Although I know that the 20-somethings of Generation Y are not actually so engrossed in electronically delivered content that they will surf the net through the apocalypse, I’m old enough to acknowledge some relief when I experience examples that assure a brilliantly evolving world.
Violinist Stefan Jackiw (jack-EEV) and pianist Joyce Yang presented Tryon Concert Association’s 2011-2012 penultimate concert Jan. 20 at the Tryon Fine Arts Center to a packed house that honored the duo with two standing ovations.
Given their willowy agility, music for the ballet “Pulcinella” was the perfect opener for Jackiw and Yang, whose walk across the stage bespoke their gifts before either had made a sound. Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne” reminds us that Stravinsky cannot be associated with any particular style, nor should this neo-classical piece be considered a 20th century regression to be treated with restraint. The duo gave this nine-movement work a compelling freshness that is surely what Stravinsky was aiming for (in spite of impressario Diaghilev’s instructions to “arrange” the music Pergolesi had chosen to convey the story of Pulcinella almost 200 years earlier).
Violin, like other treble instruments, provides no “hidey places” for bad intonation, sloppy fingering and shapeless phrasing. Jackiw’s sound matches his description of his particular centuries-old Italian instrument. As told to Richard Dyer for Harvard Magazine: “It is pure and clear. It isn’t aggressive, but it is full of colors.” Yang can claim the same for her playing if she admits to an athleticism that occasionally blurs the boundary between unbridled enthusiasm and co-opting the piece.
Mozart’s “Sonata No. 32 in B flat Major, K. 454” was cleanly and beautifully played. The duo’s shared respect for downbeats created exhilarating forward motion in the fast sections and purposeful undulation in the Andante. There are certainly no “hidey places” in Mozart, so singular attention to even the tiniest detail is foremost. Their precise pacing and tasteful coloration of sequential motifs, both ascending and descending, made for the only true collaborative success on a very difficult program.
“Subito” (“Suddenly”), composed in 1992 when Witold Lutoslawski was almost 80 years old, served as the perfect palate cleanser between the Mozart and the closing Brahms. This relatively new piece is wildly difficult in every respect and would have been something Paganini might have enjoyed playing for the sheer spectacle of such speed and range. Serving as counterpoint to calm, lyrical passages, the dazzling portions benefited from the duo’s solid technique as well as their keen feel for good drama.
The magnificent Brahms “Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108” closed the program with poignancy and pizzazz – the latter a description I reluctantly apply because it doesn’t belong in the same sentence with Brahms. I found Jackiw to be a more mature artist than Yang in terms of concept and nuance, but his insights were occasionally lost in Yang’s sparkling, disconcertingly clean accompaniment that should have been more brooding, wavelike and mysterious with hemiolas more subtle and bass at least occasionally blurred and rumbly. The beautiful second movement (Adagio) was repeated as an encore, allowing us once again to enjoy Jackiw’s smooth, pitch-perfect double stops.
All in all, this was a first-rate program. Jackiw and Yang have already achieved star status and worldwide acclaim and will continue to brilliantly evolve in their boundless world of sound.