Originally published Friday, July 25, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Concert review
Pianists were stars of the evenings at Seattle Chamber Music Summer Festival
Concert review: Pianists are Gypsies among musicians — they must wander from one concert hall to the next, playing instruments never truly their own...
Special to The Seattle Times
Seattle Chamber Music Society
Summer Festival at Lakeside School, 7 p.m. free recitals, 8 p.m. concerts, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, through Aug. 1, plus a 7 p.m. Family Concert July 29, 14050 First Ave. N.E., Seattle; $31-$42 single tickets, $16 students with ID or 25 and younger; subscription discount; Family Concert $8 general (206-283-8808 or www.seattlechambermusic.org).Summer Festival at Overlake School, 7 p.m. free recitals; 8 p.m. concerts, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Aug. 6-15, plus a 7 p.m. Family Concert Aug. 12, 20301 N.E. 108th St., Redmond; $38-$42 single tickets, $16 students with ID or 25 and younger; subscription discount; Family Concert $8 general (206-283-8808 or www.seattlechambermusic.org).
Live broadcasts on KING-FM (98.1) at 8 p.m.
Pianists are Gypsies among musicians — they must wander from one concert hall to the next, playing instruments never truly their own.
Fortunately, the Steinway that anchors the Seattle Chamber Music Summer Festival is a fine beast, one with enough power to fill the concert hall and enough responsiveness to express each player's idiosyncratic style.
And, boy, were the three pianists at last Wednesday night's concert different indeed.
In the first piece of the evening, Alexander von Zemlinsky's hauntingly pretty Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in D minor, pianist Anna Polonsky's playing was well-articulated, sonorous and lush. During one particularly impressive moment (of many) in the second movement, she led the clarinet (a brilliant Frank Kowalsky) and cello (Robert deMaine, masterfully filling in for Ronald Thomas) in a careful descent to the lower registers before tracing a glistening path back into the light. Utter delight.
Polonsky could have easily dominated the concluding Allegro with its repetitive chords, but instead maintained a lovely balance with her peers, bringing an intensity of joy to this rollicking movement.
In the Beethoven Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn in E-flat Major, Op. 16, pianist Adam Neiman played the piano as a ruffled adornment to the stately deliberations of the wind instruments (Nathan Hughes, oboe; Sean Osborn, clarinet; Seth Krimsky, bassoon; Jeffrey Fair, horn).
The entire second movement, in fact, sounded like one big trill, which — when combined with some heavy pedalling — produced some rather sticky-sweet sensations. The total effect might have been hopelessly foppish had Krimsky's bassoon not provided some much-needed gravitas.
Which brings us to Jeremy Denk. Such stamina! Such range! The man has played piano on every concert since opening night, and Wednesday's performance concluded his festival run.
I will miss his sure-handed power, his even-keeled interpretive style. He's as dependable as Old Faithful at delivering a great show.
The Cesár Franck Quintet for Piano and Strings was the ideal vehicle for his strengths: This dynamo of a piece offers spectacular dramatic shifts, from the eerie gauziness of the second movement to the thunderous surges of the third.
Denk brought all his characteristic firepower to bear on this piece and was — passionately aided by Lily Francis and Jun Iwasaki on violin, Richard O'Neill on viola, and Toby Saks on cello — completely blew it out of the water. A fine way to end a most impressive festival run.
On tonight's concert Anna Polonsky will play Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Schumann with pianist Orion Weiss. Adam Neiman will accompany violinists Jun Iwasaki and Lily Francis, violist Richard O'Neill, and cellist Robert deMaine on Sergei Taneyev's Quintet for Piano and Strings in G minor.
Polonsky and Neiman will also perform on Monday July 28's concert in a program of Chopin, Franck and Schumann with various other artists.
Sumi Hahn: sumi@bewodo.org
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Viva Coldplay: Brit rock, well-done
Seattle's Origin Records named JazzWeek's Label of the Year
Music takes top billing at Olympic Music Festival
Seattle Chamber Music Summer Festival kicks off with a sizzling concert
DANCE This: Annual explosion of youth dance

Gen. David Petraeus: Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Watch highlights of General David Petraeus discussing the Iraq and Afghanistan War at the Global Leadership Series sponsored by the World Affairs Council.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
shopping

events for Friday, Jul. 10th
- Impulse + Totokaelo Spring Inventory...
- Tottini Argington Sale
- Julep Nail Parlor "Sandal-Ready and S...
- Show Pony Summer Sale
editors' picks
More shopping guides- Seattle-area homebuilder losing projects to foreclosure
- Health-plan costs soar for individuals
- Trees vs. houses: Narrow, leafy street is last chance for two Madrona homes waiting to be moved
- World's largest solar plant may be built in Cle Elum
- Mariners Blog | Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik again declines to quell Yuniesky Betancourt trade rumors
- Chase won't pay for Seattle's Lake Union fireworks next year
- Lawmaker says CIA director ended secret program
- Driver killed, deputy and prisoner injured in head-on crash near Monroe
- Drunken man shocks Spain with his generosity
- The end of the light-line line, for now: Tukwila's "Taj Mahal" station
- Health-plan costs soar for individuals
567 - Obama's own party worried health plan lacks votes
352 - Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners: 07/09 game thread
243 - Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik again declines to quell Yuniesky Betancourt trade rumors
183 - Chase won't pay for next year's Lake Union fireworks
131 - World's largest solar plant may be built in Cle Elum
129 - Trees vs. houses: Narrow, leafy street is last chance for two Madrona homes waiting to be moved
94 - Franklin Gutierrez bails Mariners out in a 3-1 win
77 - House Dems want to expand secret briefings
74 - Chase will longer sponsor Lake Union fireworks
57
- Seattle-area homebuilder losing projects to foreclosure
- World's largest solar plant may be built in Cle Elum
- Health-plan costs soar for individuals
- Group hopes to build 75-megawatt solar park near Cle Elum
- Grab the kids and hop on Amtrak for a stress-free getaway to Portland
- Trees vs. houses: Narrow, leafy street is last chance for two Madrona homes waiting to be moved
- During financial crisis, the business of college sports is complicated by Title IX
- Local Smith & Hawken garden stores to close
- Lavender tour on Vashon Island leads round of festivals
- Green River Valley plans ahead for possible flooding



