What passes for elegance in personal appearance and concert attire continues to baffle some of us in the backwaters of central California. Photos accompanying the advance publicity for cellist Matt Haimovitz showed us a pleasant-looking young man with a big, bushy halo of curly hair (sort of like Orphan Annie's big brother, if you will). But, what we saw in person on stage was quite different. Sporting a ponytail and dressed in Armani black from head to toe, Haimovitz looked like central casting's conception of a hit man for a Colombian drug cartel. If you were walking down the street after dark and saw such a sinister apparition approaching, you would probably cross over to the other side and reach for your can of Mace. But, then, that's considered sartorial "cool" these days.
Of course, what was more important was how he played. The occasion was a concert on February 10 at Sunset Center in Carmel sponsored by the Carmel Music Society. Joining him in this recital was the very able pianist Lori Lack. The program for the evening consisted of Beethoven's Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69, Debussy's Sonata for Cello & Piano, Gyorgi Ligeti's Sonata for Solo Cello, and the Mendelssohn Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 58.
It is not an uncommon occurrence in concerts that the first item on the program is a warm-up, or "throw-away" piece. If it is a minor work, only to be missed by late comers, it is of little consequence. However, when it is a major work, like the Beethoven A Major Cello Sonata, this is more distressing. And, in fact, that is what occurred on this occasion. This magnificent sonata received a restrained, respectful performance that hardly plumbed the emotional depths of which it is capable.
After Haimovitz's opening unaccompanied solo of four measures at the beginning of the first movement of the Beethoven, there is a low E that is held for seven long measures while the piano enters with an important counter melody. At this point all we could hear was the loud, low E on the cello, and the lovely counter melody in the piano was thrown away. We shouldn't forget that this sonata was originally composed for "piano and cello," not "cello and piano," thus the two musicians in a performance of this work are absolutely equal partners (with the piano being slightly more than equal).
Mr. Haimovitz's intonation was shaky throughout the Beethoven, a condition most likely caused by opening concert jitters, for in the Debussy Sonata which followed, he sounded altogether like a different musician. Here he sounded more secure technically and had a lovely sound, especially in the difficult harmonics.
At intermission I overheard someone say that if the Carmel Music Society had printed pianist Lori Lack's name on the cover of the printed program, she might have played less like an accompanist and more like an ensemble partner. However, this is unkind to Ms. Lack. She is a very fine pianist recruited from San Francisco for Haimovitz's West Coast appearances. Being a pickup pianist, she does not have the luxury of consistently touring and traveling with her partner, as does Emanuel Ax when he appears with Yo-Yo Ma. However, she was more than an able partner during the evening's program, and her lovely tonal palate was on display during the Mendelssohn Sonata that ended the program. Her shaping of the arpeggiated figures in the
Adagio showed her level of artistry as did her fleet playing in the faster movements. Although her playing always tended to be a little too much in the background, it was always a delight to the ear.
The highpoint of the evening was the unaccompanied Sonata for Solo Violoncello by Gyorgi Ligeti. In this work, Haimovitz displayed a mastery and passion that eluded him elsewhere on the program. This was strong playing indeed, and it brought a warm response from the audience. As an encore after the Mendelssohn Sonata Haimovitz and Lack played a Mendelssohn Song Without Words.
The Carmel Music Society's next concert will be a recital by pianist Andras Shiff on March 8. This concert will also mark the debut of the Carmel Music Society's new acquisition, a Hamburg Steinway concert grand which will be arriving by airfreight from Paris around the first of March.
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