Brahms: Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 / Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4. Andrew Wan, violin; Jonathan Crow, violin; Sharon Wei, viola; Eric Nowlin, viola; Brian Manker, cello; Peter Stumpf, cello. Walter Hall, July 12, 2024.
After a spectacular opening night of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, where the sold-out audience witnessed an extraordinary melding of crystalline Baroque sonics with 21st century break-dancing vibes, the second mainstage show the following evening was altogether more conventional, but every bit as memorable. It featured six instrumentalists in two beloved chamber works, Johannes Brahms Second String Sextet in G Major, Op. 36, and Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4, the original chamber version for string sextet.
Brahms composed his Sextet in G Major when he was all of 31. Given that he had a long life (for his time!), it counts as an early work, but fully mature, aesthetically darker than his more familiar Sextet no. 1. Listening to no. 2 live for the first time in years, I found myself marvelling at the crystalline sounds, the impeccable musicality, not to mention the technical prowess of the ensemble. Yet, to be honest, I found myself more engaged intellectually rather than emotionally to the music.
For the latter, I had to wait until Verklärte Nacht in the second half. Unlike the Brahms, I have attended numerous performances of it in my 60-plus years of concert-going. I admit that I prefer the lush, highly dramatic sounds of a full orchestra in this work. Of the many recordings, the von Karajan and Berlin Philharmonic remains my gold standard, with Pierre Boulez and the French Radio Orchestra a close second. Regrettably, my exposure to the string sextet version in recent years was mostly through YouTube.
This work marks Arnold Schönberg’s late-Romantic/pre-atonal phase of his musical journey. When I heard it for the first time as a university freshman in class, I instantly fell in love with his use of expanded tonalities, the angular dissonances, and above all the melodically inspired 4th Movement, the Adagio. I never forgot in a class, a famous composer-musicologist quipped that Schönberg composed Verklärte Nacht before “he went off the deep end,” which I assumed the speaker was referring to the composer’s later 12-tone musical idiom…
The inspiration of Verklärte Nacht comes from German poet Richard Dehmel’s poetry collection, Weib und Welt. A couple is walking through the woods in the night. The woman confesses that she’s carrying the baby of another man, a stranger, because she longs for motherhood. Instead of feeling betrayed, the man replies that he accepts her for what she is, and that their love can transcend any difficulties. At that moment, the moon appears and floods the woods with its radiance. He tells her how the world is radiant because of their mutual love for each other, and that he will accept the baby as theirs.
A brief introduction of the text was given before the performance, setting the stage for the tone poem.
What followed was a performance that took my breath away. I heard extraordinary clarity of expression. I discovered subtle nuances in the 30-minute piece that I had overlooked. The sensitivity, musicality, depth, and precision of the six performers were extraordinary. The tempo was on the slow side but never slack, only slow enough to allow the music to breathe. There were solo moments for each of the six players, and they played their moments in the spotlight with great beauty, yet never for the sake of showmanship, but as an organic whole. It was a performance to cherish, destined for the memory bank.
A glorious start to the chamber component of Toronto Summer Music 2024; the festival continues to August 3.
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