Move makes Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society more intimate
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The Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society could hardly have picked two more able -- and affable -- guides to lead its audience away from its usual concert grounds. The performance Monday night by the duo of clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu marked the first time in its nearly 50-year history that PCMS presented a concert in venue other than Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
Not that the organization strayed too far. The concert took place at Bellefield Hall Auditorium just up the street from the Carnegie. But it's the spirit that counts, for in placing three recitals there this season and next, PCMS is expanding into the more intimate experience that was once the realm of the venerable Y Music Society. In fact, the Y first started playing at Bellefield. Since it essentially ended in 2004, Pittsburgh hasn't had a consistent outlet for the one- to two-person recital, so it is nice to see PCMS trying to bridge that gap.
You are not going to hear a clarinetist with more control and artistry than Mr. Manasse. The former principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra phrased with such continuity it was like listening to a Mobius Strip. Ebbs and flows were there in dynamics and timbre, but the overall line in works such as Brahms' Sonata in F minor, Op. 120, and Weber's Grand Duo Concertant in E-flat Major boggled the mind. Especially after you heard how genuinely funny he was talking to the audience.
Mr. Nakamatsu, a past gold medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, was the straight man to Mr. Manasse's one-liners, but at the keyboard he was brilliant and active. I actually prefer Brahms to have more weight, but the duo carried out its display of a more sunny and light Brahms consistently and that unearthed elements of the piece I had not heard.
The second half was a delightful affair, with Mr. Nakamatsu playing Mendelssohn's bravura Rondo capriccioso, Mr. Manasse dancing throughout the solo "Lecuonerias" from Paquito D'Rivera's "The Cape Cod Files," and the two barnstorming through John Novacek's "Four Rags for Two Jons."
First Published November 9, 2010 12:00 am
