On February 6th, I attended “From Their Youth”, at the Barnett Hall at the UBC School of Music. The performance featured particular music originally unpublished by Brahms, and focused primarily on by Schubert and Vaughn Williams from their early days, and how they contributed to chamber music. Overall, the aim of the performers was to provide a complete picture for the two composers’ work in Chamber music. The performers consisted of a quintet of a violin (Mary Sokol Brown), a viola (Tawnya Popoff), a cello (Eric Wilson), a bass (David Brown), as well as a piano (Terence Dawson).
The first piece was Schubert’s Sonatensatz in B-flat major, D. 28 in 1812. It was noted that Schubert may have originally intended this work to be a part of a larger movement, however, it went unfinished, but was found in 1922. It was performed by a trio consisting of the piano, cello, violin (Dawson, Sokol Brown, and Wilson. The setting which was presented to the audience, was a serene and had a calm tone. The vibration from the strings resonated through the performance hall, which is a memorable part of the performance for me, as the violin was always one of my most favoured instruments to listen to. What was surprising about the performance, were that the three instruments responded to each other, in a fashion where they echoed each other’s lines and phrases, which was quite a beautiful interpretation. Stylistically, the lines from the strings had strong moments of legato (long-sustained notes and phrases), which interacted with the piano in an imitative-polyphonic theme.
Following this was the Vaughn Williams piece, Piano Quintet in C minor, which involved all five musicians. The piece consisted of three movements and is dated back to 1903. The first movement showcased the piano as the lead instrument, in terms of setting the tone and vibrancy in the song, while having the strings play strong lines of music and build on one another. Overall, the first movement was quite busy and painted a sound with much layering, through the string’s homophonic nature. The rolling chords of the piano reminded myself of one of my favourite pieces of classical music, Claire de Lune, by Charles Debussy. The second movement held stark contrasts, as it showcased moments of bold and intense playing, then switched to long flowing rhythms. Finally, the third movement featured the strings with precise, short lines, with the piano engaging behind them through a floating tempo. The image this painted me was of a sunset fading away in the distance, as the plucking of the strings drew to a close.
Overall this first experience was pleasant, as witnessing a live interaction of strings and a piano, with how the sounds vibrate off one another, is something I could never have experienced through listening to tracks online. As a whole, I was pleased to see the rebirth and reintroduction of these pieces being brought to life by the musicians, and that pieces of history involving Schubert and Vaughn Williams, were not lost through their interpretation and efforts.