Tag Archives: Anton Nel

Splendid, Brilliant, Great, and More

There is a beautiful theater in the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, the Gunn Theater. It is in the style of a jewel box grown up enough for 316 people to admire the walls’ decorations and appreciate a truly great chamber music performance. Every seat is taken far in advance for the trio performances by Alexander Barantschik, violin; Anton Nel, piano; Peter Wyrick, ‘cello. On December 1, 2024, the program was all Beethoven: two sonatas and one trio. It is difficult to describe the extraordinary performances; only a list of all the superlatives possible will come close.

The artists had planned the program so that each combination of instruments left the audience gasping with ever more wonder.

Alexander Barantschik, violinist

Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Opus 12, no.1 (ca. 1798) opened the program. It is notable for the partnership between piano and violin. At the time that Beethoven wrote this sonata, the violin was considered the junior partner which could even be left out. Beethoven had written “for the Harpsichord or the Pianoforte with Violin.” However, the two music sources played together and occasionally competed which they also did together. They had alternating roles fitting in like individuals jumping in to jump rope: the one jumping has to jump out just a breath before the new jumper enters with a jump. It was fascinating syncopation satisfying visual and audio senses. A critic of the Leipzig news claimed the sonata was too difficult and made so on purpose. It would exhaust the audience and the performer. He wrote that, “There are always many who love difficulties in invention and composition, what we might call perversities…” Two hundred and twenty-six years later, Beethoven’s audiences are lucky to hear these difficulties.

Peter Wyrick, ‘cellist

The Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Opus 5, no.1 was written in 1796. Beethoven created eight works for ‘cello and piano. At this time, he was gaining attention as a composer. This music surprises the listener. It begins slowly, Adagio sostenuto, and ultimately turns into a very, very quick Presto and a challenging Rondo. The musicians play with amazing speed and equally amazing technique. The whole Sonata is wonderful; the latter part was so brilliant that it is hard to remember the lovely beginning.

Anton Nel, pianist

The program’s finale was Piano Trio in E-flat major, Opus 70, no. 2. It interested me that the movements are Allegro ma non troppo, Allegretto, Allegretto ma non troppo, Finale: Allegro. Was Beethoven in a particularly good mood when he wrote this? It was written in 1808. He did put restraints on exactly how Allegretto or Allegro the music could be. The spirit of the Trio is graceful and calm. It seems to me that Beethoven is exploring. He gives us thoughtfulness that is not mulling over. There are patches of light like a falling star, it seems to have an improvisation energy. He is the creative artist pondering but never ponderous. It is a wonderful, Beethoven world.

Biographies of each artist would take too much space in a post. Here are brief summaries, offered in alphabetical order.

Alexander Barantschik joined the San Francisco Symphony as Concertmaster, in 2001. Before that, he had been concertmaster of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He has been an active soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe. He has collaborated with Andre Previn, Antonio Pappano, and Mstislav Rostropovich. As concertmaster of LSO, he toured Europe, USA, Japan.

Anton Nel was the winner of the 1987 Naumberg International Piano Competition. He tours as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has performed with leading orchestras in the US: Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Seattle Symphony. He has performed in Wigmore Hall (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Suntory Hall (Japan), and other major venues in China, Korea, and South Africa. He holds the Long Endowed Chair at the University of Texas, Austin. He is also on faculties at the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.

Peter Wyrick was a member of the SF Symphony cello section, 1986-1989 and rejoined the SFS as Associate Principal Cello, 1999-2023 when he retired from the SF Symphony. He was previously principal cello withthe Mostly Mozart Orchestra and associate principal cello with New York City Opera. He has been soloist with SFS in C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major, Bernstein’s Meditation No.1 from the Mass, Haydn’s Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major. He has collaborated with Yo=Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Jean=Ives Thibaudet, among others.

SPECTACULAR CHAMBER MUSIC @ The Legion of Honor Museum

SPECTACULAR CHAMBER CONCERT @ THE LEGION

The Gunn Theater in the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum was the site for a magnificent performance, Dec. 3. 2023. Gunn Theater holds three hundred and sixteen in a jewel box setting. The San Francisco Symphony presents chamber music concerts there through the season always featuring outstanding musicians. The music selections are usually something different, something new even if, as in this program, the music is very old.

The program was all trios; two by Bach and one by Schubert. Anton Nel was the harpsichordist for the Sonata No. 3 in E major for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1016 and the Sonata No. 3 in G minor for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV 1029. Alexander Barantschik, Concertmaster of the SF Symphony, was the violinist who leads the music in this Sonata. It was an audio treat to hear the harpsichord, especially as the Gunn Theater is far smaller than the Davies Hall. It awakens a different way to listen for the notes. In the Sonata No. 3 in E major the violin opens the experience with an expressive sound that seems to reach across broad vistas. It is followed by a delightful, light Allegro as though accessible to young people or even presented for the folk instead of the elite. Bach goes back to an Adagio – ma non tanto (but not too much)– which opens into keys unusual in a Bach sonata; that’s the new in the old. At the end, Bach allows the sound more energy and, as though on the brink of cliff, the music sweeps through the air on a lift off of counterpoint. Barantschik presented a marvelous touch from the elegance of the first Adagio to the delicacy of the second movement to the energy and reach of the finale.

Johann Sebastian Bach, composer (1685-1750)

In the Sonata No. 3 in G minor for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV. Peter Wyrick played the cello, and demonstrated that the Viola da Gamba has a higher pitched string than the cello so he added a string to his cello. It gave the audience the feeling that they could notice how he bowed diagonally to make the higher sound. This trio was livelier than the one in E major. The playing of the harpsichord and cello was a pleasing sound as the two sound sources found places to alternate or reach over each other’s music. The three movements ranged from Vivace to Adagio to an exciting Allegro conclusion. Did you think that Bach could not be exciting? Listen to these elegant and totally innovative pieces; you will have an exciting surprise.

