PARK CITY MUSIC FESTIVAL, Temple Har Shalom, Park City, July 17; runs through Aug 1; www.pcmusicfestival.com
The Park City Music Festival, which is in its 27th season, never fails to delight its audiences with its outstanding programming that focuses on both the standard chamber repertoire as well as neglected works.
And Sunday’s concert in Temple Har Shalom was no exception. It was a wonderful afternoon that featured the music of two of the big names in 19th century chamber music, Antonin Dvorak and Johannes Brahms, together with a work by Ernest Chausson. At the time of his death at age 44 Chausson didn’t leave a large body of works, but what he did write includes some of the best chamber music from the late 1800s.
On the program was the French composer’s Piano Quartet, op. 30. The work is wonderfully melodic and lushly romantic. There is also an exuberance and vibrancy that flows out of the music and envelopes the listener. It is a glorious work and the musicians gave a shimmering account. The four – violinist Monte Belknap; violist Leslie Harlow; cellist Jeffrey Solow; pianist Michael Gurt – captured the work’s expressiveness with their perceptive interpretation. Their playing was dynamic but always lyrical.
The concert opened with Dvorak’s Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Dumky. The work runs the gamut of emotions and expressions and Belknap, Solow and Gurt played it with a radiance that brought out all of its nuances and subtleties. The trio is symphonic in scope and the three musicians captured its expansiveness with beautifully crafted phrasings and articulation.
Brahms’ Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, op. 120, no. 2, rounded out the program. One of his most reflective and lyrical works, it was given a reading that brought out its subtle nuances and turns of phrases. Clarinetist Russell Harlow’s mellow tone was perfectly suited for the romantic character of the work. With Gurt at the piano, the two let the music speak for itself. And the result was an absolutely refined and polished performance.
