Tucson should count itself lucky: Not every city our size can boast one of the best chamber music festivals in the nation.
You need look no further than Sunday's opening concert of the 14th annual Arizona Friends of Chamber Music's Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival for proof.
Nearly every one of the 500-plus seats in the Leo Rich Theatre was filled as the 35-year-old Prazák String Quartet performed Schubert's String Quartet in D minor "Death and the Maiden." It was, quite possibly, the best it has ever been played in Tucson.
At least, that was the estimation of the Friends' longtime president, Jean-Paul Bierny, a devoted chamber music aficionado who has heard more than his share of interpretations of the piece.
The audience couldn't agree more, shouting "Bravo!" and rising to its feet when the quartet finished.
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The Schubert work was to have opened the concert, but the Prazák decided to flip it with Leos Janácek's String Quartet No. 1 "Kreutzer Sonata." It was a wise move; the intermission chatter after the standing ovation almost spilled over into the second half.
Not that folks wouldn't have been talking up the Janácek just as heartily. It's a beautiful work, with flashes of desperate passion, playful charm and sweetness. Throughout the four-movement work, the quartet played with equal measures of restraint and abandon, the kind of intuitive play that comes with years of sitting across from one another and reading body language as if it were study notes in a score.
This was especially true in "Death and the Maiden," whose opening builds on twin motifs — one dark and forced; the other, warm and lyrical — that clash in a prolonged coda. And that's just the first movement.
The quartet brought nice hues of blue to the somber second movement and a vibrant energy to the gracefully stated scherzo. The final movement opens with a playfully spirited tempo that brought first violinist Vaclav Remes out of his seat.
The Prazák was joined in the second half Sunday by Russian-born pianist Miri Yampolsky for Schumann's triumphant Piano Quintet in E-flat major, a wonderful work that gave Yampolsky a chance to shine. And shine she did, from the flirty opening that is repeated back-to-back to the marchlike dignity of the second movement.
Yampolsky played with such concentration that when her page-turner jumped the gun and flipped early — twice — she smacked the page down with rapid-fire thwacks and didn't miss a note.
The festival runs today through Sunday, including a youth concert on Thursday before 600 Tucson-area students.
Festival schedule
Tucson Winter Chamber Festival
• Presented by: Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.
• When: Tonight through Sunday. Sunday's concert is at 3 p.m.; evening concerts tonight, Wednes-day and Friday begin at 8 p.m.
• Where: Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave.
• Tickets: $25 each performance, $10 for students. Gala dinner concert Saturday at Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm St., costs $150, 577-3769.
• Et cetera: Dress rehearsals and master classes are open to the community at no charge. Preconcert commentary is presented a half-hour before concerts by KUAT radio personality James Reel. Dress rehearsals at Leo Rich are open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon on concert days except Saturday. Free.
• Master classes: 3 p.m., clarinet; 4 p.m., bass. Saturday. Free.
Festival artists
• Prazák String Quartet; pianists Xak Bjerken and Miri Yampolsky; cellists Ron Leonard and Peter Rejto; violists Nicole Divall and Cynthia Phelps; violinists Joseph Lin and Lucy Chapman; Richard Stoltzman on clarinet; Volkan Orhon on bass; soprano Jennifer Foster; composer Jiri Gemrot.
Schedule
• 8 p.m. today — Festival artists. Program: Mozart's Trio for Clarinet, Viola, Piano in E-flat major "Kegelstatt"; Schubert's song collection, including "Trout," and Quintet for Piano and Strings "Trout"; Schulhoff's Duo for Violin and Cello; Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "From My Life."
• 8 p.m. Wednesday — Festival artists. Schubert's Adagio and Rondo in F major for Piano Quartet; Loeffler's Four Poems Opus 5 for Mezzo-Soprano, Viola and Piano; Dahl's Concerto-a-Tre for Clarinet, Violin and Cello; Dvorák's String Quintet in G major (with bass).
• 10:30 a.m. Thursday — Youth Concert featuring festival artists. Nearly 600 kids have been invited to participate.
• 8 p.m. Friday — Festival artists. Shepherd's "Triptych" for Soprano and String Quartet; Gemrot's Quintet for String Quartet and Clarinet (world premiere); Vaughan Williams' Quintet for Piano and Strings in C minor.
• 6 p.m. Saturday — Gala Dinner Concert at Arizona Inn.
• 3 p.m. Sunday — Festival musicians. Schulhoff's String Sextet (1924); Gemrot's Quintet for Piano and Strings; Mozart's aria "Parto Parto"; Mendelssohn's Sextet for Piano and Strings in D major, Op. 110.
