year, and focused particularly on their “response” to the legacy of Beethoven. Schumann wanted to continue and expand the master’s innovations; Chopin wanted nothing to do with them, preferring to work in the piano forms – Nocturnes, Polonaises, Mazurkas, etc. – for which he is now revered.
That said, the first half of the concert seemed quite Beethoven-like. Violist Max Mandel and pianist William Wolfram played the rarely heard Marchenbilder, four vignettes very much in the tradition of Schumann’s suites. With the viola as solo instrument, it is much more a duet than a song with accompaniment. At times Mandel’s viola line melted into the piano harmonies rather then shining above them, then emerged over Wolfram’s soft arpeggios.
Wolfram followed by showing just how much like Beethoven Chopin could be. His mesmerizing performance of Chopin’s Fantasia in A-flat made it seem like the work of a tempestuous mind. True to its title, the piece seems like the work of six or seven composers, moving from muscular octave and chord runs to quiet lyricism to stately church chorales. Wolfram really dug in and seemed to inhabit the composer’s restlessness as well as his notes.
Violinist Almond and cellist Stephen Balderston joined in for a spritely reading of Schumann’s Piano Quartet. While the fugal finale is the showcase of this piece, the most satisfying moments came in the Andante, when all three string players made the lovely melody brim over with emotion. One couldn’t ask more of a display of quintessential Romanticism.
