Music Reviews : Ma and Kahane at Music Center

An event was clearly in the offing Monday at the Music Center as a large crowd strolled in the plaza and queued for cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s recital. That chamber music could create such a stir is heartening indeed.

What transpired within the packed Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was more heartening still, for Ma’s rapport with his audience is achieved through a combination of total musicianship and a friendly stage presence.

The cellist’s choice of keyboard partners is likewise impossible to fault. On this occasion it was pianist Jeffrey Kahane, who proved both a consistently complementary collaborator.

The first two works on the program, both by Beethoven, were in fact the pianist’s show: the bubbly variations on Mozart’s “Bei Mannern welche Liebe fuhlen” and his mighty Sonata in C, Opus 102. In both, Kahane provided animation, fluency and power, as well as a keen appreciation for his partner’s needs.

In the ensuing Shostakovich Sonata, the players meshed flawlessly, with Ma the sweetly sad singer and Kahane projecting just enough of the requisite acerbity.

Whether in its original form or in the alternative editions for cello or flute and piano, the Franck Violin Sonata has been worked to death and deserves a rest. And from Ma’s swooningly lush, shudderingly vibratoed reading one could suspect him of overcompensating for its familiarity by overperforming.