SummerFest’s Celebration of Mozart and Pärt

By Ken Herman | August 8, 2024 |

Works by W. A. Mozart and Arvo Pärt filled La Jolla SummerFest’s Wednesday, August 7, concert at The Conrad. Music Director Inon Barnatan arranged the six selected works by these two composers in alternation—a kind of musical club sandwich. Shifting back and forth from these two polar idioms set up a healthy artistic tension, and the finesse of the performers made this clever experiment persuasive.

(l. to r.) Erin Keefe, Stefan Jackiw, Sterling Elliott & Nicole Divali [Photo (c.) Ken Jacques]

Four SummerFest musicians—violinists Erin Keefe and Stefan Jackiw; violist Nicole Divali and cellist Sterling Elliott—gave an electrifying account of Mozart’s C Major String Quartet, K. 465, “Dissonance.” Dedicated to his mentor in the arena of string quartet composition Joseph Haydn, this work offers a strangely dissonant opening section that gives the quartet its name, and its buoyant “Menuetto” movement set in the bright original key of C Major abruptly shifts to a dark C Minor in the “Trio” section. The SummerFest musicians unleashed the splendor of Mozart’s quartet with consistently elegant phrasing that maintained the work’s immaculate, transparent textures.

(l. to r.) Blake Pouliot & Sterling Elliott [Photo (c.) Ken Jacques]

Violinist Blake Pouliot and cellist Sterling Elliott happily surprised the SummerFest audience with their exciting account of Mozart’s rarely encountered Duo for Violin and Viola, K. 423. Pouliot’s bright, cantabile sonority and his muscular characterization of the composer’s inventive themes were ably complemented by Elliott’s less assertive but equally impressively suave, mellow interpretation of the viola part. History buffs will be amused to learn that this Mozart work was written in the style of Joseph Haydn’s younger brother Michael Haydn.

And for San Diego music lovers who want to hear more of Blake Pouliot, he will be playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the San Diego Symphony on Friday, August  30, at the Rady Shell in the orchestra’s annual Tchaikovsky tribute concert.

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein solos in “Fratres” [Photo (c.) Ken Jacques]

Pärt has arranged several versions of his popular work Fratres, and SummerFest patrons were privileged to hear his most extravagant version, Fratres for Cello, String Orchestra, and Percussion in this concert, featuring cello soloist Alisa Weilerstein. Her fiery arpeggios suggested apocalyptic alarm, especially played against the ethereal, muted strains of the strings that surrounded the soloist in darkness while the soloist was illumined by a bright overheard spot. Subtle percussive beats added to the work’s compelling mystery. Fratres is one of Pärt’s most convincing Minimalist essays, and I doubt I will have another chance to experience this rich setting of Fratres..

Spiegel im Spiegel is another excellent example of Pärt’s highly appreciated works, and pianist Anna Han created an ideal sonic tableau with her delicate but immaculately articulated articulations as well as her deft use of the piano’s sustain pedal. I thought that Stefan Jackiw’s suppressed–sometimes barely audible–characterization of Pärt’s mysteriously sustained melodies failed to balance the sonic cloud that Han produced.

Any respectable church choir has surely sung Mozart’s familiar Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618, and the British ensemble VOCES8 performed the work accompanied by the SummerFest strings. Although the harmonies of VOCES8 sounded immaculately tuned and carefully balanced, like Jackiw’s solo line in Spiegel im Spiegel, I found the British singers overly understated, without so much as a hint of expressive consideration.

This concert was presented by the La Jolla Music Society at part of SummerFest 2024 at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in downtown La Jolla on August 7, 2024.

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