JAVS Fall 2011

ously, as part of a CD devoted to Pleyel’s concertante work. Or rather, to a minuscule part of it, since Pleyel was an uncommonly productive composer, as well as one not to let absolutely anything go to waste. The violin/viola Symphonie Concertante exists in at least two other versions: for fortepiano and viola with orchestra and for (unaccompanied) string quartet. The piece had already been recorded in the 1970s by Isaac Stern and a moonlighting Pinchas Zukerman, with conductor Daniel Barenboim trying to turn it into Brahms’s Double Concerto. The present per formance incurs in no such indulgence, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra being just the right size for this rather feather-weight but nevertheless beautifully crafted music. Perry and Chiang are wonderfully attuned to each other, as they have to be, since the solo parts often take recourse to what in Germany is known as “Schweineterzen” (“swine’s thirds”), with both parts locked in parallel thirds for considerably long periods. Otherwise, both players are given solo spots of the “anything you can do, I can do higher” kind, which they audibly relish. The two-movement violin/viola piece is by some way the shortest on this CD, which makes it all the more enjoyable. In spite of a touching slow movement, the one for two violins seems to go on for just that bit too long and without the tonal contrast offered by the viola’s presence. Especially, let it be added, when it is graced by Ms. Chiang’s nicely dark, slender tone.

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