O.C. MUSIC REVIEW : McDuffie, Michaelian at Barclay

The most satisfying playing in a splendid evening with violinist Robert McDuffie and pianist Patricia Michaelian, Tuesday night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, came after intermission.

First, McDuffie revived a largely neglected little showpiece, Prokofiev’s Sonata for solo violin, Opus 115, handsomely, and with most of its wit and mordancy in full aural view.

The 33-year-old American musician did this, not incidentally, playing from memory. With McDuffie, there is a clear difference in his performances with score and without: He does better without.

Then, after a stylish, jazzy, but not overstated reading of the Ravel Sonata--Michaelian sharing the glories equally--the duo’s first encore, Jascha Heifetz’s irresistible transcription of Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” became a high point of the event.

There were occasional moments of reticence to hold back the full strength of the rest of this otherwise happy encounter--moments when McDuffie dropped the reins, or seemed to be distracted, or technically lax, maybe tired. Fortunately, they were few.

The basic requirements in recital presentation--to engage the listeners, keep their interest and give them something new--were met. McDuffie and Michaelian have the skills, mechanical means, musical sophistication and personalities to do that, consistently.

Usually, they did not disappoint. At the beginning of the evening, their playing of Beethoven’s A-minor Sonata, Opus 23, had authority, energy, fine detailing.

Their subsequent performance of Brahms’ G-major Sonata, Opus 78, showed command of style, projection of feeling and an easy, unself-conscious instrumental virtuosity. They did not play through the work; they let it speak, sing, agonize, exult. Of Brahms’ three essays in the form, the G-major may be the most difficult to put across to an audience; this accomplished, quietly virtuosic team did so without strain.

The happy novelty here was Peter Lieberson’s touching and effective “Elegy” (1990), a seven-minute work that holds the listener through a sense of inevitability as well as a natural songfulness.

The second and third encores were both by Fritz Kreisler: “Recitativo and Scherzo,” and “Tempo di Menuetto.”