The trio included Alexander Barantschik, Concertmaster of the SF Symphony, on the Naoum Blinder Chair, Violin. He has been concertmaster of the London and Bamberg Symphony Orchestras, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He was concertmaster for major symphonic cycles with Michael Tilson Thomas, Rostropovich, and Bernard Haitink.

Peter Wyrick, ’cellist on the Lyman & Carol Casey Second Century Chair, served as Associate Principal Cello, 2022-2023. Previously, he was principal cello of New York’s Mostly Mozart Orchestra and associate principal cello of the New York City Opera. His chamber music collaborations include Yo -Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Anton Nel, pianist, has an active performing life having performed with the Cleveland, Orchestra, Chicago , Dallas, and Seattle Symphonies as well as international venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Suntory Hall, and in China, Korea, and South Africa, his home. He holds the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at Austin. In summers he is at the Aspen Festival and School and the Ravinia Festival and its Steans Institute.

Franz Schubert, composer, 1797-1828) (posthumous painting by Rieder, 1875)

Franz Schubert’s remarkable Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898 is a soaring, gorgeous forty minute long sail to happiness. I know that art connoisseurs are suspicious of happiness and beauty, but this is art of a different species. Schubert’s genius is above it all. When he wrote this music, he was thirty years old. He had only one year more to live and to create music that is essential for us, two hundred and twenty-six years later.

From the opening Allegro moderato, Schubert shows his originality by playing with the sonata form. He writes in “wrong keys” several times. It is a gentle wake up call to the listeners, “do not let the beauty lull you so much that you will miss the floating sensation and the changing scenery of sound. The composer, Robert Schumann, was especially taken by the first movement as “graceful and virginal.” The second movement, Andante, is slower, and this writer must use the term that pops up in others’ descriptions; it is dreamlike. And yet, this dream is not one for sleep or inactivity. It carries us along on a breath as though riding on a kite through a forest. The Scherzo offers surprise musical changes keeping the listeners just enough off balance to laugh at ourselves. Schubert closes with a Rondo: Allegro vivace. It leads our imaginations and memories to cherish the moment, so lovely but never lasting. Schubert was aware that he was terribly ill. He still shared joy.

This threesome will perform again at the Gunn on Jan. 28. That concert is sold out, but it is worth it to see if someone seeking snow goes to Tahoe. There is another concert on June 2 with the same noble artists, music by Mozart, R. Strauss, and Smetana. It is too good to miss.

Barantschik, Nel, Wyrick Meet Beethoven, Chopin, Shostakovich

Chamber music at the Palace of the Legion of Honor is always a high point of San Francisco’s musical season. Remarkable musicians playing some of classical music’s finest selections in a theater that looks like the inside of magical music box: it’s great. Sunday, November 1, opened the season with Beethoven’s Trio in G major, Opus 1, no. 2; Chopin’s Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Opus 54; and Shostakovich’s Quintet in G minor, Opus 57. Each one was a gem. The character of each was entirely different from the others. I mention that for readers who may think narrow thoughts about chamber music. You have been misled; these are peak musical experiences. Alexander Barantschik, the Concert Master of the SF Symphony, violin; Anton Nel, piano; and Peter Wyrick, Associate Principal Cello of the SFS formed the trio for Beethoven. Michael Grebanier, SFS Principal Cello was scheduled to perform but replaced by Wyrick. The music was delightful. Beethoven plays with bright emotions, letting his lyricism and great heart carry the listener into an ideal natural world. The Scherzo movement offers syncopation and suggests a folk dance. The Finale: Presto sweeps aside any constraint, calling upon the pianist for virtuosic performance and yet keeping all three in an exciting ensemble. It was thrilling to watch and to hear these artists.

Extraordinary pianist Anton Nel heads the Division of Keyboard Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He has performed frequently with the San Francisco Symphony as well as the Cleveland, Chicago, London orchestras, and in partnership with Alexander Barantschik in the Chamber Music series. His performance of Chopin’s Scherzo No. 4 was a gift. Although a life long Chopin devotee, the Scherzo was not familiar to this Hedgehog. It was performed with exquisite style and taste. Nel gave Chopin the leading role and by doing so showed his own brilliance. It is a big piece, not at all a piece of another, grander work. The listeners were given much to embrace and absolutely stellar musicianship.

In the Shostakovich Quintet, SF Symphony musicians Florin Parvulescu, SFS violin, and Jonathan Vinocour, SFS Principal Viola, joined Barantschik, Nel, and Wyrick. Concert goers who feel they know Beethoven and Chopin could have been quite surprised by the selections by those composers on this program. They were both fresh and profound. They may have been most impressed and surprised by the Shostakovich. His music is not played so often, was shut out of programming for decades, and when presented now opens the mind and heart with forceful, beautiful, sometimes soul wrenching music. While Shostakovich suffered greatly when out of favor with Stalin and his henchmen, this Quintet was written and premiered during a brief interlude of acceptance. It is glorious. Its premiere was 1940, but it sounds new and full of life. Its performance by this quintet of champion musicians provided music that could send the entire audience aloft. The persistence of the Russian dances in the last movements whirled us along while a thoughtful, musical spirit appears as if to whisper a reminder of a quiet secret. The audience called the quintet back for multiple bows. Each of the performers deserved whole hearted cheers.

Pictures from top: Beethoven, photo of Chopin by Bisson, 1849; Shostakovich.