Word: shure
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...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...
...fare at Sanders more than compensates for its geographic and acoustical disadvantages. Last night, Cambridge concertgoers were treated to a violin-piano sonata recital by professionals Jaime and Ruth Laredo. The young husband-and-wife team presented a program that was deftly complementary to the piano recital of Leonard Shure a week earlier. Once again a work of Beethoven provided us the cornerstone, this time one from his more extroverted second period--the Sonata in A major Op. 47 ("Kreutzer"). But if Shure concentrated on the nineteenth century, the Laredos almost seemed to go out of their way to avoid...
...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...
...work in which Shure's intellectual approach worked the least was Chopin's Sonata in b flat minor, Op. 35, the one that contains the famous Marche funebre. One of the composer' masterpieces, it dates from that period of his life when he was 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...
Still, these are relatively minor objections to a performance of three momentous works that was moving and inspiring. Shure began this year's summer concert series with neither a bang nor a whimper, but with a resounding reaffirmation of the piano and the Nineteenth Century. Euterpe should be pleased...