TIMES ARGUS - By Jim Lowe Staff Writer / Jul 12, 2024 Updated Jul 12, 202
Violinist Philip Setzer, right, Manchester Music Festival’s new artistic director, cellist David Finkel and pianist Wu Han opened the 50th anniversary season of the chamber music festival on Thursday at the Southern Vermont Arts Center.
Manchester Music Festival
Manchester Music Festival presents “The Romantic Journey,” faculty chamber music concerts, at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 8, plus MMF Young Artist concerts and special events at Southern Vermont Arts Center’s Arkell Pavilion in Manchester. For tickets or information, go online to www.mmfvt.org
Manchester Music Festival opened its 50th anniversary season Thursday, introducing the festival’s new artistic director with a performance that could only be called sublime.
It sounded as if the three had been playing together all their lives, and they pretty much had. Philip Setzer, violinist of the renowned Emerson String Quartet, which just disbanded after 50 years, is the festival’s artistic director as of this season. He was joined by pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finkel, artistic directors of the august Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Setzer met Finkel when they joined in string quartets at Juilliard, eventually leading to the formation of the Emerson. Interestingly, they also both once played in Vermont’s Craftsbury Chamber Players. How Wu Han became part of the ensemble I’m not sure, but she and Finkel married in 1985.
So, the unusual and compelling intimacy of Thursday’s performance should have come as no surprise.
This intimacy added an unexpected element to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat, Op. 97, “Archduke.” The very personal playing, singly or together — without any eccentricity or agenda — brought out often hidden lines and tenderness throughout this grand work. Inner lines, often glossed over by the passion and grandeur, emerged making for a new listening experience. Without the three’s expert virtuosity, that could not have happened.
And still, the passion and grandeur were all there.
Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat, Op. 100, a piece this trio has recorded together with No. 1, is a big Romantic work, yet this ensemble found an important role for its intimacy. Here, their approach resulted in an irresistible musical storytelling, perhaps reflecting Schubert the songwriter, as each instrument conversed with one another making total sense.
And when it was time, Wu Han, Setzer and Finkel joined together for the grand and passionate Romantic moments, making this performance intimately compelling, exciting and deeply rewarding.
The trio added a little dessert for an encore, the witty and charming finale to a trio by Joseph Haydn — expertly played.
For the season’s second concert, July 18, Setzer will turn to his favorite program, the Manchester Music Festival Young Artists, several of whom will join in Tchaikovsky’s string sextet, “Souvenir de Florence,” Op. 60. Also featured are two Vermont festival favorites, pianist Jeewon Park and cellist Edward Arron, who will be heard in works by Mendelssohn (with Setzer) and Schumann.
Setzer’s inaugural year-long program, which he calls “The Romantic Journey,” seems to be bringing a new richness to the Manchester Music Festival.