A Mismatched Pair, One Loud, One Soft

Violinist Joanna Marie Frankel is a member of The Academy, the joint project of the Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall, and the Weill Music Institute, which is working in the city's public schools to foster aspiring performers. Ran Dank is an Israeli pianist who has recently earned his master's degree at Juilliard, studying with two other Israeli keyboardists, Emanuel Ax and Joseph Kalichstein. Together, Ms. Frankel and Mr. Dank presented a recital at St. Paul's Chapel on Monday that was, at the end of the day, a fine effort.

The set got off to a rather rocky start, as there was a significant imbalance between the two performers. Mr. Dank played the first movement of the Sonata No. 3 of Beethoven quite loudly, which was understandable considering the ambient noise the duo had to fight all program. Ms. Frankel, however, was at a much lower volume level and was often inaudible. She has a warm tone, but it is not brilliant, and can easily be engulfed.

As the recital wore on, the imbalance became less pronounced, although this may have simply been an accommodation by the listeners rather than a correction by the artists. Ms. Frankel was more in her element in the Adagio of the Beethoven, her relaxed cantabile passages really quite beautiful. But in the Rondo, her lack of assertion did not serve her well. While her playing is neat and tidy, it did not seem important. She needs to work on her projection and not hide under her own personal bushel basket.

Things picked up significantly in the Second Brahms Sonata. The composer wrote this lovely essay in A Major during a fecund period that included the equally beautiful "Double" Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano. At the time, the 53-year-old Brahms was in the thrall of a young lieder singer named Hermine Spies, and his melodies from this period have the lyrical quality of spun gold. Quotes from songs abound in this sonata, the most obvious being the opening that begins just like Wagner's Prize Song from Die Meistersinger — contrary to their publicists, Brahms and Wagner loved each other's music.

This is the domain of Ms. Frankel. She has a palpable singing tone and phrases with a good deal of aesthetic intelligence. Brahms wrote the song "Wie Melodien zieht es mir leise durch den Sinn" ("Like melodies it passes lightly through my mind") for Spies and incorporates it in the Allegro amabile of this piece. Ms. Frankel intoned it lovingly, in an unabashedly Romantic manner. This was definitely the highlight of the day.

Mr. Dank is very strong-handed and powerful, his domination reminiscent of reports about Brahms himself, who could steal the spotlight from a soloist with his Jovian pronouncements at the keyboard. Ms. Frankel is the polar opposite, and relies on sotto voce for effect. Thus, her pizzicatos in the Vivace section of the Andante tranquillo were lost to the listener. But they did look dexterous from the middle of the hall.

The pair ended with an athletic traversal of the de facto encore piece, Pampeana No. 1 by Alberto Ginastera. This is a crowd-pleaser and fulfilled its usefulness this day, but could have been quite a bit more intense in an ideal performance.

We New Yorkers see them all come and go, and it is interesting to speculate on what the future holds for this promising violinist. Of course, we critics cannot ever play favorites, but I hope that, with a lot of hard work and a new, brighter-toned instrument, Ms. Frankel makes it into the big time. She can already teach a thing or two about poetic statement to many of the so-called professional fiddlers on the current circuit.