Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Johann Sebastian Bach :: Schubert, Brahms, Bach

A tribute to Stern as chamber-music devotee

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 06/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I doubt that anyone ever did more for chamber music in America than Isaac Stern, with the possible exception of the Budapest String Quartet. Stern was the heart and soul of recordings with Pablo Casals from the Prades Festival in the early Fifties, leader of the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio through the Sixties, and ended up the elder statesman in the generation of Yo-Yo Ma.



This tribute concentrates on the last two phases. I've never heard a better Schubert Piano Trio #1 than this one from Istomin-Stern-Rose. As a pianist, Eugene Istomin wasn't as forward as Stern and cellist Leonard Rose, yet the group always managed to be sparkling and exciting beyond other ensembles. Here they avoid being too cautious and refined; their Schubert has spine, and yet each melody is tenderly expressed. Rhythms are secure and a bit broader than usual in order for the players to bring out expressive detail.



The sound quality, which is only adequate in the Schubert, jumps up several notches in this powerful, intensely expressed Brahms String Quintet #2 with Yo-Yo Ma and friends. I don't think it has any rivals for getting at the heart of Brahms's impassioned romantic yearning--you can hardly believe as you listen that he has a reputation for Victorian stodginess. Less known than they should be, both string quintets are masterpieces, and Stern leads a performance that underlines just that, hearkening back to the days when Casals inspired such totally committed readings.



As fillers we get the short Sarabande from Bach's Partita #1, played with great feeling and security in the double stops, and Mozart's winning Rondo for Violin and Orchestra K. 373, which Stern plays showing the vitality and good humor he was known for.



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