North Shore Chamber Music Festival 2024 Day 1: A Triumvirate of Talent – Violinist.com

by admin June 29, 2024

June 6, 2024, 7:19 PM · To have a successful performance, you need to bring together a “triumvirate of talent”: talented musicians, talented composers and a talented audience.
Violinist Vadim Gluzman introduced the first night of the North Shore Chamber Music Festival (NSCMF) with that quote from the composer Sofia Gubaidulina, adding: “I promise we have all three!’
As the evening progressed, it grew clear that Gluzman was speaking the truth. The program, entitled “Kreutzer Sonata,” included Gluzman playing Beethoven’s most famous violin sonata (No. 9, Op. 47, the “Kreutzer”) with pianist Alessio Bax, as well as Prokofiev’s gorgeous Sonata for Two Violins played by Paul Huang and Danbi Um; and the rarely-played Piano Quintet Op. 74 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (who’s he? More on that to come…).
And this was just the first night – there are two more concerts, Friday and Sunday. Find the schedule, if you are in the area, buy tickets here, and if you are far away, view the livestream for free on here on their NSCMF Facebook page the Violin Channel via the Violin Channel.
Vadim, along with pianist Angela Yoffe, created this festival 14 years ago, as a way to bring it home and do it their way. The long-married team, who met as student musicians when they lived in Riga, Latvia, had been traveling all over the world for years to perform in festivals – it was so exhausting! Wouldn’t it be nice to simply have one in Chicago, where they now lived? They noticed a beautiful church right in their own neighborhood – the Village Presbyterian Church in Northbrook, Ill. and immediately knew that this was the place. And it has been, for 14 years.

Every year they bring their friends – touring musicians of the finest caliber – from around the globe to play together.
But also, they have cultivated a loyal audience that engages in the music, and that goes the distance to be part of it all. And I mean that literally – I met people who traveled here from Wisconsin, from Indiana, New York, Texas – from Mexico! And I’d just arrived from Los Angeles!
And actually Los Angeles is the last place where I saw Taiwanese-American violinist Paul Huang play – he and violinist Danbi Um were first on the evening’s program. I had not seen them perform together in-person, though I remember well seeing them play together during the pandemic (remember that?)
At the time Paul made the statement that they have “very different sounding violins, but in many ways so complementary to each other…”
On Wednesday they were playing those same violins for the first piece on the program, Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins (unaccompanied). Paul played the 1742 “Ex-Wieniawski” Guarneri del Gesù and Danbi played the 1683 “Ex-Petcheks” Nicolo Amati. (The del Gesù is on loan from the Stradivari Society, the Amati from a private foundation.)
While they played, I completely forgot that their violins are from separate centuries and by very different makers – they sang as one, finished each other’s musical sentences.
Part of this had to do with their excellent musical partnership, but it had to do with Prokofiev’s beautifully crafted piece, which Paul introduced with some humor. He shared that Prokofiev was inspired neither by nature or poetry, but “Prokofiev attended a horrible concert of a piece written for two violins, and he was determined to write something better!”

He also pointed out Prokofiev’s use of the half-step, or minor second interval – clashing tones that create tension. In the first-movement “Andante cantabile” this dissonance weaves in and out in long threads, resolving often in a perfect octave that is indeed very consonant and satisfying.
The second movement’s emphatic chords were full of energy, and this movement showcased their uncommon coordination, matching sound and articulation as they negotiated fast passages that had them volleying by the 16th note – an exciting flurry of sound. “Wow,” said the audience member in front of me as that movement concluded.

Violinists Danbe Um and Paul Huang performing at NSCMF.

The third movement, played with mutes on, was tender, and somehow as I heard it, motherly, like a lullaby in contrary motion. The fourth movement “Vivace” had Paul and Danbi expertly trading themes, focusing and fading like a camera lens, just enough to trade prominence. It was deliciously dissonant, with a hint of humor, perhaps a little parody, as in his Classical Symphony. The audience loved it and applauded enthusiastically.
Next Vadim performed the evening’s featured “Kreutzer” Sonata with pianist Alessio Bax, explaining first that although the piece bears a dedication to the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer (of the 42 Studies fame) – it was actually inspired, and originally dedicated to George Bridgetower (who, by the way, was a British musician, of African descent). After a personal argument between them about a lady friend, Beethoven retracted the dedication and gave it to Kreutzer – who never actually played the work.
No matter, the piece has been a staple of the repertoire ever since (and was even inspiration for a short story by Leo Tolstoy).
But violinists should understand, it is (as the program reflected) a “Sonata for Piano and Violin” – or as Vadim put it, “for piano and obligatory violin!”
Alessio and Vadim – having never performed the piece together before this evening – made for an exciting team.

