What an opener!

Concert audiences emerged from Lakeside School's St. Nicholas Hall Tuesday evening with that happily shell-shocked expression of listeners who've just heard a whomping-good performance. The evening's grand finale, Dvorák's Piano Quintet, is a well-worn masterpiece that is performed only slightly less regularly than "The Star-Spangled Banner," but seldom at this level of incandescent expertise.

From the gorgeous Robert deMaine cello solo that opened the Dvorák to the high-energy finale, the five players nailed every phrase with immensely strong ensemble playing. Violinists James Ehnes and Carmit Zori were well matched by deMaine and violist Toby Appel; Alon Goldstein's pliant, fiery work at the keyboard knit the music together.

The spontaneity is all part of the excitement of chamber music at this festival. These players may never perform together again, and the Dvorák is never going to sound quite the same; you're hearing a presentation that is fresh and new and chance-taking. When it clicks, it really clicks.

The Dvorák was far from the only excitement of the Tuesday opener. The pre-concert recital found a capacity audience dodging rain showers to hear pianist Shai Wosner play an appropriate choice: Beethoven's "Tempest" Piano Sonata (Op. 31, No. 2).

Review


Tuesday at Lakeside School

Wosner, a young prizewinner who just won an Avery Fisher Career Grant, gave the work a distinctively dramatic reading full of stark contrasts, with a touch ranging from detached and declamatory to an almost Impressionistic delicacy.

Wosner was an apt partner for another excellent performer, the young violinist Jonathan Crow, who also is concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Crow's stage presence may not be the equal of his vivid playing (the very tall young man walked out on the stage as if facing a firing squad), but his musical finesse immediately created a most favorable impression. In the Brahms A Major Violin Sonata, Crow produced a beautifully easy, liquid tone that seduced the ear with both warmth and elegance.

A Beethoven trio (Op. 9, No. 2) for violin, viola and cello brought together Ida Levin, Roberto Díaz and Steven Doane, respectively, for a performance that was only intermittently successful. Despite Levin's strong musical personality and expressive playing, the performance had no give-and-take, and there were some ensemble problems.

Not every configuration of players and works will strike sparks, but Tuesday's audience still had much to applaud.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com