Young pianist makes welcome return to Park City fest

PARK CITY INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, Park City Community Church, Sunday; continues through Aug. 4 with concerts Sundays and Mondays at 8 p.m. (435-649-5309 or www.pcmusicfestival.com).

PARK CITY — Last summer, Hui Hsin Tseng made an auspicious debut at the Park City International Music Festival. A former student at the festival's summer music camp, the young pianist last year showed what a remarkably talented chamber musician she is.

Tseng, who currently studies piano with Gail Niwa and violin with festival regular Arturo Delmoni, made a welcome return to Park City Sunday evening.

Appearing with cellist Scott Ballantyne of the Leonore Trio, the two gave an electrifying performance of Brahms' impassioned Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano in F major, op. 99. Tseng and Ballantyne have been frequent partners in the past, and this collaboration has paid off handsomely. At Sunday's concert, the duo's familiarity infused their playing with a naturalness and vitality that was bracing.

Tseng and Ballantyne's bold playing brought out the urgency that dominates the work, while still mindful of the subtle lyricism that courses throughout each of the four movements. The op. 99 sonata shows Brahms at the height of his work as a composer of chamber music, and Sunday's performance by these two wonderfully imaginative artists captured the essence of the piece.

This performance was certainly the highlight of the festival up to now. Hopefully, these two musicians will return together to Park City in the future.

Local flute virtuoso Laurel Ann Maurer made her first of two appearances at this summer's festival. Together with festival co-director and violist Leslie Harlow, she opened the concert with Carl Nielsen's infinitely charming and classically wrought Duet for Flute and Viola, "Hope and Faith Are Playing."

After intermission, Maurer and Harlow were joined by Ballantyne for Haydn's delightful Divertimento in A major for Flute, Viola and Cello.

Rebecca Clarke, who lived between 1886 and 1979, is arguably not a familiar name among concertgoers today. However, she was a fascinatingly creative composer, whose output was solely limited to chamber music. Her "Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale" for Clarinet and Viola, written in 1941, is strikingly original, wavering as it does between hints of atonality and the impressionism of Delius.

Leslie Harlow, along with husband Russell Harlow on clarinet, gave a heartfelt and sincere reading of this piece, which captured the plaintive and occasionally somber character of the three movements.

The evening ended with a stunning performance of Karel Husa's "Evocations de Slovaquie" for Clarinet, Viola and Cello, from 1952. The Harlows and Ballantyne gave a wonderfully dynamic performance that captured the vividness and intensity of expression in each of the three descriptive movements.

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