Recent Berlin Phil Series live-streamed events have had a profusion of chamber music. This week the strings-and-winds Berlin Philharmonic Octet played the great Schubert Octet and two shorter works, including the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Textures, which was to have been played 10 times during a tour to Japan and Taiwan. And chamber music figured prominently in last week's Tribute to Daniel Stabrawa.
The caption text in this screen grab is a translation of voiceover commentary from Daniel S. himself, part of one of the "tribute" sections of the May 30 Digital Concert Hall event.
by Ken
Stipulating that you already love Dvořák's strange and surprising and also singularly luscious Terzetto in C for two violins and viola (after all, aren't Dvořák's surprises, especially the stranger ones, usually singularly luscious?), and you know that longtime Berlin Philharmonic first concertmaster Daniel Stabrawa is going to be playing it with two colleagues from the orchestra, violinist Krzysztof Polonek and violist Ignacy Miecznikowski. Would you think maybe that "something's up"?
Since heaving up a preliminary version of this post earlier this afternoon, after I'd started rewatching last the May 30 Berlin Phil Series tribute to Daniel Stabrawa (now that it's available in the Digital Concert Hall), I've started re-rewatching, this time loading it on my computer so I could make some screen grabs, including those above. I've rewatched Daniel playing the Panufnik Concerto for Violin and Strings (which now seems to me quite a lovely piece; I'll be rewatching again) and especially I've rewatched the performance of the Dvořák Terzetto, which is absolute gold.
To return to the lineup for the Dvořák trio, you were probably smarter, not to mention more suspicious, than I am, even without my prompting. Let's take this a step farther and look at Krzysztof's and Ignacy's official Berlin Phil webpix.
SO, WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?
Krzysztof Polonek, Concertmaster
Born in Cracow
Member since 2009-12-01
[Note, by the way, that while Krzysztof is a certified Berlin Phil concertmaster, he's the "other" one, as opposed to the three "first concertmasters": our pal Daniel S. and our other pals Noah Bendix-Balgley and Daniel Kashimoto. While one might think this makes Krzysztof the "fourth concertmaster" -- what with, you know, the three-way tie for first -- it doesn't seem to work that way. Confuses the heck out of me, but the boys seem to have it in hand and the orchestra seems to be managing okay.]Ignacy Miecznikowski
Born in Cracow
Member since 2009-12-01
No doubt you've observed that Krzysztof's and Ignacy's Berlin Phil tenures began on the very same day, Dec. 1, 2009. I can't tell you anything about this, though I assume there's a story, which possibly relates to the "Born in Cracow" matter. In which connection you should probably be told, in case you didn't know, as I didn't before the May 30 live stream, that Daniel S. himself not only is Polish-born but specifically hails from -- yes! -- Cracow.
Daniel S.'s Polishness presumably has something to do with his affinity for the music of the "Polish-born British composer" (as he's often described) Sir Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991); certainly his playing of the Panufnik Violin Concerto in the live-stream Philharmonie performance came from the heart, and moved me more than I've ever been moved by this composer's music. More specifically, though, the Cracow connection has everything to do with the lineup of "drei Krakauer," three Cracowians, that Daniel lined up for the live-stream performance of the Dvořák Terzetto.
IS IT TOO PAT TO CHALK IT UP TO "SLAVIC SOUL"?
Daniel S., Krzysztof P., and Ignacy M.: The "three Krakauer" in action
I'm sure it's an oversimplification, but I'm also pretty sure there's something to it, our "drei Krakauer" so beautifully inhabiting the music of their Czech ethnokin Antonin Dvořák. I really wish you could hear them play the Terzetto. We can at least hear the music, since I did a unit of gruntwork before I ran into the familiar wall of blogorific uncertainty, making all the audio clips for the traversal. The performances are "off the shelf" -- i.e., what I was able to lay hands on on short notice. We've got Czech and non-Czech performers, and in our small sample they're noticeably different, the Czechs being more inclined to expansiveness and tonal richness.
In the clips that follow I've tried to arrange some contrast in each pair of performances, to at least hint at the music's inherent range. There is, by the way, a still-unusual but heartening case of generational kinship in the two Czech ensembles. We're familiar with father-son ones, but Jana Vlachová, the first violinist of the Vlach Quartet Prague (which I gather toyed with the moniker "New Vlach Quartet"), is the daughter of the outstanding violinist and conductor Josef Vlach, leader as well as name-giver of the original Vlach Quartet. That said, the Chilingirian Quartet's recordings demonstrate for me as wide a range of musical identification as I've encountered in a string quartet, and I do love the Chilingirian's extensive Dvořák series for Chandos. (I've never been much of a fan of "The Lindsays," but I think they hold up their part well enough here.)
With regard to the piece itself, I've noted below the unbroken link between the first and second movements, but this really applies to the whole piece, which is designed to proceed unbroken, which is to say not the way we're about to encounter it. There's inherent fascination in the sound world Dvořák creates out of his two violins plus viola. While the three players often engage in two- or even three-part polyphony, they also mesh and interconnect in both solo and accompanimental lines. In general, though, the instruments remain in their own "territorial" zones: high (1st violin), middle (2nd violin), and low (viola).
