MUSIC REVIEWS : Frank and Ma in Recital at Ambassador

Violinist Pamela Frank and cellist Yo-Yo Ma presented an exhaustive, exhausting display of technique, energy and joint musicianship before an adoring, overflow audience at Ambassador Auditorium on Wednesday.

It was impossible not to marvel at the easy interaction of such seemingly disparate souls: Frank, from past exposure, an exponent of slashing, unyielding propulsiveness, Ma the master of the undulating line. Yet the two modify each other most effectively: he softening her intensity to a degree, she mitigating his sometimes excessive eagerness to please, and perhaps even the throb of his vibrato.

Under these circumstances, the major works on the program glowed with conviction and strength: the Olympian serenity of Mozart’s Duo in B flat, K. 424, infused with uncommon rhythmic bite and generosity of tone, while Ravel’s spare Sonata for Violin and Cello disclosed traces of a subdued lyricism one might have thought alien to the piece.

Patches of violin misintonation in the first movements of both pieces aside, this was grandly communicative playing by two masters. Incidentally, if Ma did any transposing to accommodate his part in the Mozart, intended for the viola), to the cello it escaped these ears.

The considerable remainder of a program that labored mightily at being all things to all listeners proved a major strain on the sitzfleisch.

Presenting all 15 of Bach’s “Two-Part Inventions,” handsomely as they translated from their keyboard originals to the string medium, seemed overly generous, and by the time Honegger’s Sonatine) creaked around, the freeway home beckoned with insidious allure.

Which is not to minimize Frank’s spectacular exposition of the Magyar explosions in the Honegger finale, or both artists’ majestic presentation of an old Heifetz-Piatigorsky super-encore, the Handel-derived “Passacaglia” by Johan Halvorsen.

Positioned toward the end as well was a medley of folksy “fiddle tunes” from Ireland and Texas, which seemed strained and unlovely: a show of force from the Terrific Twosome where a show of amiability--or, better, no show at all--would have been appropriate.

Even the most appealing company can overstay its welcome.