REVIEW: Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Spotlight Series

Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Hartford, CT
www.hartfordsymphony.org
through June 13, 2021
by Michael J. Moran

The seventh and final episode of the HSO’s monthly virtual “Spotlight Series” of 60-minute concerts by HSO ensembles is now available on-demand at the orchestra’s website through June 13, 2021. Filmed at four different Hartford area venues and entitled “Spotlight: Mixtape,” it featured 26 HSO musicians performing in six separate groups and playing music by seven diverse composers for a variety of instruments.

The HSO Brass Quintet (trumpeters Scott McIntosh and John Charles Thomas, hornists Barbara Hill and Brian Diehl, and Adam Crowe on tuba) opened on a celebratory note with Gwyneth Walker’s rousing 1987 “Raise the Roof!,” complete with hand and foot tapping in the rhythm of carpenters rebuilding a Vermont concert hall. The HSO String Quartet (violinists Lisa Rautenberg and Martha Kayser, violist Nicholas Borghoff, and cellist Jeffrey Krieger) followed with a stately account of Georg Philipp Telemann’s elegant 1761 “Don Quixote Overture.”

HSO percussionists Robert McEwan, David West, Douglas Perry, and Evan Glickman and timpanist Eugene Bozzi next gave a knockout performance of Christopher Rouse’s 1976 Voodoo-inspired “Ogoun Badagris,” based on Haitian drumming patterns, and ending with all players shouting “Reler” (“Amen”). HSO violinist Lu Sun Friedman’s poignant account of Edith Piaf’s difficult life made the loving rendition by the Mosaic Trio (Friedman, violist Patricia Daly Vance, and cellist Peter Zay) of her “La Vie en Rose” the program’s emotional heart.

Carolyn Kuan

The A Piacere (“At Your Pleasure”) Quartet (violinists Jaroslaw Lis and Deborah Tyler, violist Michael Wheeler, and cellist Jia Cao) then tore into Astor Piazzolla’s 1988 “Four for Tango,” written for the Kronos Quartet, with passion, panache, and birdlike sound effects. The HSO Wind Quintet (flutist Dominique Kim, oboist Cheryl Bishkoff, clarinetist Eddie Sundra, bassoonist Pinghua Ren, and hornist Barbara Hill) played Jeff Scott’s 2014 “Startin Sumthin,” a “modern wind quintet take on swing music,” in Kim’s words, with joyous flights of jazzy humor.

HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan closed the concert leading a slightly reduced orchestra on the Bushnell’s Belding stage in an exuberant Brahms “Hungarian Dance #5,” presaging the HSO’s welcome return to Covid-safe live performance when their Talcott Mountain Music Festival opens in Simsbury on July 2.

REVIEW: Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Concert 3

Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, MA
www.springfieldsymphony.org
through May 21, 2021
by Michael J. Moran

After short weekly “Homegrown” videos of themselves performing individually at home and several lecture/music education events via Zoom, SSO musicians are now presenting a series of three hour-long chamber music concerts. The third and last one, filmed at Focus Springfield Community TV and available for on-demand streaming at the SSO web site through May 21, featured: a percussion trio; a string quartet; and a string trio. 

SSO Music Director Kevin Rhodes introduced each piece on the program with typical gusto, and program notes by the performers offered additional background information. Percussionist Nathan Lassell opened with an entertaining solo performance of Rick Dior’s improvisation “Brush Up” for two brushes and snare drum. Featuring brush techniques like “rim flutters…staccato sweeps [and] one-handed tremolos,” it was as much fun to watch as Lassell says it is to play.  

Delores Thayer

The string quartet (violinists Masako Yanagita and Marsha Harbison, violist Delores Thayer, and cellist Boris Kogan) next played what Rhodes called the “anything can happen” “Allegretto” movement of Beethoven’s eighth quartet with close attention to the frequent shifts of rhythm and dynamics, bringing special fervor to the Russian patriotic song quoted in the middle section. The string trio (violinist Beth Welty, violist Noralee Walker, and cellist Joel Wolfe) then played two movements of Beethoven’s early Mozart-like first string trio with graceful flair (in the “Andante”) and spirited humor (in the “Menuetto”).

