N. POLERA/A. PELED MARCH 11

STERLING PELED-POLERA SHOSTAKOVICH IN REDWOOD ARTS RECITAL

Following an Omicron hiatus, live music returned March 11 when the Redwood Arts Council in its 42nd season presented Amit Peled’s cello recital in Occidental’s Performing Arts Center.

Mr. Peled’s artistry has been heard often at the RAC, and uniquely the same program was performed at 2 and 7 p.m. Seventy-five attended the earlier concert, reviewed here, the cellist playing from score with the splendid pianist Noreen Polera.

Beginning with a long verbal introduction about Beethoven, Mr. Peled played the C Major Sonata from Op. 102 with a warm low-register sound that carried well in the small hall. The hall’s piano lacked brilliance, but Ms. Polera made the most of the songful character of the opening Andante – Allegro. The cellist juxtaposed sections of drama and lyrical interludes, widening his vibrato in the episodic Adagio. Unlike the composer’s more popular A Major Sonata (Op. 69), the C Major eschews easily grasped themes and its short motives can be elusive. Mr. Peled’s intonation and instrument command were consummate.

Following words from the stage on composers Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti, the former’s Op. 6 Sonata was played. The big second theme was opulently performed with the instrumental balance deftly handled. From 1932 and early in Barber’s career, the Sonata like the previous Beethoven work defies quick assimilation, but in the Adagio Presto the powerful Precipitato was played brilliantly. Tremolos in the piano part began the finale, and both musicians produced a reading of individuality and importance that received a curiously tepid audience response.

Written in the same period as the Barber, Shostakovich’s great Op. 40 D Minor Sonata was the afternoon’s highlight. Periods of high drama and contemplation unfolded in the opening Allegro, its sadness effectively portrayed in Mr. Peled’s sonorous bass register. Both musicians gave a captivating interpretation to the following movement with cello mute, not ever menacing but at times mysterious. In the Scherzo-like movement the famous frantic writing had Mr. Peled’s colorful string slides alongside Ms. Polera’s hammering out treble chords. Bow control here was admirable, leading with the pianist’s ascending and ghostly phrases into the finale.

Mr. Peled’s arsenal was wide in the final Allegro where the line moved between major and minor, and ample instrumental groans and pizzicato. It was a raucous reading with Ms. Polera’s wild across-the-keyboard scales and stressing playful sarcasm. A standing ovation ensued, a just reaction to the best Sonoma County cello recital in recent years.

Avoiding a routine encore, Mr. Peled told auditors of his long friendship with West County musician Sonia Tubridy (who died in 2021), and in her memory played with his pianist the melting slow movement from Chopin’s G Minor Sonata. Along with this reviewer several in the audience had tears of remembrance.