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Thursday, March 28, 2002

By Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic

One word is all anyone would need to describe William Caballero's recital Tuesday night: "Wow."

On most weekends, this horn player sits in the back of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as its principal, since 1989. But Tuesday, the Y Music Society put him front and center at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. His brilliant performance simply showed what many PSO members and hardcore fans already know, that Caballero sits at the head table of horn players worldwide, and that he's one of the brightest talents of the orchestra. He's also a wise leader of a horn section that's now one of the strongest in the group, brimming with camaraderie.

Caballero proved to be a creative programmer, too, which is essential since a horn recital isn't a common event. In fact, this was the first time in the 75-plus years of the Y that it had offered one. A mix of contemporary and traditional works, the evening progressed as enjoyably as any recital the venerable series has put on.

With Orli Shaham at the piano, Caballero began with Beethoven's Horn Sonata in F major. For the most part, this work from 1800 is about as light as a Beethoven sonata gets; its easy texture and sinuous melodies reminded one more of Haydn. It shows Beethoven nearing the end of his polite first period, ready to embark into uncharted and heroic waters. But it does contain some nice idiomatic writing for the horn, which Caballero launched into. His aggressiveness, combined with the sweetness of his tone and his effortless legato, made for an exquisite combination. Shaham matched him with vigor.

A piece by Messiaen, actually an excerpt from a larger work ("Des Canyons Aux Etoiles") held more interest. "Appel Interstellaire (Interstellar Call)" could've been written by Miles Davis. Through extended techniques -- such as half-valve play -- and repeated mottos in different timbre, it took the unaccompanied horn into cosmic realms. Caballero didn't bat an eye with the difficult playing. The phrasing tautly bound the piece together, which helped the listener buy into Messiaen's overall atmosphere -- desperate loneliness in the face of this huge universe -- and not dwell on the unusual sounds and eerie effects.

A Reza Vali piece followed. "Three Folk Songs" is an arrangement for horn and piano of a larger work called "Folk Song Set No. 12a" for string quartet, piano and voice. The vocal part translated well in the arrangement, as Caballero had marvelous melodies to expound upon. Vali, a composer at Carnegie Mellon University, has a penchant for merging the songs of his birthplace (Iran) and Western classical form. With admirable communication, Shaham and Caballero dug into the essence of these instrumental songs, from the sensual to the dainty to the energetic.

After intermission came the prize of the evening, Brahms' Trio in E-flat major for horn, violin and piano. Written in 1865 shortly after his mother died, it teams with heartbreak and sorrow but with a sense that life moves on.

This is apparent in the trio's form itself, which starts out unconventionally as a rondo, followed by two movements rather untypical in mood and texture.

The vitality of the finale, however, points toward the life that remains to be lived, and lived with joy. Brahms imbued it with the color and smells of a walk in the woods, using the horn's symbolic connection with outdoors. Here violinist Adele Anthony, who played a bit loudly but meshed artistically, joined the duo. After a tentative opening to the first movement, the three embraced the challenge and captured the emotional statement of a composer who rarely let that window to his heart open.

Powerful blasts and delicate entrances, legato melodies and punchy passages, extended techniques and old-school methods, color and virtuosity -- Caballero displayed it all.

Next time he has a 15-second solo with the PSO, we'll know it's just the tip of a formidable artistic iceberg.