Visit violinist Pamela Frank’s website

Visit pianist Stephen Prutsman’s website

++ Here is my review for Santa Barbara’s arts weekly VOICE Magazine of the Community Arts Music Association’s Masterseries presentation of violinist Pamela Frank and pianist Stephen Prutsman at the Lobero Theatre on December 11, 2019:

Violinist Pamela Frank plays Bach: nothing PC about this performance!

Community Arts Music Association’s centennial season continued on December 11, 2019 in Santa Barbara’s historic Lobero Theatre with another of its Masterseries chamber music recitals sponsored by the Esperia Foundation. Violinist Pamela Frank and pianist Stephen Prutsman, who was subbing for an indisposed Peter Serkin, presented the complete set of six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. For intelligent artistic reasons, the sonatas were performed on modern instruments, enabling a clearer hearing of the fascinating but not accidental harmonic anomalies in the scores. A full house honored the duo with rapt attention and hearty applause.
Pamela Frank is professor of violin at the Curtis Institute of Music. In addition to her broad international career as a guest soloist with major orchestras, Frank coaches promising young violinists during the summers at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Verbier and Caramoor Center for the Arts Festivals. A Los Angeles native, pianist Stephen Prutsman is comfortable playing music from diverse cultures and languages including jazz and classical idioms. Recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in the early 1990s and winner of a host of major international piano competitions, Prutsman is comfortable in small clubs as well as the great concert halls of the world.
Composed when Bach was in his 30s (1720-1723) the six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard are unique not only for their several harmonic and cadential eccentricities, but also because they are seldom performed at all. As a lifelong music lover, I discovered within the first few bars of the concert’s opening Sonata No. 2 in A Major, BWV 1015 that I had never heard the piece before! With the possible exception of the Sonata No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1024 the six were completely unknown to me. While a respectful level of period performance practice was observed by Frank and Prutsman, the sonatas when performed on modern instruments invite a robust exploration of Bach’s sometimes unusual harmonic turns and cadential twists; the “odd” chords and progressions that can be heard clearly when played on the modern piano and violin.
The four movements of the Sonata No. 2 gave fair notice - the audience takeaway for the night would be exhilarating. Frank’s beautifully round, widely colored and flat-out romantically expressive playing matched perfectly, Prutsman’s encyclopedic skills as a collaborator. The pianist’s occasional improvisatory fancies lent discreet spice to his already well-organized period embellishments and his jaw-dropping array of keyboard colors and terraced dynamics abetted the magical rapport the two established and enjoyed throughout the evening.
The remainder of the first half of the program consisted of the Sonata No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1018 – the first movement Largo being particularly memorable for Frank’s rich tone, while the last movement Vivace thrilled on account of its furious virtuosity – and the Sonata No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1016 with its amazing opening Adagio which sounded for all the world like birdsong. The remaining three movements of the work displayed a wealth of colorful narrative between violin and piano, performed with technical prowess and stunning ensemble balance and control by the duo.
The Sonata No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017 opened the second half of the program, followed by the Sonata No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1014 and the truly odd but incredibly satisfying Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 1019. All three gave the audience opportunity to settle in and soak up Frank’s gorgeous tone, her expressive and impressive soft playing, her elastic phrasing and beautifully disciplined bow arm. Prutsman was also given a lovely solo cameo or two in the course of the three sonatas of the second half and made impressive use of his permit to embellish freely.
With unquestioned technical virtuosity and probing intellectual curiosity, violinist Pamela Frank and pianist Stephen Prutsman have re-examined Bach’s Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard and found their eccentricities compelling. For this audience member at least, the experience was revelatory.

Daniel Kepl | Performing Arts Review