Listening to classical music is mostly about considering cultural artifacts from the past. But when a worthy piece of music comes to life in the present, I don’t usually actively consider its historical context while listening. (That would come thinking about it afterwards, or when reading about it.) However, sometimes at Early Music Now concerts I realize that I do ponder historical factors during the performance.
The clarinet is not an instrument most of us consider historically very often. The Saturday evening Early Music Now concert at Wisconsin Lutheran College was a refreshing opportunity to do so. Virtuoso Eric Hoeprich chose a particular clarinet to match the piece of music at hand, whether a reproduction of a period instrument, or a hundred-year-old German instrument. Compared to a modern clarinet played in the U.S., these clarinets have a mellower tone, among other differences.
Hoeprich was joined by Tanya Tomkins on cello, and Eric Zivian, who played the fortepiano for the first half and the modern piano after intermission. He was a master of both. I don’t encounter the fortepiano frequently, which has a much quieter sound than a piano. Its light key action allows for crisp and nimble playing. It took the entire first movement of Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat (Op. 11) to get accustomed to the fortepiano sound, and to stop bringing to it expectations of a modern grand. When Zivian moved to the Steinway for the second half, it allowed for a new appreciation of its powerful resonance.
This combination of musicians was especially in sync in every way, spontaneously playing as if of one mind in musical intentions, with each keeping the musical conversation lively and interesting. Vivid dynamic shifts etched in telling detail. This was sophisticated, evolved and sensitively played chamber music.
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The great Trio in A minor by Brahms was rich and poetic in this impressive performance. In Trio Pathetique by Mikhail Glinka, phrases were poetically and astutely passed from player to player. Hoeprich was brilliant in the flashy Concertino by Carl Maria von Weber. Zivian played keyboards with an insightful grasp of musical architecture.