Violinist Vadim Gluzman and pianist Alessio Bax.

While I have heard so many recordings by Vadim, I realized this was my first time hearing him play live. Here is a violinist who plays with 100 percent decision, with the kind of solidity and bravado to hold firm against the torrent of sound that Beethoven commands from the piano in this piece. These two musicians played right on the edge of “too fast,” and it was an exciting place to be. You could feel them pushing each other, and standing up to the challenge. The second movement, with its many variations, was a showcase for Alessio, with Vadim tossing off the speediest of accompaniment figures with a jolly sense of ease and a smile.
That sense of effortlessness continued in to the last-movement Presto. It’s such a labor-intensive piece for both instruments, and yet they played its intricate passagework with delicacy and ease.
During intermission I had barely turned around when I spotted a pair of fellow violinists – Darlene Rivest (a member of Violinist.com since 2017) and Pamela Simmons – who had come down from Wisconsin just to see this concert. Here we are!

Laurie Niles, Darlene Rivest and Pamela Simmons.

The evening concluded with the Piano Quintet in D minor by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a composer with a surprising number of connections and whose reputation would appear to have exceeded that of his famous colleagues. Before playing, Alessio gave us the rundown on Hummel. (there were no program notes for this concert; instead the musicians spoke before playing and also did a big Q&A at the end of the evening).
Hummel, who lived from 1778 to 1837, was a student of Mozart – and even lived in his home for several years. He was also a student of Salieri and Haydn, and a friend of Beethoven’s – he apparently played an improvisation at the great composer’s funeral. Later in life, he was a a teacher to Mendelssohn. The piece they were about to play was the original inspiration for Schubert’s “Trout” quintet and has the same instrumentation, with one representative from each bowed string instrument: violin, viola, cello, bass – plus piano.
Joining Alessio were Huang, violist Jan Grüning, cellist Ani Aznavoorian (who plays on a cello made by her father, the Chicago-based luthier Peter Aznavoorian) and double bassist Kurt Muroki.
Certainly my favorite movement of this four-movement work was the second, (amusingly) called “Menuetto o Scherzo” – Minuet or Joke! Indeed it was kind of a jokey minuet. Rhythmically intersting, in triple meter, it kind of stumbles over itself comedically. It also kept Alessio quite busy and gave Ani some wonderful cello solos which she played with joy and humor (prompting another audience member to sigh audibly, ” I just love the cellist…” The third-movement Andante put the bass on display with some animated pizzicato from bassist Kurt.
In all, these five musicians were kind of a master class in playing together – dynamics, articulation, coordination, great intonation – ahhh. What a pleasure to hear it when it all goes so well.

L-R: Paul Huang, violist Jan Grüning, cellist Ani Aznavoorian, double bassist Kurt Muroki.

Afterwards all the musicians from the evening sat onstage for a question-and-answer session, in which Gluzman and Yoffe’s 20-year-old daughter walked around and handed audience members a microphone so they could ask questions of the musicians. A few of them: What is it like to play on a fine violin? Weren’t instruments different in Hummel’s time, and how do you interpret the music, knowing that? Is chamber music harder than playing a solo? What is one secret your colleagues don’t know about you? (“I can play tuba,” said Alessio!)
Okay, so maybe they weren’t exactly ready to bare their deepest secrets, but here is a group of musicians were willing to engage with an audience and keep the conversation going, even after the last notes sounded. If we want that third part of the “triumvirate” – the talented and inquisitive audience – this is a good start!
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June 7, 2024 at 12:40 PM · Laurie, It’s all I can do not to jump on a plane and join you! This sounds like a wonderful festival. On a side note, Paul Huang is coming to Knoxville in the fall and I can’t wait to hear him live!
June 7, 2024 at 07:43 PM · Thank you so much for your usual excellent coverage. This concert was so amazing. So much talent and such interesting programming. And thanks for sharing our photo. It was so great to have an opportunity to chat:)
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