Leon Kirchner

Leon Kirchner has had a startling career as a professional pianist, a most prominent composer, and now Professor of Music at Harvard. He put this versatility into practice last night in performing with violinist Joseph Silverstein and cellist Samuel Mayes; yet the quality the three produced in works of Mozart and Kirchner himself was not uniform. As is so common with ensembles that feature contemporary music, the performances of modern works surpassed those of the classical ones.

Kirchner's Sonata Concertante, for violin and piano, composed in 1952, came off best. He has said that "an artist must create a personal cosmos, a verdant world in continuity with tradition," and the Sonata indeed shows the stamp of this belief. Every moment of its sustains a high emotional pitch, ranging from raucous frenzy of hushed placidity. The work requires great virtuosity throughout, but these demands always have a purpose: for example, the piano provides either intricate counterpoint or a clamoring backdrop for the violin's protesting flourishes. Kirchner and Silverstein had the necessary technique, and established the rapport such music needs.

But sustaining so charged an atmosphere seriously complicates the form of a piece. Two important meloes, both rich in very tasteful nostalgia, suddenly become boisterous and frenzied, and these transformations fuse effective relations to the themes. Moreover, the raucous passages are too often static, and end up seeming like mere busy work. The performance, however, somewhat remedied this defect by giving one melody a meater internal variety.

Kirchner's Trio of 1954, for violin, cello and piano, a better work because it brings its various emotions together more skillfully. Its serenity is more abstract than the Sonata's and shares with the contrasting eruptive mood, a deep intensity; outbursts from the cello in the second movement resemble similar ones in the first, thereby connecting the two contrasting movements. The protracted development of this final movement is not at all a forced one, but unfortunately the performance brought it to an inconclusive ending. All the same, the three artists brought out well the work's great rhythmic activity and skillful changes in expression.

The Mozart was another matter. Opening with the Sonata in E flat Major, K. 481, for violin and piano, Silverstein and Kirchner lost their coordination several times and displayed poor balance generally. Kirchner had rather sloppy technique, especially in scale passages. The Trio II in B flat Major K. 502, caused them still more trouble in keeping together, and they gave a generally perfunctory reading. Perhaps the saddest commentary on the evening was the number of people who left (unwisely, as it turned out) before the work best performed: the Sonata Concertante.