Lassell returned on snare drum for two amusingly titled drum solos – “Cider Jug” and “Conquering Legions of Rome” - by West Point “Hellcats” composer John S. Pratt, with Robert McEwan, who composed and played the bass drum parts. The string trio then preformed the first two movements of Erno Dohnanyi’s 1902 “Serenade,” stirringly in the lively “March” and tenderly in the quiet “Romance,” highlighted by Walker’s soulful viola. 

Percussionist Martin Kluger joined Lassell and McEwan in the last two movements (they had played the first movement in concert #2) of Zivkovic’s exuberant 1995 “Trio Per Uno,” featuring hypnotic vibes and shimmering glass chimes in the hushed “Contemplativo” and, in Kluger’s words, “a ritual ceremony of primitive ferocity [with] thumping tom-toms and vocal outbursts” in the wild closing “Molto energico.” Acoustics were straightforward, with resourceful videography.

Review: Yiddish Book Center, The Dead Man (radio drama)

Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, MA

yiddishbookcenter.org

through May 9, 2021

by Shera Cohen

I remember, several decades ago, visiting my Bubie (grandmother) on a Sunday; every Sunday no matter what the weather or anything more important to the younger me. I bless those Sundays now. Her tenement apartment was large, even by today's standards. Her radio, to the right of the kitchen, was also large; approximately 4 feet high. This was the radio that the entire proverbial family sat around, kids on the floor, listening intensely to stories. I suppose the radio also broadcast news of the day, comedians bantering, and advertisements. I was too young to remember most of what I heard, but snippets in my brain seem to recall Maxwell House Coffee as the sponsor of just about everything in those days.

Delighting my burgeoning love of theatre was listening to these stories, the short plays with full casts complete with background sound effects. I don't know if "playettes" is an actual word, but it's the best description I can think of calling these mysteries, comedies, dramas, and monologues. I doubt if the younger me would have fully understood the text of the play "The Dead Man". However, the Yiddish Book Center's production was poignant and telling.

The Coronavirus-19 has, for good or bad, brought back many of the older modes of presenting theatre and other entertainment, like music, that doesn't necessarily have to be seen to fully appreciate. The cast of approximately 10 actors spoke with enunciation that clearly created an image of each character to the listeners. The turn-of-the 19th-century European vignette was spoken in English with a Yiddish flavor. 

The crux was the entry of a stranger into the midst of a poor little village. It is not a spoiler to say that the man is G-d's recruiter. He spoke in a deep, dark monotone. Obviously, the director called for the actor's demeanor, although the sound resonated a foreboding and unpleasant image. The other characters are entranced as they see and hear this creation who looks like a man. He talks authoritatively and steadfastly encouraging the villagers to follow him to heaven, yet the words "heaven" or "death" are never spoken. The interaction between the man and his fiancé is the most important segment of the play. The two seemingly have very little interest in each other; perhaps an arranged marriage as was common then?

"The Dead Man" might mean that our physical bodies encase the sounds of our inner beings, our souls. The stranger repeatedly encourages the others to follow him to heaven. I believe that a radio drama permits more interpretation than a play onstage. Perhaps others agree with me, or not.

Direct link to purchase viewing opportunity: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_32SlM0UmQhelujR46s-6hQ

REVIEW: Felix, Fanny, and Frederic, Close Encounters With Music

Close Encounters With Music, Great Barrington, MA
www.cewm.org
April 25, 2021
by Michael J. Moran

Yehuda Hanani

Close Encounters With Music continues to present virtual chamber music concerts from the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington during the Covid pandemic. Their latest program, recorded on the Mahaiwe stage before a small live audience, featured Romanian-born violinist Irina Muresanu, Boston-based pianist Max Levinson, and CEWM Artistic Director and cellist Yehuda Hanani. It is available on the CEWM web site.

The concert’s full title was “Felix, Fanny, and Frederic: Chopin and the Mendelssohns.” In his typically witty and cogent introductory remarks, Hanani made clear that while Felix and Frederic knew and respected each other professionally, their musical and personal temperaments were worlds apart: Felix Mendelssohn was gregarious and comfortable in a wide range of public roles, while the crowd-averse Frederic Chopin channeled all his passion into his music. 

