PAUL NEUBAUER
Mostly Music, a chamber music series based in Westfield, began in the late 1970s in the living rooms of private homes around town — an arrangement that served the chamber music tradition of small groups. Over time they grew in popularity and moved into Temple Emanu-El in Westfield, but the intimate spirit remains.
“We love what we do and love sharing it with people,” says Paul Neubauer, Mostly Music’s artistic director. “Westfield has a very devoted audience that’s been coming to these concerts for many, many years. We love playing for them because they’re so devoted and interested in what we’re doing, so it’s a two-way street.”
The series returns on March 22 after the long winter break with “Two Quintets and a Kaddish,” a concert that puts prominence on the viola’s rich color and lyrical capabilities. It will feature string quintets by Mozart and Brahms, and Ravel’s Kaddish. “The Mozart and Brahms are great big works of chamber music and the Ravel is short and poignant,” Neubauer says.
It just so happens that Neubauer is a fine violist himself. He will play alongside Samuel Rosenthal (viola), Ani Kavafian and Clara Neubauer (violins) and Dmitri Atapine (cello).
The repertoire spans three genres, from classical to romantic to contemporary. All works highlight expressive melodic writing, starting with Mozart’s String Quintet in C Major, one of the Austrian composer’s later works from 1787. It is one of four string quintets Mozart wrote in his lifetime, scored for a second viola, which was an unusual arrangement.
The inclusion of the extra viola thickens the harmonic middle register, enriching the inner textures between the violins and cellos. For example, in this piece, the violins carry the melodic lines, the cello holds the bass line and the two violas weave the inner counterpoint. This creates a sound that is rich and balanced without becoming too top- or bottom-heavy.
ANI KAVAFIAN
The allegro opens with a lighthearted, springy arpeggio on the cello that sounds like it is proposing a question. The violin answers, and the phrase mounts throughout all four movements. “Mozart takes the arpeggio, which is a very basic sort of exercise you would learn when playing any musical instrument, but he turns it into an amazing story,” says Paul Neubauer. “You know, sometimes these composers can take something so simple and they make magic out of it, and that’s exactly what Mozart has done.”
The slow movement has an aria-like violin/viola dialogue that sounds like a miniature duet. Neubauer says it is a good example of how there is always a feeling of vocal and operatic singing in Mozart’s musical language, including in his ensembles.
“Mozart was an opera composer who happened to write symphonies and chamber music, but his main claim to fame was writing all those great operas,” Neubauer says. “And he loved the voice, so when he wrote other kinds of music, quite often the opera steeped into it. This piece is like Mozart basically writing an opera, and the back and forth between instruments is really something to behold and cherish.”
The viola is capable of producing a plaintive tone that is well suited to the melancholy and introspective melodies in Ravel’s Kaddish for Viola and String Quartet, taken from Deux mélodies hébraïques (Two Hebrew Songs) (1914) and based on the Jewish prayer traditionally recited in memory of the dead.
“Ravel wrote it as a song for voice and piano, and it was so well received that he later orchestrated it for voice and orchestra,” Neubauer says. “Other instruments have taken over the voice line and, in this case, the viola.”
The piece imitates a cantorial vocal style, creating a deeply lyrical, chant-like line. Neubauer will play the solo. “It is a breathtakingly beautiful kaddish,” he says. “It was done so well by Ravel that people thought he was Jewish, but he wasn’t, so he captured those flavors so perfectly.”
The viola’s lyrical passages will take center stage in Brahms’ String Quintet in F Major (1882). Brahms described it to friends and his publisher as one of his most beautiful works, but it is not often played.
DMITRI ATAPINE
“The beauty of this piece is that it is a ‘cheerful Brahms,’ for the most part, and the depth and sheer brilliance of his composition is remarkable,” says Neubauer. Because of its uplift, it is nicknamed the “Spring Quintet.” (And yes, its inclusion on the program coincides with the Spring Equinox that will happen this year on March 20.)
Brahms wrote it with innovative instrumental voicings, including the second violin rising above the first in the opening measures to play the main theme. The middle adagio, usually slow, has two spirited, scherzo-like episodes. The last movement is animated with fugue-like passages and rhythmic energy.
There are many instances where one viola supports the harmony and the other plays a lyrical line, which produces a velvety, blended color that is difficult to achieve with just the violins.
Rosenthal will play first viola. Like most modern ensembles, Mostly Music’s setup follows a democratic model that eschews the traditional role of a fixed concertmaster. It also allows younger and less experienced players like Rosenthal to take the lead.
“You always try to pass the torch, in a sense, and spread the good knowledge to the younger players,” says Neubauer. “This is just how things work. When I was much younger, I was always the youngest playing in the groups, and you learn from these people who have been playing for so many years. It’s an incredible way to learn the art form, so I try to bring in gifted young players.”