DVOŘÁK: Terzetto in C for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 74
i. Introduzione: Allegro ma non troppo
Chilingirian Quartet members: Levon Chilingirian and Mark Butler, violins; Louise Williams, viola. Chandos, recorded in Cambridge, Apr. 13-14, 1992
Vlach Quartet Prague members: Jana Vlachová and Karel Stadtherr, violins; Petr Verner, viola. Naxos, recorded in Prague, Aug. 28-29, 1995
ii. Larghetto [follows without interruption, just a brief "hold"]
The Lindsays members: Peter Cropper and Ronald Birks, violins; Robin Ireland, viola. ASV, recorded in Petersham (England), Jan. 1-4, 1992
Vlach Quartet members: Josef Vlach and Václav Snítil, violins; Josef Kod'ousek, viola. Praga, recorded in Prague, 1958-62
iii. Scherzo: Vivace. Trio: Poco meno mosso
The Lindsays members: Peter Cropper and Ronald Birks, violins; Robin Ireland, viola. ASV, recorded in Petersham (England), Jan. 1-4, 1992
Vlach Quartet Prague members: Jana Vlachová and Karel Stadtherr, violins; Petr Verner, viola. Naxos, recorded in Prague, Aug. 28-29, 1995
iv. Tema con variazioni: Poco adagio; Molto allegro; Moderato
Chilingirian Quartet members: Levon Chilingirian and Mark Butler, violins; Louise Williams, viola. Chandos, recorded in Cambridge, Apr. 13-14, 1992
Vlach Quartet members: Josef Vlach and Václav Snítil, violins; Josef Kod'ousek, viola. Praga, recorded in Prague, 1958-62
ABOUT DANIEL STABRAWA
The Digital Concert Hall listing for the Tribute to Daniel Stabrawa contains what seems to me an exceptionally interesting background note:
“Even as a child, it was clear to me that I would become a violinist,” Daniel Stabrawa once said in an interview for the Digital Concert Hall. His passion for the instrument and music predestined him for this profession. Born in Cracow, he became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1983, and in 1986 he took over from Michel Schwalbé as 1st concertmaster. Since then, Berliner Philharmoniker audiences have known him in this function, effortlessly and unobtrusively coordinating the communication between conductor and orchestra since then, and impressing listeners with wonderfully performed solo passages. Daniel Stabrawa also appears regularly as a soloist with the orchestra. Most recently, he performed Karol Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle in 2016. The violinist has also appeared as a soloist with Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon’s successor as chief conductor of the Philharmoniker: in 2012 he performed the Music for Violin and Orchestra by the little-known composer Rudi Stephan, who died at a young age.
In a programme in May 2020, the musician – who discovered orchestral conducting in the mid-1990s – was to appear not only as solo violinist but also as conductor with the Philharmoniker. However, due to the restrictions necessitated by the corona pandemic, the originally planned performances of Mozart’s First Violin Concerto and Schubert’s Fifth Symphony had to be cancelled. Andrzej Panufnik’s only violin concerto, which in its original version is also accompanied only by a string orchestra, is however still able to be performed as planned – albeit without an audience – as part of the Berlin Phil Series.
In Panufnik’s composition, the vocal and lyrical sides of the violin are shown to their best advantage. The Polish composer wrote the piece for Yehudi Menuhin in the early 1970s: “When Menuhin asked me to compose a violin concerto for him, I immediately thought of his unique spiritual and poetic qualities and felt that I should give him the opportunity to bring out these rare gifts and not obscure his deep inner musicality with virtuoso fireworks.”
In two works added to the programme, Daniel Stabrawa can also be heard as a chamber musician and, in an archive recording, as concertmaster with the full orchestra: together with his Philharmoniker colleagues Krzysztof Polonek and Ignacy Miecznikowski, he plays Dvořák’s unusually scored trio for two violins and viola. It reveals in miniature form the melodic ingenuity, the inspiration of Czech folklore and the feeling for dance rhythms that distinguished the composer.
Daniel Stabrawa played for the longest time as concertmaster of the Philharmoniker under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. The violinist is grateful to him among other things for his tireless exploration of the repertoire and rediscovery of works. Among the composers who played an important role under Herbert von Karajan was Jean Sibelius, and with Rattle, a passionate advocate of the composer once again shaped the course of the orchestra. The conductor twice performed all of Sibelius’ symphonies during his tenure. Stabrawa has chosen the Fourth for the Berlin Phil Series concert: Unlike the much more famous Fifth, this one does not end in triumph, but rather fades away after an extended process of searching, which, while it does not abandon tonality, nevertheless leaves a question mark in its persistent circling around dissonance.
OH YES, WHILE I WAS AT IT, I DID AN AUDIO GRAB
OF A PERHAPS STILL-STRANGER LITTLE PIECE
DVOŘÁK: Gavotte for Three Violins
Chilingirian Quartet members: Levon Chilingirian, Mark Butler, and Louise Williams, violins. Chandos, recorded in Cambridge, Apr. 13-14, 1992
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