l to r: L. Li J. E. Kwark M. Eldridge K. Maulbetsch M. Yeo

TWO CHAMBER MUSIC WORKS AT MARIN'S MT. TAM CHURCH

The Marin Symphony Orchestra’s musicians have been nomads since mid-2022, when retrofitting began on the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium. A limited number have performed chamber symphonies and choral works in the Dunn Theatre at the College of Marin, or intimate chamber music in churches and halls. The challenges notwithstanding, performances by small MSO groups up close and personal are a gift for chamber music aficionados, and the one October 13 of works by Amy Beach and Brahms at Mt. Tamalpais Methodist Church was an outstanding example.

Beach, an early leader in American classical composition, was temporarily eclipsed by the advent of modernism, but her sophisticated and emotionally evocative works from the 1880’s through the early 1940’s are enjoying a flurry of rediscovery. Her opening work in this program, Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, Op. 80 (1916), was a splendid sonic tapestry of color and texture. As performed by MSO musicians MyungJu Yeo, flute; Jiwon Evelyn Kwark and Lyly Li, violins; violist Meg Eldridge and cellist Kelley Maulbetsch, it was an immersion into late-Romanticism’s heart and mind. The ensemble achieved a near-perfect balance of sound—no easy task in an unfamiliar venue, as only Ms. Maulbetsch had previously performed in the Mt. Tam church.

Theme and Variations was a commission from the San Francisco Quintet Club (San Francisco Chamber Music Society). Based on Beach’s own “An Indian Lullabye” (1895), a four-part song for women’s chorus, its opening theme for the strings alone was lyrical yet somber, a swaying rhythm like the branches of a willow in a warm wind with earthy undertones from the cello and viola. Into this mellow soundscape entered the flute with an exotic melody that reminded me of Scheherazade telling a story, or a siren song leading sailors to their watery fate. Strings and flute twisted, bent and twirled as the soprano line spun ever higher. When the variation slowed to a stop, the man seated next to me uttered a “Yay!” and I could only agree.

The next variation, in waltz time, rose and dipped seductively. Ms. Yeo’s flute harmonized with the others, then took off in a slipstream of sound as though improvising. A scherzo came next, the strings rushing forward in quick steps while the flute, ever the individual, went off on her own course. The variation stopped suddenly, making a bit of a cliffhanger. Next, a moving cello solo by Ms. Maulbetsch led into dense harmonic passages that teetered at the edge of dissonance. The flute, in plaintive song, handed the lead voice to Ms. Eldridge’s viola, who then passed it to Ms. Kwark’s violin. A high note, then a fall, each instrument in a follow-the-leader mode taking her turn until the variation stopped, again not resolving completely.

The exotic opening flute melody was reprised, and a trembling long trill led into a fugue that was passed around gracefully. With Ms. Li’s violin leading, all joined in a chorale over which the flute, like a gorgeous songbird, warbled. The piece is a virtuosic vehicle for the instrument, and Ms. Yeo produced a tone of clarion delicacy. The coda reprised the elegiac quality of the theme. The five players beautifully expressed rich aspects of this haunting work, and the audience gave the ensemble prolonged applause.

Following intermission, the second MSO ensemble of the day (John Wilson, piano; Ani Bukujian, violin; cellist Adelle-Akiko Kearns and violist Jenny Douglass) performed the massive 50-minute Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26. The string players wore stylish outfits incorporating a red-and-black patterned fabric, while Mr. Wilson was all in black. Clothing may seem an unimportant detail, but I confess it added to my enjoyment of the performance because symphony players are usually consigned to all black, and the women’s mix-and-match outfits signaled solidarity, fashion and fun, echoing the similarities and differences of the stringed instruments themselves.

The work was an intense sensory journey, the Quartet choosing to do all the repeats, and there was nuance in each. Surely one of the lengthiest quartets in the Romantic canon, the piece is emotional and deeply thoughtful. Added to it was a visual phenomenon: the concert started at 3 p.m. and during all the second half, the sun poured through a stained glass window above the stage, spreading its colors like stain beneath the piano. This matched the bejeweled cascade of mini melodies from Mr. Wilson’s eloquent pianism. A chorale motif in the strings evoked a cascade of bells-like sounds.

After Ms. Kearns’ cello line sounded a soft pizzicato toward the end of the first movement, the music took on a syncopated rhythm in the second, Poco Adagio. The piano part’s jagged rhythms created a mood of unease, with strong syncopation lending the impression that the piano was going off on its own troubled but necessary rebellion while the strings stuck together conservatively, in close harmonies. A monotonous motif was built, delicate as lace, with the piano line creating a celestial sound that led to close harmony in the strings. The music had a passionate dissonance that built through repetition, each phrase rising, sighing, then sliding down the scale. There was a two-note “amen” at the end of this movement, which suggested the preceding had been a heartfelt prayer, perhaps for deliverance from suffering.

The third movement began with a unison string melody, repeated and expanded by Mr. Wilson’s playing. The music became stormy, urgently beseeching, and repetitions of its original motif occurred. There were moments of tumult and intervals of quiet that, however, did not lead to a calm place.

The music in the fourth movement began with a peasant dance, and a droning section ensued while the piano took the melodic voice. The coda turned into a dance, an image of a wild circle of moving bodies. There was a long chromatic passage by Ms. Bukujian, electrifying runs up and down the scale and a conclusion that was fast, furious and ultimately triumphant. The audience rose to applaud the Quartet’s shining performance.

At the conclusion Symphony Executive Director Tod Brody emceed a Q & A and invited the audience to a reception in the social hall complete with food and wine.