Leclair, Mozart, Chausson/Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Juilliard String Quartet. Dec. 12, 2022, Roy Thomson Hall.
More than six decades after his debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, Itzhak Perlman has not lost his power to draw a crowd. He still gives the multitudes something to hear, to judge by a concert Monday night in Roy Thomson Hall.
With, it should be stressed, some friends, including the A-list pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the storied Juilliard String Quartet. It is interesting that the Israeli-American violinist was able to retain a leadership role amid such company without pushing his tone or otherwise compromising the ideals of chamber music.
We did not hear all seven players together but we did hear six in Ernest Chausson’s Concert Op. 21. This four-movement opus of 1891 maps various shades of struggle and triumph in a melancholy and distinctly French dialect.
Formerly famous as clear-eyed purveyors of modernism, the Juilliard players created a texture of remarkable silkiness, leaving just enough room for Perlman, who functioned as a soloist above the fray. His generous vibrato was suited to the idiom. If Thibaudet had his laborious moments at the Steinway, the lavish score never lost momentum. The Liebestod-like surges of the finale earned cheers from the crowd.
Before intermission, we were in another world, starting with the Sonata for Two Violins Op. 3 No. 5 of another Frenchman, Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764). Perlman took the primo part, but Areta Zhulla (the Juilliard first violin) was by no means a second stringer. Lines are amply contrapuntal in this masterly minor-mode work. A feeling of cooperative but restless exchange sustained interest through to the end.
Ax was at the keyboard in Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 K. 493. His polished tone was nicely matched to Perlman’s relaxed sound on top. The violinist played the second theme of the first movement with spellbinding lyricism and a touch of portamento. Such indulgences are out of style. Why, then, did the performance seem so purely and effortlessly Mozartian?
Molly Carr and Astrid Schween were the violist and cellist. (Juilliard second violin Ronald Copes is the only member of the quartet who joined in the 20th century.) The concert was dedicated to the memory of Carr’s predecessor, Roger Tapping, who died last January. He was one of the musicians who conceived of this “friends” program. It was a good idea.
The crowd was a mix of experienced music lovers and infrequent-flyers who came to see Perlman. Transporting himself on a scooter, the affable 77-year-old addressed the house before the Mozart, reporting that the composer had given him a call and asked for no clapping between movements.
It was particularly opportune advice since no printed program was available before intermission. At any rate, the humorous admonition worked, at least by the second movement. More presenters should try making announcements. Turn off your cellphones, reserve applause for the end of a piece. Simple.
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