No better illustration of this point could be offered than the fiery performance by Levinson of Chopin’s 1840 second piano sonata that opened the program. The “Grave – Doppio movimento” first movement was alternately warm and turbulent, while the following “Scherzo” offset a tempestuous main theme with a sensuous trio interlude. The famous “Funeral March” was somber and stark, after which the astonishing minute-long “Presto” finale flashed by in a chromatic blur. Hanani then joined Levinson in a charming account of the tender “Largo” movement from Chopin’s sonata for cello and piano.  

Fanny Mendelssohn received “the same musical education and gifts” as her four-years-younger brother, Hanani noted, but “proper roles” for women of her time and class limited her potential as a composer and performer to a small circle of family and friends.  Based on the lovely “Adagio” for violin and piano which Muresanu played with silken tone and Levinson with delicate finesse, Hanani might consider exploring more of the 450 pieces which Fanny wrote.

The full trio closed the program with a powerfully dramatic rendition of Felix’s first piano trio. The opening “Molto allegro ed agitato” was commanding, followed by a ravishing “Andante con moto tranquillo,” a light-as-a-feather “Scherzo,” and a muscular, passionate “Finale,” overflowing with what Hanani called Mendelssohn’s “uplifting optimism and unwavering hope.” Sound and video quality were straightforward, conveying a good sense of the hall.

REVIEW: Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Concert 2

Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, MA
www.springfieldsymphony.org
through May 21, 2021
by Michael J. Moran

After presenting short weekly “Homegrown” videos of themselves performing individually at home and several lecture/music education events via Zoom, SSO musicians are now offering a series of three hour-long chamber music concerts. The second one, filmed at Focus Springfield Community TV and available for on-demand streaming at the SSO web site through May 21, featured: a string quartet; two more string players; and three percussionists.

SSO Music Director Kevin Rhodes introduced each of the program’s six pieces with his usual enthusiasm, and program notes by the performers offered additional background information. The string quartet (violinists Masako Yanagita and Marsha Harbison, violist Delores Thayer, and cellist Boris Kogan) opened with an intense, heartfelt account of the “Nocturne” slow movement from Borodin’s 1881 second string quartet. This lovely music was used in the 1953 Broadway musical “Kismet” and the 2006 Disney short film “The Little Matchgirl.”  

Nathan Lassell

Percussionist Nathan Lassell next played an arrangement for marimba of “Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum” from Debussy’s 1906 solo piano suite “Children’s Corner,” producing a delicate, shimmering sound. Violinist Beth Welty and violist Noralee Walker then brought rhapsodic energy to the first movement (“Allegro”) of Mozart’s rarely heard 1783 first string duo and soulful depth to the second movement (“Adagio”). Lassell followed with an exciting set of variations for marimba by Eric Sammut on Astor Piazzolla’s 1974 “Libertango,” accompanied by Robert McEwan on cajon, a Peruvian box-shaped drum played by slapping its front.

The string quartet returned with a dazzling performance of the dramatic last movement of Beethoven’s final string quartet, urgently following every mysterious shift of mood and tempo to its triumphant conclusion. Percussionist Martin Kluger then joined Lassell and McEwan on multiple instruments to close the concert on a raucously rhythmic note with the first movement (just as relentless as its title – “Meccanico” - sounds) of Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic’s exhilarating 1995 “Trio Per Uno.” 

Acoustics were close and clean, while the videography nicely combined individual and group perspectives on the masked and distantly spaced players. Several top-down shots of the percussion trio were particularly revealing and entertaining.    

REVIEW: Haydn & Schubert, Albany Symphony

Albany Symphony, Albany, NY
www.albanysymphony.com
April 24 – May 24, 2021
by Michael J. Moran

This latest program in the Albany Symphony’s current season of livestreamed monthly concerts by smaller ensembles of their members during the Covid pandemic paired two pieces by living composers, including a world premiere, with two works by classic composers. The concert will be available for 30 days on demand at the orchestra’s web site, and the livestream added access to a pre-concert discussion and a post-concert Q&A session.

