New Classical Tracks: Dvorak trios
Classical music is formal and serious, and only a select few can really appreciate it. Here's a recording that blows those misconceptions out the window. The Weilerstein Trio is a family of musicians who take their music seriously, but not themselves.
Music has always been pure joy for the Weilersteins. Violinist Donald Weilerstein started practicing with his daughter Alisa when she was 9. In order to make it more fun for his budding cellist, he developed a sort of fantasy world. Sometimes they would pretend she was on a live radio show. Other times, he would play a crazy character who would talk in opposites. So the better Alisa would play the cello, the madder and funnier his character would get.
Music is much more fun if you can relax and enjoy it, and that what makes this new recording of Dvorak trios so pleasurable. Everything from the casual family photograph on the cover to the outstanding music on the recording makes me feel as though I'm invited to be part of this musical experience. As a founding member of the Cleveland Quartet, Donald Weilerstein was its first violinist for 20 years. Vivian Hornik Weilerstein is an outstanding pianist. Both she and her husband are professors at the New England Conservatory. Their daughter, Alisa, is an up-and-coming cellist with a history degree from Columbia University.
Alisa's first real connection to the cello came when she was home alone with her grandmother at age 2½. Her parents were both out of town performing, and Alisa came down with chicken pox. To keep her entertained, her grandmother brought her a string quartet of instruments made out of cardboard cereal boxes. The cello was a Rice Krispies box with an old toothbrush for the endpin. Alisa fell in love with it immediately. She was thrilled when her parents returned so she could "practice" with them. At age 4 she persuaded her parents to get her a real cello just her size.
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Early on, Alisa's ultimate dream was to play the Dvorak Concerto with orchestra. Now, having already achieved that dream, she continues to explore Dvorak with her parents by her side on this new release. As far as Alisa Weilerstein is concerned, Dvorak is probably the best cello composer. In addition to writing the finest cello concerto, she believes he gives the greatest lines to the cello in his chamber music. "He is indeed the composer who I think best understands the human voice of the cello," she concludes.
I can definitely hear her point in Dvorak's Trio in E minor. This is Dvorak's "Dumky" Trio, Op. 90, one of the composer's greatest chamber works. The cello is absorbed in a deep, mournful melody in the opening of the fifth movement. I'm amazed at the sense of maturity and the depth of emotion this young cellist brings to this piece. She pushes herself and her instrument to be as expressive as possible.
The title of the trio comes from a word that, in Dvorak's Czech homeland, means "to brood, to ponder." True to this sentiment, there's nothing light and breezy about this piano trio; Dvorak wanted it to be taken seriously. With this work, he offers an opportunity to meditate, to think deeply. What intrigues me is how each movement begins with a quiet reflection; just as the thought begins to materialize and mature, Dvorak grabs hold of it and runs with it. Each movement waxes and wanes much as the mind works when it ruminates.
Because this trio is such a close-knit family, the musical expression on this recording is even more personal. That's important because Dvorak put such intimate feelings into these chamber pieces. He wrote the Trio in G minor just after he turned 35; up until then, he had written very little chamber music. He was just beginning to ride a wave of professional success, tempered by his own personal tragedy, the death of his new-born daughter Josefa. As it turned out, this intimate form of musical expression was the perfect way for this reserved man to share his feelings of grief and loss.
Antonin Dvorak was a simple man. His music and his family were the two most important things in his world. The same is true for the Weilersteins. Like good parents, Donald and Vivian Weilerstein are stepping slightly back on this recording and allowing their daughter to take the limelight. Alisa is right. Dvorak does give some of his finest musical lines to the cello in his chamber music, and she delivers them with great passion. Alisa Weilerstein had great teachers from the very beginning: her parents. This new recording tells me that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
