For the second concert of its 2011-12 series, the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth featured pianist Di Wu and flutist Nadine Asin in works by J.S. Bach, Max Reger, Haydn and Shostakovich. Although one work didn’t include piano (Reger) and the piano part to another was of secondary importance (Bach), Ms. Wu was billed as the primary guest artist. She was a finalist in the most recent edition of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held in Fort Worth, a distinction that confers a kind of celebrity in this city. The other guest artist, Nadine Asin, was featured heavily in the two works that included flute (Bach and Reger). Robert Davidovici, violinist and Artistic Director of the CMSFW, performed in each of the works, and the other resident artists featured were cellist Karen Basrak and violist Susan Dubois.
Ms. Asin and Mr. Davidovici shone in Bach’s Trio Sonata in C minor, BWV 1079 from the Musikalisches Opfer (“Musical Offering”). Both played with a beautiful, warm sound the entire afternoon, and here they offered a wonderful variety of musical ideas. This is an “abstract” Baroque work – as opposed to one based explicitly on dance forms, or a vocal work incorporating a (usually sacred) text – and these two artists fully met the challenge of giving life to Bach’s pure counterpoint. Whether unaccustomed to their supporting roles or lacking conviction in their musical intentions, Ms. Wu and Ms. Basrak (playing the continuo, or bass line) were auxiliary at best. Regardless, this work was meant to showcase the two upper parts, and especially to please its dedicatee Frederick the Great, who was an accomplished flutist.
The choice to program the Reger Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola, Op. 141a immediately after the Bach was a wise one. With everyone’s ears having been attuned to contrapuntal music, the Serenade, which can come across as aimless and insubstantial, was revealed to be intricate and well-balanced. For those unfamiliar with Reger, his music is meticulously crafted; much of it continues a musical lineage from the late works of Brahms, although Reger is far more idiosyncratic in his harmonic language and emotional spectrum. The unexpected twists and turns in the score were charmingly and thoughtfully rendered. Ms. Dubois joined Ms. Asin and Mr. Davidovici in a very convincing performance.
Haydn’s piano trios (there are 26 in total) are inexplicably underplayed, so it was a pleasure to hear his Piano Trio in E Major, Hob. XV:28 next. However, this performance didn’t do much more for audience members (at least for this listener) than merely present an infrequently-heard gem. There were some fine individual efforts, primarily from Mr. Davidovici, but virtually no consensus on style, phrasing, or character. For all the attention thrust on her, Ms. Wu seemed out of sorts here and in the Shostakovich. Perhaps anxiety over a 5:15 pm flight to a recital the next afternoon – the reason given for keeping the introductory remarks very brief – contributed to the matter-of-fact moments of her playing.
The same held true in Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67. Ms. Wu, Mr. Davidovici, and Ms. Basrak once again played capably, and at times admirably, but their musical ideas were too often at odds with one another, zapping the performance of chemistry. A striking exception to this was the second half of the Largo, music full of pathos and highly funereal (this movement was likely borne out of mourning for Ivan Sollertinsky, a friend Shostakovich had recently lost). Inconsistencies in tempo and articulation among the instruments marred the tension and bitter irony of the danse macabre finale, but here, too, there were some special moments. While the artistry was lackluster here and there, the Chamber Music Society did a service to all with their thoughtful programming and generally high quality instrumentalists. And Ms. Wu was probably finished in time to make her plane.
