Early and Late Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music

Yesterday afternoon in Davies Symphony Hall the members of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) presented the latest installment in their Chamber Music Series. Over the years that I have been attending concerts in this series, I have been struck by the prodigiously imaginative sense of repertoire; and last month’s program went as far as to include the world premiere of a composition by SFS Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins. Yesterday afternoon’s program was solidly rooted in the nineteenth century, but the perspective was from the two extremes of the period.

The second half was devoted entirely to Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 15 (first) piano quartet in C minor. This was one of Fauré’s earliest ventures into chamber music; and, as James M. Keller put it in his notes for the program book, the score “underwent a lengthy gestation.” Indeed, that gestation continued after the work was first performed in 1880; and the final movement was replaced entirely in 1883, resulting in the version that was published in 1884.

Fauré was a significant “transitional” composer. Indeed, his leadership of the Conservatoire de Paris was viewed by many as notorious when he decided that the music of Claude Debussy be added to the curriculum; and one can detect signs of Debussy’s influence in Fauré’s late works. (Fauré outlived Debussy by over half a decade.) However, the Opus 15 quartet dates from a time when nineteenth-century traditions were still strong.

Nevertheless, there is a freshness to this music that seizes the attentive ear with the churning rhythms that begin the opening movement. In addition, Fauré was clearly interested in exploring new approaches to sonority. The third (Adagio) movement has a passage that builds to a unison performance by all three of the string instruments. The first phrase is stated by the cello (Sébastien Gingras). It is then joined by the viola (Matthew Young) in the second phrase, thus “recoloring” the cello’s sonorities. Then the violin (Helen Kim) adds to the unison statement with yet another shift in coloration. The effect is subtle, but the impact is intense.

The opening measures of the third movement of Fauré’s Opus 15 piano quartet (first edition, from IMSLP, public domain)

In the midst of subtlety, it is also necessary to call out the superb piano work by Sayaka Tanikawa. The lid was raised to full-stick height, probably because the sonorities in the piano part are just as engagingly subtle as the passages written for the strings. However, Tanikawa’s sense of balance was impeccable. There was never the slightest sign that the piano might be overpowering the strings; and, as a result, the extent of Fauré’s command of instrumental coloration could be enjoyed to the fullest.

The intermission was preceded by the second (in A minor) of the two string quartets that Johannes Brahms published as his Opus 51. There is a restlessness that pervades all four of this quartet’s movements. By 1873 Brahms had established a rich foundation of chamber music composition, but he had not yet taken on the string quartet genre. Both of the Opus 51 quartets show clear signs that he was still finding his way.

Sadly, yesterday afternoon’s players, violinists Yun Chu and Polina Sedukh, violist Wayne Roden, and cellist David Goldblatt, seemed to reflect any of Brahms’ signs of disorientation, rather than overcome them. I have attended enough performances of the A minor quartet to know that it can be played with a stronger sense of direction. However, those performances were by string quartet players that had worked together for considerable time, rather than four musicians who came together through a shared interest in the composition.

The program began on a much stronger note with what might be taken as a “novelty” item by Louis Spohr. His Opus 31 nonet in F major, composed in 1813, brought a wind quintet together with the four instruments from the string family. Yesterday afternoon the quintet consisted of Catherine Payne (flute), James Button (oboe), Jerome Simas (clarinet), Chris Cooper (horn), and Rob Weir (bassoon), joined by Dan Carson on violin, Gina Cooper on viola, Amos Yang on cello, and Scott Pingel on bass. Thematically, the music could not have been more good-natured. However, as was the case in that Fauré Adagio movement, the real joy in listening came from the many imaginative ways in which Spohr blended the instrumental sonorities.

As might be guessed, this music does not get very much exposure. The fact that SFS has a Chamber Music Series at all provides an opportunity for musicians to direct their attentions to such compositions that are rare simply because of the resources they require. Every program presented in this Series has the potential to offer a journey of discovery; and, over the many years I have devoted to attending this Series, most of those journeys have been delightfully memorable. Yesterday’s “Spohr journey” was yet another example of what makes those experiences so enduring.