Pärnu Festival Gala a Musical Feast

Horn quartet at Pärnu Festival gala (photo by Taavi Kull)

A gala concert by the Festival guests is a regular feature of the Pärnu Music Festival in Pärnu, Estonia. The year’s gala, July 20 at the Kontserdimaja (Concert Hall) in Pärnu, brought together 25 superb musicians, including a viola quartet (performing a transcription of the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin), a horn quartet (in music by Bruckner and Humperdinck), an ensemble of nine instruments performing Witold Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes (1954/1959), a clarinet/bassoon duo (Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon), plus the Piano Quartet in C-sharp Minor by Estonian composer Eduard Tubin and Brahms’ String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major. It was, in a word, a feast.

clarinetist Matthew Hunt and bassoonist Martin Kuuskman (photo by Tea Tuhkur)

Lutoslawski’s five aphoristic pieces, ranging from brisk and frisky to soulful and expansive, were given performances to match by violinist Kirsti Kuusk, violist Peijun Xu, cellist Andreas Lend, bassist Nikita Naumov, flutist Heili Rosin, oboist Riivo Kallasmaa, clarinetist Toomas Vavilov, bassoonist Peeter Sarapuu and French hornist Samuel Seidenberg. Clarinetist Matthew Hunt and bassoonist Martin Kuuskman did the honors for Poulenc’s Sonata, giving it bounce, romance and a big dose of high-spirits.

The horn quartet – Seidenburgs all and related (Samuel, Mirjam, Sulamith and Aaron) – brightened the evening with an Andante in D-flat Major by Bruckner (transcribed by Michael Höltzel) and “Evening Prayer” from Humperdinck’s opera “Hansel and Gretel.” Their encore -- a great deal of fun -- was “Fidele Grünröcke Marsch” by Alfred Diewitz.

The viola quartet – violists Mikhail Zemtsov, Julia Dinerstein, Dana Zemtsova and Andres Kaljuste, all fine players – did not fare as well in Bach’s Chaconne, sounding heavy and dark in contrast to the lightness and agility a solo violin can achieve. Violist Pejun Xu and cellist László Fenyö had a more congenial task in duos by Hindemith (his propulsive, spicy Duo for Viola and Cello, 1934), Beethoven (Minuetto from “Duet with Two Eyeglasses Obligato”) and Mozart (Andante Cantabile from his Duo for Violin and Viola, K. 424, arranged for viola and cello).

Tubin and Brahms filled out the program royally. Tubin’s single-movement Piano Quartet – violinist Mari-Liis Päkk, violist Kaljuste, cellist Jason Calloway ad pianist Sophia Rahman – was well-played and romantic, with a dance-like conclusion.

Performing Brahms' Sextet in B-flat Major, July 20, 2013, Pärnu Concert Hall (photo by Tea Tuhkur)

Brahms’ Sextet, which followed, was one of the highlights of the evening. Violinists Arvo Leibur and Sandis Šteinbergs, violists Mikhail and Dana Zemtsov and cellists Andreas Lend and Marius Järvi crafted the delicious sound in which it is drenched. This is warm, sunny Brahms, with a dramatic theme and variations (led off beautifully by Mikhail Zemtsov on viola), followed by a bracing Scherzo and a cheerful finale. (first published at ConcertoNet.com)