Music

Review: At Autumn Classics, dueling cellos and other virtuosic dramas

Sunday's performance in the Alaska Airlines Autumn Classics chamber music series featured a lot of strenuous virtuosity that drew a lot of loud applause from the audience at the University of Alaska Anchorage Fine Arts Building recital hall.

It didn't start on a high note. The announced program was rearranged, Smetana's Piano Trio in G Minor dumped and Beethoven's "Spring Sonata" brought in. The notes were played competently enough by violinist Bella Hristova and pianist Gloria Chien, but the performance had all the emotional sparkle of a junior recital.

Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt had sparks aplenty, however, in his performance of "In the Style of Habil" by Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (her name has multiple English spellings). The progress of this piece from murmuring lament to frantic dance reminded one of Indian raga forms, a connection enhanced as Chien used the piano in "prepared" form, whacking strings with a mallet or her fists, sometimes plucking them, lowering the key cover and slapping it like a drum at one point. I didn't expect the listeners to go for the peculiar piece, but they did and let loose a standing ovation.

They did the same for Hristova's ravishing performance of Eugene Ysaye's Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 27, No. 4. The compositional structure of the short work is solid and massive; a chaconne starts things off. For most of the time the musician is producing at least two simultaneous voices, each with its own arc, tension or passion. Hristova gave a reading that was technically clean, conceptually big and thoroughly, elegantly heartfelt.

Altstaedt returned with fellow cellist Zuill Bailey and Chien for Gian Carlo Menotti's Suite for Two Cellos and Piano, an unexpectedly romantic and melodic work, even for Menotti. The somber march opening and Brahms-like slow movement were done with taste and for the finale -- sort of a dueling cellos number -- Altstaedt and Bailey traded good-humored gestures challenging each other. The piece ended with a whirlwind of sound and a concluding standing ovation.

The Alaska Airlines Autumn Classics Chamber Music Series continues with the Juilliard String Quartet performing at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, in the Discovery Theatre. Zuill Bailey, accompanied by Susan Wingrove-Reed, will present the final recital at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14, in the UAA Fine Arts Building recital hall. Tickets are available at centertix.net.

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham was a longtime ADN reporter, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print. He retired from the ADN in 2017.

ADVERTISEMENT