Philomusica Quartet In a French Mood

Philomusica Quartet.

The Philomusica Quartet (violinists Jeanyi Kim and Alexander Mandl, violist Nathan Hackett and cellist Adrien Zitoun) welcomes pianist Melinda Lee Masur for a chamber music concert at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Monday evening, April 24. The concert will feature two rarely heard string quartets and one of the greatest of the piano quintets by César Franck.

Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) has been recognized for Symphonie Espanole but his chamber writing is little known. His String Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 45 was not well received in an original version of Op. 19, so he thoroughly revised it as Op. 45 in 1886, twenty-five years later. A lovely ‘song without words’ marks the Adagio movement, and his family’s Spanish heritage appears in a Spanish-themed Scherzo. But as a native of northern France, the quartet features strong rhythms and contrasts influenced by German compositions. As a member of a chamber group, the Armingaud Quartet, he would have played most of the German repertoire.

César Franck (1822-1890) wrote Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 14 (1878), an unusually romantic, dynamic work. The quintet contains structures that reflect Schubert and Brahms, but the emotional melodies and expressive character presage other changes in French chamber music that led to the emphasis on color and tone in later works by Debussy and Ravel.

Few French composers in the late 19th century wrote chamber works that might compare to the Lalo and Franck compositions. Of the two, Franck’s Piano Quintet has become a favorite in the chamber repertoire.

Mandl talked about the range of the quintet. “It literally goes from the bottom to the top dynamically.” For a heroic triple fortissimo, the piano can overwhelm the strings unless carefully balanced. The very quiet sections are difficult for the piano to play as softly as called for. Mandl views the slow movement as the most delicate – with celestial statements from the violin. “Almost like snowflakes coming down from heaven. You can almost smell the perfume.”

The Philomusica interpret the work as a conversation. The piano is the master, and the violin the student. Perhaps the student did not know of the turbulence going on in the infatuated head of Franck. The recurring theme through the movements adds to the intensity of the work. “It feels like a whirlwind at times.”

An active piano soloist and chamber player, Masur has continued to tour with her chamber group, the Lee Trio, to contribute to festivals she co-founded in New York and to support programming at Tanglewood as Director of Piano Chamber Music. During her three years in Milwaukee (she is married to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra music director Ken-David Masur), she has been invited to play with a number of Milwaukee chamber groups. Mandel reflects, “It’s a delight to play with Melinda. We played with her last year; we had a Milwaukee Musaik concert also with her. She’s such an experienced chamber musician, somebody who understands the music.”

The Philomusica will also perform a piece by American composer Caroline Shaw, who at age 30, became the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013. Philomusica will perform a short work by Shaw, Entr’acte (2017), that, for all its minimalist tendencies, has staying power for those who hear it. Shaw writes in the piece’s notes: “I love the way some music suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.” Fragments of music come together, suggesting a hymn-like theme.

Mandl observes: “You get into these fragmentations of materials that sound sort of almost like thoughts as if thought could have a sound but not necessarily be spoken yet. And where the pause is, you actually get to hear somebody thinking. She manages to achieve a wonderful balance of what is tonal music versus what are just contemporary modern effects.”

The Lalo and Shaw compositions may be new to many listeners. The Franck piano quintet may already be a favorite. With an accomplished guest pianist, stirring melodies, and a dramatic presentation, the piano quintet will certainly be the highlight of the evening.

The Philomusica concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Schwan Hall (8815 Wisconsin Ave.) on the Wisconsin Lutheran Campus on Monday, April 24. Tickets may be purchased at the box office (414-443-8802) or online. Free parking is available in a garage just east of the hall.