REVIEW: South Windsor Cultural Arts, " Sam DeCaprio, Cello; Anna Han, Piano"

Evergreen Crossings, South Windsor, CT

www.facebook.com/SouthWindsorCulturalArts/

January 5, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

A capacity South Windsor audience was graced with a sensational debut concert as a duo by Connecticut-born cellist Samuel DeCaprio, a globe-trotting performer and Juilliard School graduate based in NYC, and Arizona native Anna Han, a prize-winning pianist and Juilliard alumna based in Berlin, Germany.

The concert opened with an exuberant account of Beethoven’s 1798 Twelve Variations on “A Girl or Little Wife” from Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute.” The aria by the comic bird-catcher Papageno is cleverly reinvented, from the disjointed first variation for piano alone to the frisky whirlwind finale. The duo’s enjoyment of its technical and interpretive challenges was palpable.  

Next came an affectionate performance of Robert Schumann’s 1849 “Fantasy Pieces.” The three short works have titles which indicate their tempo markings. The first, marked “Tender and with expression,” was given a lush reading; the second, marked “Lively, light,” had an animated edge; the third, marked “Quick and with fire,” was almost manic in its impassioned energy.

The powerful centerpiece of the program was Turkish composer-pianist Fazil Say’s 2012 “Four Cities.” Each movement is named after a city in Turkey with personal memories for Say. The quiet “Sivas,” in which the cello sometimes sounds like a duduk (an Armenian woodwind), was wistful and haunting. The fast “Hopa,” about a wedding celebration, was raucous and percussive. The intense “Ankara,” which quotes a World War I protest song, was dark and ominous. The lively “Bodrum” evoked a pub with a jazzy swing rhythm. The nimble and virtuosic duo stretched the limits of both their instruments to dazzling effect.

Anton Webern’s 1899 Two Pieces for Cello and Piano are the 16-year-old’s first known work, long pre-dating his fame as an atonal composer. DeCaprio and Han beautifully captured its straightforward romanticism. The concert closed with a vibrant rendition of Cesar Franck’s 1886 Sonata in A Major, originally for violin and piano, in a transcription by Jules Delsart for cello and piano. The duo was aptly yearning in the first movement, turbulent in the second, reflective in the third, and joyful in the finale.  

Both varied their tones from delicate to forceful and smooth to gutsy when needed and meshed like seasoned partners throughout the program. Their helpful spoken comments about the music further enhanced its impact.

 

SWCA will next present pianist Ilya Yakushev on February 16.