An odyssey through Philadelphia's lively music scene

I kept Tortelier’s observation in mind the next time I heard a Schumann chamber piece and decided he knew what he was talking about. Anyone who has enjoyed a satisfactory long-term marriage can identify the moods in Schumann’s work, including periods of tension and aggravation. The mood I like best, though, makes me think of evenings at home, with the lights on and a general air of contentment. The mood that runs through all the other moods is a combination of romance and domesticity — a day-to-day life in which ordinary events are permeated with romance.

I heard three of Schumann’s chamber works during the first eight days of March, and Tortelier’s point continues to meet the test of time. Nowadays, though, I see the connection with marriage in Schumann’s overall approach rather than specific moods. Schumann doesn’t reach for grand heights or communicate overwhelming passions. He stays inside the emotional boundaries that suit affection, long-term bonds, and a general satisfaction with life.

Time travel

I heard these three Schumanns at three stops on a six-stop, eight-day tour of Philadelphia musical offerings. Two of the stops were managed by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society: Emanuel Ax joined four string players from the Philadelphia Orchestra in Schumann’s piano quintet (the first piano quintet by a major composer) and Kim Kashkashian and Péter Nagy played the viola and piano version of Schumann’s Fantasiestücke in the Van Pelt Auditorium at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The third was a Music at the Ethical Society event that ended with Schumann’s second piano quartet.

Like all musical odysseys, this tour bounced through time. The Kashkashian/Nagy recital included the Philadelphia premiere of a 2014 piece that was too long and repetitious, but they compensated with a 1928 Bartók rhapsody that proved a thorny, adventurous piece can satisfy old-fashioned human longings for melody, rhythm, and variety.

The fourth chamber concert on the itinerary, a PCMS recital by violinist Joseph Swensen and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, opened with a highly individualistic piece by the contemporary Estonian composer Avro Pärt and closed with the perennial satisfactions of two works by Brahms. I had never heard Swensen before, and his work was a salutary reminder that Hilary Hahn isn’t the only violinist currently working the international circuit.

Going for Baroque

On Saturday, Tempesta di Mare made the biggest time hop on the itinerary and presented a full-size Baroque orchestra playing Baroque theater music, on Baroque instruments, at the Perelman Theater. This is the second year in a row Tempesta’s schedule has included two concerts that present Baroque theater music in a theater roughly the same size as most 18th-century theaters.

Charm is an underrated artistic virtue, in my opinion, and Baroque theater music includes some of the most charming music ever created. It was composed for people seeking elegant, high-level entertainment, and it includes incidental music for plays; music for ballets and other kinds of spectacles; and concertos performed between acts. The Tempesta concert sampled the range, creating an evening of bouncy hornpipes, whirling allegros, and intriguing moments like a passage in which two recorders played in front of murmuring Baroque violas.

The Spanish semi-opera that closed the concert even turned the tragic story of Dido and Aeneas into a romantic comedy, with mezzo-soprano Maren Montalbano singing all sides of a dialogue among Cupid, Juno, and the love-struck Dido.

Make a joyful noise

The eight days ended, appropriately, with a super-spectacular. The annual concert of sacred music presented by the Academy of Vocal Arts is always a major event, but this year’s edition of Jubilate! could become a legend. The concert featured 20 of AVA’s current students, every one of whom possesses a big, effortless voice. This may be the most impressive group of AVA students any of us have ever heard.

Any concert that includes Handel’s The Trumpet Shall Sound would be a winner for me, but conductor David Lofton picked 14 more arias and duets worthy of the talent on display. A contemporary Ave Maria and Our Father sounded schmaltzy to my tastes, but I realize some people like that kind of thing. Most of the other selections came from the heart of the 19th-century liturgical repertoire. The texts were so familiar the program didn’t include any translations. Lofton could assume his audience knew the general drift of texts like the Agnus Dei and the Benedictus even if they couldn’t recite them word for word.

The evening opened with a rousing Jubilate Deo for tenor and chorus, but it hit more moods than Rejoice in the Lord. The most moving item was Franz Liszt’s setting of Psalm 137, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, for soprano and women’s chorus, with an accompaniment by harp, violin, and piano. Liszt set the whole text in German, but soprano Vanessa Vasquez spent much of it singing powerful, mournful variations on one of the most emotional place names in Western culture.

Many of the performers on this program were first-year students. If they handle opera the way they performed at this concert, AVA’s opera schedule should be a major attraction during the next couple of years.