Before there were public concerts as we know them today, before radio, TV, CDs and Ipods, there were house concerts, gatherings of small groups to make music in their homes.

The Linton Chamber Music Series re-created this historic tradition Sunday afternoon at  First Unitarian Church in Avondale.
As it might have in 1802, the program included arrangements of symphonies by Haydn and Beethoven, opera arias by Mozart and a Mozart piano concerto transcribed for string quartet and piano.

The "Linton Parlor," raised podium with seating on all sides, warm light streaming through the stained glass windows, felt like it might have been the real thing.

Leading off were the Minuet and Finale of Haydn's Symphony No. 104 ("London") arranged by Haydn's English impresario J.P. Salomon. Violinists Philip Palermo and Louise Alexander, violist Michael Strauss, cellist Theodore Nelson, flutist Randolph Bowman and pianist Lei Weng joined in a performance that was spirited, ensemble-perfect and full of nuance.

Bowman was joined by violinist Tatiana Berman in arias from Mozart's Magic Flute. Bowman's sweet tone and emotive expression beautifully embodied the rejected Pamina's grief, while Berman endowed the Queen of the Night's rage with Mozartean elegance.

Linton artistic director Dick Waller cracked up everyone, including the performers, by popping up from a choir stall to sound Papageno's panpipes on a tonette during the birdcatcher's fun, frothy Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja.

A highlight of the program was the Larghetto and Scherzo of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 arranged for piano trio by Beethoven himself.
It was like discovering an entirely new work by the composer, Berman, Nelson and Chertock investing it with drama and command.
(House concerts are alive and well in the Queen City, Berman having performed a scrumptious program with pianist Frank Weinstock and guitarist Joshua McGuire Saturday night at the home of John and Farah Palmer in Indian Hill.)

Traveling musicians from the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra" (Waller) arrived next to perform Magic Flute arias arranged by Mozart for wind sextet. Papageno's Vogelfänger, Pamina and Tamino's love duet, Papageno and Papagena's charming duet and the opera's final chorus got stylish treatment from clarinetists Jonathan Gunn and Ixi Chen, bassoonists Jennifer Monroe and Beth Ann Clare and hornists Gene Berger and Nick Murdick.

Chertock took the solo spot in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 with Palermo, Alexander, Strauss and Nelson. The spring in Chertock's touch was echoed by the quartet in the first movement, his wistfulness in the second. The pixie-like final rondo was carefully delineated, with a wealth of character and contrast.

- Mary Ellyn Hutton, The Cincinnati Post (May, 15, 2006)
 
 
 
 

CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF THE ASSUMPTION, COVINGTON, KENTUCKY

Musical duo entrancing

If chemistry is what makes a musical collaboration work, then violinist Tatiana Berman and pianist Anna Polusmiak have it made.  The budding duo - in their inaugural performance together - entranced a capacity crowd Sunday afternoon at Covington's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption with works by Arvo Pärt, Debussy and Beethoven.  They are so well-matched one wanted to cheer.

...Both women play with a poised, aristocratic bearing and - strong card for a potential duo - are strikingly beautiful.

...Debussy's Violin Sonata (1917), the last work he wrote before dying of cancer the year after, showed off Berman's melting tone and warm, expressive vibrato. She and Polusmiak made the most of its shifting colors and moods, from the solemn beginning of the Allegro vivo to the flighty Finale, whose coda bubbled up from pianissimo depths to a radiant, assertive close.

Beethoven's great "Kreutzer" Sonata took up the second half. Balance between the instruments - not helped by the Cathedral's sheer volume and reverberant acoustics -- was enhanced by setting the piano lid at its lowest level. Polusmiak soared on the swaggering counter theme of the first movement, and she and Berman outlined the soft recapitulation with sharpness of focus. Violin and piano exchanged ideas with
clarity and precision in the variations movement, Berman skittering nimbly to the high F's in variation II.

The pair's ensemble strengths shone in the Finale where they could execute quicksilver runs, then transition on a dime to more soulful passages.

- Mary Ellyn Hutton, The Cincinnati Post (November 7, 2005)
 
 
 

Music at the Cathedral 

On Sunday, one of the most beautiful fall days of the year, I headed down to Covington's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption to hear a new violin-piano duo, performing on the Cathedral's music series.  Ukrainian-born Anna Polusmiak, a prize-winning pianist and NKU grad, joined Moscow-born violinist Tatiana Berman for a recital of music by Debussy, Beethoven and Arvo Part.

Besides the fact that they looked like they could be sisters, this was a duo that clicked musically, too.

Berman...studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music in London, and proved to be a communicative artist of the highest caliber, who projected a pure, sweet tone on her violin.

Polusmiak was a perceptive partner, who matched the violinist in mood and tackled difficult piano passages effortlessly -- and with the artistic maturity of one who is much older than 22.

Despite the difficult acoustics for such a recital, I was particularly captivated by their Debussy Sonata,  which had wonderful color and spirit. Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata was a joy, as it unfolded with genuine warmth, vigor and spontaneity.

A large crowd of more than 460 packed the church, and applauded their approval. More from this duo, please!

- Janelle Gelfand, The Cincinnati Enquirer Classical Music blog (November 8, 2005)
 
 
 

Tania  plus Anna equals beautiful music by Mary Ellyn Hutton, The Cincinnati Post (November 2, 2005)
 
 
 

ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON 29 APRIL 2004.

On the evidence of this hour-long recital, part of the Philharmonia Orchestra's "Total Talent" series, Tatiana Berman is a young player with a bright future. In the first work she played, Leclair's Sonata No. 3, op. 9, she produced a full sound that was clear and focused, with a sweet vibrato, and showed both rhythmic élan and melodic eloquence. Afer that, it got serious. Both Bartok's Solo Sonata and Ravel's Tzigane will pitilessly expose any technical weakness. Programming them together meant Berman spent half of her short recital threading a high-wire of unaccompanied virtuosity. She managed it brilliantly. She showed impeccable intonation even when Bartok was at his multi-shifting, double-stopping cruelest, with unfailingly clean bowing and a sweet, focused sound throughout. Musically, she brought to each movement both a firm overall shape and a control of the complex musical elements within. Inevitably, the solo opening of the the Ravel which followed did sound rather like a fifth movement of the Bartok, and indeed there could have been more difference in the character of her playing between the two. But this was playing of the highest order, by someone with a mature and compelling musical personality.

-The Strad, August 2004
 
 

TATIANA BERMAN IN THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

The Royal Festival Hall, no less, was the venue for an early evening recital on 29 April by the young Russian violinist Tatiana Berman, accompanied by Irina Botan, in the "Total Talent" Series of the Philharmonia Orchestra's Martin Musical Scholarship Fund.

Both are very gifted artists. They began with a Leclair Sonata, Opus 9, No 3, and from the first bars it was evident that Berman is a fine player indeed, her musicality overcoming the anachronism of violin with piano accompaniment. She then played Bartók's Solo Violin Sonata, giving a performance of considerable musical accomplishment. 

Finally, as if there was not enough virtuosity in the programme already, Irina Botan returned to accompany Tatiana Berman in Ravel's Tzigane in an account of thrilling intensity. Tatiana Berman is clearly a name to watch.

-Musical Opinion, July/August 2004 

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