Recorded at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs, NY, and led by the orchestra’s longtime Music Director David Alan Miller, the concert opened with the world premiere of Tanner Porter’s “A Flash of Teeth Before the Bite,” which she calls in her program note “a surreal dance for a moment of warning” that evokes “a dog lunging in slow motion.” The 28-member orchestra’s perky account of the colorful six-minute score belied its alarming title with spiky harmonies that often suggested a 21st-century Copland. 

The restless mood continued with Haydn’s “Symphony No. 46,” written in 1772 during his experimental “storm and stress” period. The Albany performance was dramatic in the opening “Vivace” movement, lilting in the “Poco adagio,” swift in the fleeting two-minute “Menuet: Allegretto,” and mercurial in a “Presto e scherzando” finale full of surprises and Haydn’s trademark humor.

Melissa White

Next came George Tsontakis’s 2003 second violin concerto, which the Greek-American composer and Bard College music professor described in the pre-concert talk as a “democratic concerto,” where the soloist blends in with the accompanying chamber orchestra. Rising African-American violinist Melissa White brilliantly captured the shifting Messiaen-like flavors of its four imaginatively titled movements: (1) “Surges (among stars);” (2) “Giocco (Games);” (3) “Cantilena (Heart);” and (4) “Just Go!” 

The concert closed in a mood of classical calm with a bouyant rendition of Schubert’s 1816 fifth symphony, which exuded Mozart’s strong influence on the nineteen-year-old composer. It featured a graceful opening “Allegro,” a flowing “Andante con moto,” a brisk “Menuetto: Allegro molto,” and a whirlwind “Allegro vivace” finale.

The musicians were masked except for woodwind and brass players, acoustics were full and clear, and videography was creative and engaging. Miller’s livestream pre-concert conversation with Porter and Tsontakis and their post-concert answers, plus White’s, to audience live chat questions were informative and entertaining.

REVIEW: Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Sunday Serenades

Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Hartford, CT

www.hartfordsymphony.org
through June 10, 2021
by Michael J. Moran

Having presented virtual hour-long “Spotlight” concerts this past year by HSO ensembles and virtual “Masterworks In-Depth” conversations led by HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan about music they would have played live this season but for Covid, the HSO is now offering a new virtual “Sunday Serenades” concert. Entitled “Sculpture and the Symphony: From Prometheus to Piazzolla,” it was filmed at the Wadsworth Atheneum’s current exhibition “Paul Manship: Ancient Made Modern” and will be available on-demand at the orchestra’s web site through June 10, 2021.

It features eight HSO musicians, led by concertmaster Leonid Sigal, who chats with Wadsworth curator Erin Monroe between musical selections about how those reflect themes in Manship’s bronze sculptures. For example, what Monroe sees as the “sensuous [and] risqué” interpretation of Greek mythology in Manship’s 1914 “Centaur and Dryad” finds a parallel in Astor Piazzolla’s “Milonga sin Palabras” (“Song without Words”), a wistful seven-minute tango rhapsody hauntingly played by violinist Sigal, violist Michael Wheeler, and cellist Jia Cao.

The three compact movements of Samuel Barber’s 1928 “Serenade,” the 17-year-old composer’s first published work, similarly updated this classical music form with modern but lush post-Romantic harmonies in a glowing performance by Sigal, Wheeler, and Cao, with violinist Lisa Rautenberg and bassist Edward R. Rozie, Jr. 

A 1954 arrangement by Austrian musician Franz Hasenohrl reduces Richard Strauss’s 1895 orchestral tone poem “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” to five players and ten minutes (from fifteen) in his “Till Eulenspiegel another way!” This light-hearted parody of a medieval German folk hero was hilariously played by Sigal, Rozie, hornist Barbara Hill, bassoonist Pinghua Felix Ren, and clarinetist Curt Blood.   

Just as Manship’s gilded Prometheus at New York’s Rockefeller Center brought fire to humankind, Beethoven brought new light to music in masterpieces like his solo piano “Eroica Variations” on a theme that he used in multiple works. Sigal led Rautenberg, Wheeler, Cao, and Blood in a brilliant world premiere of his own colorful chamber arrangement. 

The Wadsworth acoustics were intimate against the striking background of Manship’s 1917 “Four Elements.” The musicians clearly felt the same “energy” that Sigal said they’ve found at past “Sunday Serenade” concerts with audiences at the museum.