SAMUEL ROSENTHAL
Performers span three generations, which Neubauer says does not always happen.
He and Kavafian are the old guard; they met decades ago and have played together hundreds of times. She was Mostly Music’s co-artistic director from 1992 until Neubauer stepped into the role in 2016.
Atapine is the middle generation, and Rosenthal and Clara Neubauer (Paul Neubauer’s daughter) are the up-and-comers.
Rosenthal — a viola student at The Kronberg Academy, a private music school for string instrumentalists in Germany — recently won the Lionel Tertis International Viola competition. Neubauer was the first recipient in 1980 at age 17.
“For viola it’s a big prize, and I can happily say that I won the very first one when I was very young, so that’s a nice connection between me and Sam,” says Neubauer.
Clara Neubauer is pursuing a career in solo and chamber music.
Cellist Atapine has known Paul Neubauer for decades. They met at a coaching session at Music@Menlo, the summer chamber music festival and institute in Atherton, California. “Now he’s an established cellist and he runs a couple music series himself, and he has really blossomed into a world-class performer,” says Neubauer.
They will both play at this year’s festival, July 17-Aug. 8. It will be significant because it is the final one under co-artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han, who co-founded it in 2003.
Paul Neubauer performs with Wu Han.
Finckel and Wu Han also have served as co-artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2004, and there is a lot of talent overlap between the organizations. Kavafian has played with CMS since 1979, and Neubauer since 1989. (I saw Neubauer perform in the CMS-Drew University series, at the “Schubert’s Trout Quintet” concert, last March.)
Neubauer says there is no formal connection between any of the organizations, and everyone who plays at CMS does many other things. “The music world is small, I would say, and I am trying to get the best players I can, and if they happen to come from CMS or other organizations I’ve played for, that’s my aim to bring the best performers,” he says.
In addition to performing as both a soloist and in chamber ensembles, he teaches at The Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. He has been on the faculty since 1989. “I feel very fortunate to be able to survive in this world making great music,” he says. “It’s not the easiest profession but a very fulfilling one.”
Originally from California, he calls New York his home. In 1984, at age 21, he joined the New York Philharmonic as principal violist. At the time, he was the youngest principal string player in their history; he held the position for six years.
His wife Kerry McDermott is a violinist and has played at the Philharmonic for more than 30 years. His other child, Oliver, is also a violinist, and is studying at The Kronberg Academy. Oliver recently won the Young Concert Artists auditions, “which is a very nice way to start your career,” says Neubauer. “Many famous artists like Pinchas Zukerman, for instance, started by winning the YCA competition.”
JIYANG CHEN
CLARA NEUBAUER
Both Clara and Oliver have played in Mostly Music over the years. “It is nice because the audience has seen them growing up,” says Neubauer, who played in the series before he became its artistic director.
Mostly Music’s first public performance was at Union County College in Cranford in 1983. In 1984, they added Morrow Memorial Methodist Church in Maplewood to their venues. They have been playing in Temple Emanu-El since 2016. The annual season includes five performances taking place on Sundays at 3:30 p.m.
Neubauer designs programs to flow together well, and to show variety within the chamber music canon. “We could repeat things, but there are so many great pieces that we really don’t need to,” he says. “You’re going to hear all great works, but all different, which I think for the listener is more enjoyable. On occasion, it may be very interesting to hear all works by one composer. For example, if you’re hearing all the Bartók quartets and listening to how his voice changes as he’s writing them, it is very interesting. But we look for variety.”
As with most chamber ensembles, everyone has an equal voice. At times Neubauer asks his colleagues for suggestions for a program or a particular piece that would fit the instrumentation. For example, their next concert — “New Colors for the Flute,” on April 19 — will feature strings and flute in the music of Mozart, Bartók, Haydn and Max Reger, plus a modern piece for flute and violin by Kian Ravaei, a living composer. The piece was suggested by flutist Tara Helen O’Connor.
“She’s someone I respect very much and if she says it’s a great short contemporary piece, it will be,” Neubauer says. “As I like to tell my students, we are like salespeople for these composers. They need us to play their works, yes. But ultimately, they write these incredible compositions that just last forever. Our job is to present them and do as much justice to their vision as we can. And that’s the same for contemporary works as well. Our job is to make everybody love the piece we play, no matter what we feel about it.”
And what about the job of the audience? Just sit back and enjoy the music.
“There are so many distractions these days with everyone on their phone and 30 second clips of this and that,” Neubauer says. “Sometimes it’s really nice to spend a couple hours just listening to music that has survived for so many centuries.”
Mostly Music will perform at Temple Emanuel-El in Westfield, March 22 at 3:30 p.m. Visit mostlymusic.org.
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