MUSIC REVIEW : Listening to Cardenes Play Is Like Dessert Without the Guilt

Hearing violinist Andres Cardenes perform provides all the indulgent pleasure of consuming the biggest dessert on the tray--with neither the guilt nor the calories. Cardenes, the San Diego Symphony’s former concertmaster, dispensed his sumptuous sonority and effortless but effusive lyricism in a compact recital Tuesday night at St. James Episcopal Church. Compared with most peripatetic violinists in mid-career, who routinely crank out concertos or dutifully serve up instant replays from their most recent recordings, Cardenes stands out as a remarkably mature performer who still exudes unjaded affection for his repertory.

For this program of Brahms’ first two violin sonatas and Schubert’s G Minor Sonatina, Cardenes was partnered by San Diego State University pianist Karen Follingstad.

It would be hard to imagine two musicians more compatible in their temperaments and in their unabashed but disciplined approach to late Romantic music. The two have performed together since their student days at Indiana University, and, although Cardenes is now the Pittsburgh Symphony’s concertmaster, he and Follingstad still manage to schedule a few joint recitals each season.

The depth and emotional intensity that Cardenes brought to Brahms’ First Sonata made such an impression that the work’s final cadence was greeted with rapt silence instead of the usual instant applause. The duo made the quiet middle movement a probing philosophical dialogue, and Follingstad sculpted Brahms’ keyboard textures with orchestral ebb and flow.

While any notion of ideal violin tone carries a subjective element, Cardenes has few peers for combining a rich, blooming sound that is still sweet in every register.

In terms of programming, the Schubert G Minor Sonatina did not successfully complement the two Brahms sonatas. In Brahms’ shadow, the Schubert sounded brittle and unduly naive, although Follingstad used it to show off her limpid, graceful octaves. The finale from Schubert’s D Major Sonatina, however, made an effervescent encore.

If the key of A major is frequently described as a “sunny” key, Cardenes made Brahms’ Second Violin Sonata in A Major positively radiant. In this genial piece that opened the program, the two performers’ seamless interpretation was alternately playful and urgent.

Cardenes and Follingstad will play another Brahms and Schubert program tonight at St. James. Both concerts are presented by the San Diego Mini-Concert Committee.