Cellist Amit Peled

EMOTIONAL BLOCH PIECE HIGHLIGHTS PELED'S RAC RECITAL

Heavy rain Jan. 21 did not deter a capacity audience from enjoying the excellent acoustics of the Sebastopol Community Church and a recital by Israeli American cellist Amit Peled, with pianist Peter Miyamoto.

The recital’s theme was “American Landscapes,” and Mr. Peled is known for augmenting his recitals with comments, explanations, background information and, not infrequently, humor. At this recital he explained that in keeping with its American theme he’s recently received US citizenship and is now playing an American cello, made by Carl Becker in Chicago in 1931. He added that this is the first major instrument that he’s actually owned himself, rather than “having to be nice to foundations” that have loaned him old and valuable instruments, as from 2012 to 2018 when he performed on the 1733 Matteo Gofriller on which Casals made all his recordings. In 2018 he performed a recital in Duluth, duplicating the same program that Casals performed there 100 years (to the day) earlier, with the same instrument.

As is the custom at Redwood Arts Council presentations, recitals are opened by short performances by promising local soloists. On this occasion, Ms. Bella-Sofia Andrews, age 7, offered two Chopin preludes from his Op. 28, No. 6 in B minor and the E Minor (No. 4), the chord progressions of the latter familiar to non-classical listeners as Frank Sinatra’s “How Insensitive.”

Amit Peled can be a rather commanding stage presence, growing up on a Kibbutz in Israel, and at 6’5” he had to choose at an early age between a career in basketball and one in music. With hands commensurate with his stature, he can effortlessly extend to reach notes for which cellists of more normal size have to shift positions. He noted, however, that this is not an unmixed blessing, as in the higher “thumb” positions the notes become closer together. In the event, he demonstrated during the recital, in which a number of pieces spent significant time “at altitude,” and that he has no difficulty accommodating this factor, with perfect intonation even on notes barely an inch above the end of the fingerboard.

The recital opened with a transcription of Gershwin’s Three Preludes, reminiscent of his Opera Porgy and Bess. The first, played strong and jazzy, showed not only the duo’s comfort with the idiom but their evident enjoyment playing together. The second, quiet and evocative, included immaculate double stops, while the third, marked, like the first Allegro ben ritmato e deciso, could almost have been a variation of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from the same opera. Throughout, the virtuoso’s interpretation revealed not only beautiful section balance and clear and direct upper registers, but also lower registers on the G and C strings that were excitingly powerful in loud passages, but in quieter ones might best be described with the hackneyed adjective “velvety.”

Next came an Adagio for cello and piano by Florence Price. It’s based on a movement from one of her string quartets and incorporated several themes that, while not obvious quotations from spirituals or farm songs, nonetheless had a distinct African American flavor, and the emotions were beautifully conveyed by both players. This was followed by an arrangement of an actual spiritual, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” with the melody in the cello floating over bluesy augmented chords in the piano accompaniment.

Continuing in the American theme was the Waltz and Celebration from Copland’s 1938 ballet Billy the Kid. It begins with pizzicato double stops followed by an almost Appalachian country sounding melody, while the subsequent celebration had a whimsical and almost march-like feeling. Once again, the playing by both Mr. Peled and Mr. Miyamoto was technically perfect, the expression entirely appropriate to the piece.

The program next called for Samuel Barber’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, but in light of the present Israel-Hamas war Mr. Peled chose instead to play Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Op. 47, his 1880 interpretation (originally for cello and full orchestra) of the chant that begins the evening service of Yom Kippur, the ending of the Jewish high holidays or “Days of Awe.” He prefaced this with a heartfelt dedication to the dead and wounded on both sides of the current conflict and was clearly emotionally involved in the performance. At its conclusion there was a long silence before the applause.

A single long piece, Victor Herbert’s second Cello Concerto, Op. 30, comprised the second half. Herbert has been considered a minor composer of operettas like “Naughty Marietta” or the saccharine “Babes in Toyland,” but early in his career he was a virtuoso cellist and a composer of grand operas and major orchestral works. He completed his E Minor concerto in 1894. Dvorak heard it performed at least twice, and was so impressed that he went on to write his own monumental cello concerto, of which Brahms was reputed to have said, “if I’d known there could be a cello concerto like that, I’d have tried to write it myself.”

Like the Dvorak B Minor, the Herbert is full of grand orchestral gestures, but before playing it, Mr. Peled explained that until about the 1950s it was quite common for soloists to perform major concertos just with piano accompaniment at recitals. Of course, prior to the advent of recorded music, new orchestral pieces were distributed to the general public in the form of piano reductions, often to be played four-hands. He added the comment that Peter Miyamoto was now tasked with replicating the efforts of some 70-odd orchestral musicians.

It begins begins with a passionate orchestral statement, marked Allegro impetuoso, echoed by the initial cello solo entrance, followed by long melodic lines with the cello often ascending well into the treble clef. All three movements are played attacca with no breaks. The composer dedicated the second movement to his wife, operatic soprano Therese Foerster, and its many long cantabile lines would indeed be eminently “singable,” as was delicately brought out by both performers.

Playing in the third movement began with an orchestral sounding recapitulation of the first movement theme, followed by Mr. Peled developing tenor and treble clef runs, double stops and octaves. The cantabile theme of the second movement returned, now with full-throated orchestral accompaniment, and further runs and double-stops lead into an ultimately triumphal coda in which the cello plays fiendishly difficult spiccatos reminiscent of, but obviously far more demanding, than the double stops in the Saint-Saëns cello concerto. This is a concerto that was clearly written by a composer who knew the string idiom and the capabilities of the instrument.

After a standing ovation, the duo returned to play an encore they had written together, which Mr. Peled described as a “Broadway Swan.” The famous cello solo from Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals gradually morphed to include “Tonight” and “Maria” from Bernstein’s West Side Story”; “Memories” from “Cats”; a couple of melodies from “Fiddler on the Roof”; and a final reprise of “Maria” before the sound died away with the final sustained high G of the original version.

In his eighth splendid RAC series visit, Mr. Peled would be a sterling performer of the Herbert with a North Coast orchestra.