Violin Playing Supreme!
by
Lyn Bronson
Last night at Sunset
Center in Carmel we heard violin playing on a rarified level such as we seldom
hear. Violinist Ivan Zenaty returned for his second appearance on the Mozart
Series of the Carmel Music Society, and it was an amazing performance.
On this occasion his wife, pianist
Katarina Zenata, taking maternity leave, was unable to perform with him, so
jack-of all-trades, Paul Hersh (he is adept at piano, viola, English literature
and probably a lot of other things he hasn’t gotten around to telling us about)
was on hand to be a fine ensemble partner for Zenaty. The amazing thing was that
the ensemble was as good as it was, considering that the two artists do not
normally perform together and only met for two rehearsals prior to the
performance.
Since this was, after
all, one of the Mozart Series presented by the Carmel Music Society, the concert
contained, naturally, one work by Mozart, the Sonata in G Major, K.301. This
charming work was more of a piano sonata with violin obbligato, so Hersh ended
up working a great deal harder than Zenaty. In fact, in some of the finger
twisting passages of the first movement, Hersh was working very hard indeed and
had to restrain himself to keep the passages from running away from him.
Otherwise it was a nicely styled performance and exuded lots of charm and some
Sturm und Drang surprises such as
Mozart was fond of unleashing on unsuspecting audiences.
The second work on the
program, Bach’s Partita in D minor for solo violin, was gold and platinum all
the way. To stand alone on stage for thirty minutes and perform the five
movements of this suite is quite an accomplishment in itself, but to perform
them on the exalted level Zenaty achieved is truly remarkable. We heard playing
of such refinement, superb musicianship, and absolute ease (while never sounding
glib) in even the most difficult passages, it was hard to imagine this suite
played any better. From the very
first notes of the Allemande, we
observed a combination of natural grace and utterly convincing interpretation
that reminded me of Nathan Milstein. Everything was logical and seemingly
inevitable. The Gigue was especially
charming with every note pure and pristine and rock solid rhythmically. The
crown jewel of this work is, of course, the great
Chaconne, which takes up half the
duration of the entire suite. Violinists sometimes program the
Chaconne as a separate work, and in
truth, Zenaty at times in the Chaconne
sounded exhausted, so that we wonder how it would have sounded performed by
Zenaty as a separate piece. However, by
any standard, Zenaty’s performance of the
Chaconne was a staggering performance, full of lovely color, dramatic
climaxes and moments of great passion. It
earned a well deserved standing ovation.
After intermission,
the concert ended with Zenaty and Hersh pulling out all the stops and whipping
up a frenzied performance of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata.
This seemed like the Kreutzer Sonata on
amphetamines, so wild it was. Tempos were rapid in the extreme in the outer
movements and dynamics were full blooded and violent. This was not like an
overly refined studio performance such as you would hear on a CD, but rather one
that responded to the thrill of the moment and the spontaneity of performing
before a live audience.
After another rousing
standing ovation, Zenaty and Hersh performed one encore, a movement from the
Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonata, Op. 30, No. 1. This may have been the longest
encore I have ever heard in a concert, but it was beautifully played.
An interesting aspect
of this concert was the absence from the audience of local violinists, violin
teachers and their students. Also absent
were several members of the Carmel Music Society’s Board of Directors. If the
Society itself doesn’t support this excellent group of Mozart Series concerts,
and it doesn’t succeed in attracting local musicians, teachers and young
students, it doesn’t bode well for the future of classical concerts on the
Monterey Peninsula.
