The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News October 1, 2004

Faculty present sonatas

As autumn approaches and the air outside cools, the music of Johannes Brahms warms the soul. Much soul warming occurred last Sunday night in Kulas Recital Hall when Conservatory faculty Kyung-Sun Lee and David Breitman performed Brahms’ three sonatas for violin and piano.

Lee and Breitman opened the concert with a delicate and sensitive interpretation of the Sonata in A Major, Op. 100. The sweet lyricism of the first movement was reminiscent of Brahms’ vocal music. The second movement, however, alternating between Andante tranquillo and a scherzo-like Vivace, lacked contrast between styles. The tempo and character of each section were too similar and needed distinction.

The Sonata in D Minor, Op. 108 demonstrated a more dramatic mood in Lee and Breitman’s playing. The mysterious atmosphere of the first movement left the listener in anticipation of what was to come. The sweetness of the slow movement that followed was the most consoling, and Lee’s heartfelt phrasing was particularly explicit. After a frisky Scherzo, the sonata ended in a whirl of energy and passion. Both players exhibited stellar technique and fiery temperament.

The longest of Brahms’ violin sonatas, Op. 78 in G Major, made up the second half of the concert. Lee and Breitman’s playing was lovely but lacked a certain rhapsodic flexibility that the work demanded.

What made this evening especially unique was the use of Breitman’s 1853 Bösendorfer piano. A recent addition to his collection, this concert marked the instrument’s first public performance since it was restored six months ago. While it has almost the same range as today’s keyboards, it does not have the cast iron frame of a modern piano. The action, like that of Mozart’s fortepiano, consists of leather-covered hammers. The result, as Breitman explained, was an ideal balance for the thick textures of Brahms; the violin would not have to play too loud, and the piano would never overpower the soloist.

Unfortunately, if anyone was overpowered Sunday evening, it was Breitman. The Bösendorfer lacked the full, powerful sound characteristic of modern pianos. The tone was somewhat dull, which was especially obvious in the Sonata in G Major’s slow movement.

In contrast, Lee’s 1723 Guarneri de Jesu violin filled Kulas with a rich, full-bodied sound. The instrument projected extremely well; it often drowned out Breitman’s Bösendorfer.

A weak element of the performance was the program order. While the Sonata in G Major was the longest of the three works, its character was too light and anticlimactic to finish the concert. The more substantial and dramatic Sonata in D Minor would have been a more appropriate end to the evening.

Overall, the performance was a huge success. Both Lee and Breitman played with genuine feeling and a profound love for Brahms’s music. The audience, filling every seat in Kulas Recital Hall, thanked the players with a well-deserved standing ovation.
 
 

   

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