I will never forget the sheer joy of making music that emanated from Menahem Pressler as he practically turned sideways on the piano bench to maintain contact with his colleagues in the Beaux Arts Trio. That cherubic face surely thrilled the audience as much as it inspired violinist Isadore Cohen and cellist Bernard Greenhouse. This was chamber music at its finest and 94-year old Pressler has been delighting audiences with his performances for over 60 years.
Although The Beaux Arts Trio ceased operations in 2008 — Pressler had been the trio’s pianist since its inception in 1955 until its dissolution — he continues to play chamber music and concertos all over the world. In January 2014, at the age of 90, he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. This latest recording, made with the Pacifica Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where Pressler, designated Charles Webb Chair in Music and Distinguished Professor of Music, has been teaching for nearly 60 years, demonstrates that he remains as gifted as ever.
The Pacifica Quartet, since its inception in 1994, has produced a noteworthy catalogue of recordings, the most impressive of which to date may be the 8-CD set (Çedille Box 1003) devoted to all the Shostakovich string quartets together with several others by his contemporaries. Other impressive releases include CDs devoted to Mendelssohn (Çedille 82) and Dvořák (Çedille 59), and an album featuring clarinetist Anthony McGill (Çedille 147) in quintets by Mozart and Brahms.
Judith Sherman, the producer/engineer of this new CD recorded in Auer Hall at Indiana University, is a twelve-time Grammy nominee and three-time winner. A legendary figure herself, she has been helming recordings for over 40 years at the Marlboro Music Festival and other classical music venues, and for a variety of labels including Nonesuch, Telarc, CBS, and Çedille.
In this recording, Pressler and the Pacifica Quartet give us a Brahms F minor Quintet notable for its classical restraint and sensitive phrasing. Not wildly impassioned, this is Brahms played in a more objective style; that said, what it lacks in excitement, it makes up for in beauty of sound.
The Pacifica Quartet is on its own in Schumann’s String Quartet No. 1. Their general approach here, similar to that in the Brahms — restrained and objective — doesn’t really work that well for Schumann, whose temperament was more mercurial than that of Brahms. A little more emotional involvement might have be in order; that said, the Pacifica Quartet has an impressive understanding of the ebb and flow in Schumann’s music.
Although most of Menahem Pressler’s recordings have been as pianist with the Beaux Arts Trio, he did make some excellent solo recordings in the 1950s, some of which have been re-mastered and re-issued by DOREMI: all-Chopin, including both piano concertos (DHR-7989/90; all-Mendelssohn (DHR-7889).
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