Posted on: Sunday, May 16, 2004

Masterworks concert polished by masters

By Ruth Bingham

The term "masterworks" contains more latitude than it implies, applying not just to the greatest works by the greatest masters, but also to great works by relative unknowns, mediocre works by accepted masters, great performances of almost anything, and pretty much whatever great performers choose to play.

The mainstay of masterworks concerts, however, has long been the three B's — Bach, Beethoven, and someone else whose name begins with B: Brahms, Bartok, Berlioz, Barber, Boulez, Bruckner, the Beatles, take your pick. Stravinsky more logically completes the triumvirate, but the alliterative lure proves too powerful to resist.

For its Halekulani Masterworks concert Friday night, the Honolulu Symphony chose Beethoven, Berlioz and Brahms.

The concert opened, ironically, with the only unalliterative but probably greatest masterwork of the evening, which was not on the program: the slow movement from Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, conducted by Lynne Johnson, who won the fund-raising bid to guest-conduct.

Officially, the concert opened with Brahms' "Variations on a Theme by Haydn," a perennial favorite. Despite the name, the theme was probably composed by Pleyel, one who slipped from the ranks of master. No matter: Brahms more than made up for the theme's humble origins, transforming it with his richly contrapuntal imagination.

"Theme and variations" tend to be stolidly sectional pieces rather like sets of building blocks, each variation a discrete unit. But in the hands of a master, those blocks somehow yield an elegant whole.

On Friday, Maestro Samuel Wong balanced both levels, highlighting details within variations while maintaining the overall arch-building to a satisfying climax.

It was, as usual, Beethoven that provided the focal point for the three B's. Pianist Jane Coop of Canada performed his Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, one of the earlier works so often overshadowed by his later monuments.

Coop's style proved enormously appealing: light, clear, sensitive, intelligent and with a grace that suited early Beethoven. She also played like a teacher (that is a compliment): i.e., like someone who not only senses but also understands and can express what each passage means.

Although lacking in Beethovenian power, Coop revealed nuances rarely heard in more robust interpretations. She voiced her lines carefully, using the pedal judiciously to retain clarity. And the way she used her hands was as visually beautiful as it was effective.

She handled Beethoven's famous purple patches especially well — those digressions through mysterious realms that wander so far afield as to become otherworldly before returning home through secret back doors.

The second half of the concert was dedicated to Berlioz's "Harold in Italy" Symphony With Solo Viola, a work the great virtuoso Paganini commissioned but declined to perform.

Berlioz's viola protagonist, Harold, is a sensitive artiste who observes life but does not participate, and is finally driven away, appalled by its primitive side. So while the first movement presents an intriguing character, the remaining movements relegate that character ever further into the background.

In the second movement, for example, the orchestra delineates a procession while the soloist accompanies with a repeated-repeated-repeated figure. The soloist also sits out nearly the entire last movement, returning only for musical bows at the end — as part of the string section.

The piece is somewhat more successful as an orchestral work that happens to have prominent solos for viola, but as a solo vehicle it is spectacularly ungrateful. That it remains in the repertoire at all speaks less to its quality than to the dearth of solo works for viola.

Fortunately, Mark Butin, principal violist of the Honolulu Symphony, redeemed many of the piece's shortcomings. His lyric theme in the first movement was luxuriously, achingly beautiful. His soft-as-possible passage in the first movement was literally that: No one breathed as all strained to hear the echoed melody.

Butin's dancing melodies had toes tapping, his own included. And he made the most of the viola's unique timbre, a warm velvet to the violin's cool satin.

The concert program will be repeated at 4 p.m. today at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Information: 792-2000.