Word: schubert
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Every pianist, violinist and 'cellist with a yen for chamber music has at one time or another chugged through the Schubert Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat. It's hazards of technique and intonation are notorious, but somehow the beauty of the work transcends the most adverse of circumstances and comes through in spite of wrong notes, shaky ensemble, and sick intervals...
Curiously enough, however, the Schubert was one of the most enjoyable performances I have heard all summer. The three musicians had relinquished their white jackets in deference to the heat, and the sight of Schubert in shirtsleeves must have recalled many a living-room zilch session to a large part of the audience. The performance itself was the epitome of spontaneity. As such it was in direct contrast to the highly premeditated and overdone performances that have dominated the rest of the concert series. Here finally were three musicians blithely making music--and enjoying it, damn...
...philosophy of the Harvard Summer Concert Series seems to consist of indulging its audiences with the familiar while at the same time requiring that it ingest increasing amounts of the new and not so easily palatable. Pianist Leonard Shure opened the series with a completely traditional program of Chopin, Schubert and Beethoven; a week later Jamie and Ruth Laredo deferred to general taste with Bach and Beethoven, but managed to sneak in the somewhat post-Romanticist Sonata Concertante of contemporary Leon Kirchner; last night violinist Felix Galimir and his chamber ensemble (one almost expected the program to read "Felix Galimir...
...Schubert Sonata in c also evidenced an intensive study of the score. Unfortunately, Schubert does not bear the same kind of analysis as Beethoven. As in Opus 109, Shure was careful to clarify every counter-voice, phrase-grouping, and point of articulation. This had the regrettable effect of making Schubert's structural joinings even more obvious than they are. Shure took the piece too seriously, not leaving room for enough of that Vienese Gemutlich and Empfindsamkeit that are Schubert, special charms. Shure's performance had plenty of pianissimo but not enough sparkle...
...still in the first heat of his love affair with George Sand. As well-made as it is, the work pouring of melody that is sapped of life by an attempt to bring out every element of compositional logic. After all, this music is French. As in the Schubert, Shure was at times heavy-handed, especially in the bass, and the melodies if not obscured were often quite overphrased...