Photo by Nathan Russell
Aeolus String Quartet, which just completed its time as resident graduate string quartet at Juilliard, appeared on the Frankly Music season finale last week at Wisconsin Lutheran College. This ensemble plays with unusual sensitivity and finesse, and made Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor sound new and fresh.
Aeolus joined violinist Frank Almond and pianist Winston Choi in Ernest Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, rarely encountered. It’s sort of a combination of a sonata for violin and piano and a concerto, more Romantic in style than most of this composer’s output. Choi was stunning in the very difficult piano part, playing with refinement and a sophisticated sense of balance. This music was very flattering to Almond’s sound and abilities, allowing him to spin out a long melody with gorgeous tone. Frankly Music continues to set the standard for chamber music in Milwaukee, and would be treasured in any city in the world.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra moved to the Pabst Theater for its concerts of last weekend. Guest conductor Edwin Outwater apparently had a hand in building the program, with two works by young American composers comprising the first half, and a brief experimental work preceding Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 after intermission. It seemed more a conductor’s indulgence than an aesthetically balanced concert.
Composer Sean Shepherd (b. 1979) was heard in These Particular Circumstances, seven very difficult and densely intricate movements with many fascinating sounds that seemed not to add up to a persuasive structure. I had the same reaction to So Far So Good by Nico Muhly (b. 1981), greatly admiring sections of it, but feeling disappointment at its overall statement.
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Morton Feldman’s four-minute 1970 piece, Madame Press Died Last Week at Ninety, an interesting obsession over a brief motive, led into the Beethoven symphony. Outwater led a stately and expressive performance of this famous music, with tempos daringly slower than those generally encountered today. The Pabst Theater acoustics allowed clarity in every detail. The cellos were especially impressive in the nimble, tight ensemble featured work in the third movement.
