REVIEW: Final student recital a hit

As if anyone doubted it, the student participants at the Sarasota Music Festival proudly demonstrated that they have moved to an even higher level of excellence during their concert Friday afternoon.

The high point in a program of consistently high achievement was a searing performance of the final movement from Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 2, in which Jeoung-Yin Kim and Holly Jenkins, violins; Jane Mitchell, viola; and Hyeck Kwon, cello, tore up Holley Hall with their smoking drive, aggressive tone and solid accuracy.

Earlier, the recital opened with a delicately secure performance of two movements from Ravel’s lovely and somewhat subversive tribute to an earlier era, “Le Tombeau de Couperin.” Joanna Martin, flute and piccolo; Melissa Bosma, oboe; Yunhong Chi, clarinet; Yi-Chen Chiu, bassoon; and Trevor Nuckols, horn, devoted high energy and perfect intonation to the piece, which ends in a wonderful and anachronistic blues chord.

The irony of Shostakovich’s music was well-expressed in a lovely performance of his “Pieces for Two Violins and Piano” by Sarah Saviet and QianQian Li, violins, with Feng Bian, piano. A different kind of musical irony surfaced in the Recruiting Dance from Bartok’s “Contrasts,” executed with strong technique by Yunhong Chi, clarinet; Sarah Saviet, violin; and Pauline Yang at the piano.

Andre Previn’s jazzy and offbeat Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano is heard far too seldom, a omission made clear in the swinging rendition presented by Timothy Gocklin, oboe; Joseph Grimmer, bassoon; and Feng Bian, piano.

Carl Fruehling seems to have lived until 1937, but his music sounds more like Schubert or Brahms than that date might imply. Kevin Schaffter, clarinet; Seth Russell, cello; and Marina Radiushina, piano, took his derivative and obscure score at face value and made it work beautifully.

In the more classic realm, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Major and Brahms’ F minor Piano Quintet suffered from insecure performances, not quite ready for prime time. But the the Finale of Brahms’ Horn Trio in E-flat was absolutely dazzling as delivered by Trevor Nuckols, horn; Jin Suk Yu, violin; and Vivian Cheng, piano.

REVIEW

STUDENT RECITAL 3. Sarasota Music Festival. Reviewed June 18 at Holley Hall.