RECITAL AT INSTITUTE : MUMELTER/MAUSER DUO IN 20TH-CENTURY WORKS

Offering one new work from Germany and a 16-year-old piece from Austria, the Austrian violinist Martin Mumelter, with pianist Siegfried Mauser, appeared in recital at the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at USC on Tuesday night. A small but polite, largely German-speaking audience attended.

Using the term new music rather freely as a synonym for 20th-Century music, Mumelter and Mauser offered music by Schoenberg, Webern and Hindemith and introduced works by two living composers, the German Wilhelm Killmayer, and the Austrian Erich Urbanner.

In general, Mumelter performs with a steady and consistent flow of expression, although he is somewhat awkward to watch. With Urbanner’s “Solo for Violin” (1971), he offered seemingly effortless virtuosity, performing countless techniques within a small period of time.

Compositionally, “Solo for Violin” challenges the listener little. It is a showpiece for the violinist filled with wild glissandos, harmonics, violent crossbowing and other virtuosic effects. It is mostly frosting with no cake.

Mauser’s performance of Schoenberg’s Three Piano Pieces, Opus 11, also highlighted the evening. His approach to Schoenberg’s expressionism seemed frenetic, overtly dramatic and perhaps even a bit exaggerated. Yet his control of the keyboard and music never faltered and his playing remained remarkably clear.

Killmayer’s Four Romances (1987) for violin and piano uses snippets of melodies juxtaposed into a large purely tonal piece, which include many satirical oddities.

Also performed were Hindemith’s Sonata in D, Opus 11, No. 2, and two nervously performed Schoenberg works, the Four Pieces, Opus 7, and Phantasy, Opus 47.