Glenn Dicterow and Wendy Putnam, violins; Karen Dreyfus, viola; and Inbal Segev, cello selected a number of lesser-known gems for Sunday’s Harmony Chamber Music Society on the Performing Arts Heart of Harmony Academy, opening with Mozart’s Duet for Two Violins, after the Piano Sonata in A Main. Musicians of the 18th and 19th centuries familiarized themselves with a variety of repertoire via transcriptions and preparations, however based on Steven Ledbetter’s printed notes, the unknown arranger took few liberties and produced a chunk for 2 violins that’s trustworthy to the unique. The stateliness of the primary motion is retained within the two-violin association. Two variations had been reduce from the unique rating, whereas Variation 3, continuous 16th notes in each elements, labored superbly with the 2 violinists in attentive synchronicity. With ease they conveyed the vitality and zest of the concluding Rondo all Turca.
CCMS continued with Beethoven’s String Trio op 9 no 1, one of many grasp’s early forays into writing for strings. The quartets would come later. The primary motion, marked Allegro con brio, comprises a lot that will be attribute of Beethoven all through his profession. After a sluggish and stately introduction, the primary motion turns into enjoyable and video games with offbeat accents, a jaunty secondary theme, and surprising key adjustments. The ambiance of the finale recapitulates the entertaining ambiance of the primary motion. It ends with the viola and violin dancing round varied keys whereas the cello holds onto the dominant till the ultimate rush to a fortissimo shut in G main. The Adagio showcases a wonderful violin solo marked Cantabile, whereas the Scherzo is brief and witty.
The string trio is an exacting style. Absent the second violin of the string quartet, the devices have to repeatedly cowl a spread of colour and sonorities. The three met this problem, subtly alternating which instrument dominated, or exhibiting unity of sound because the music required.
After intermission, your complete ensemble took on Tenebrae for String Quartet by Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960). Tenebrae, Latin for darkness, refers to a non secular service of Western Christianity held through the three days previous Easter and characterised by gradual extinguishing of candles. The piece opens with a shimmering tremolo within the viola and sustained notes within the cello. The violins enter on C and E with the rating notations “a filament of sunshine.” All through, Golijov acknowledges musical traditions that preceded him. As an example, he instructs the low strings on the outset to make the most of “dynamic swells and bowing as in early music.” The cello’s actions recall the bottom bass of the Baroque period. And the violins’ entrance remembers Air on a G string from Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite. The primary a number of minutes recall to mind a primordial ambiance largely enveloped in darkness. By m. 45, the 2 violins commerce a three-note motif. And from there some recognizable components emerge. Chatting with precedent, the composer instructs at m. 83, “Arpeggiato in 32nd notes as in Bach’s Chaconne.” Starting with m. 91 we see references to the pure world, “frogs at night time”, “cosmic orbit.” The final part is entitled “Yrusalem” and directs the performers “like prayer fragments.” Tenebrae ends in a non secular hymn.
So, how does a quartet make all this work? With intense focus, and a concentrate on steadiness and mixing of sounds. Every instrument shows its strengths—as an illustration, a darkish and woody viola in its first solo (m. 73) —whereas by no means assuming too distinguished a job. Dynamics hovered within the p vary, swells felt contained, and sfzs sounded mellow on this masterful efficiency.
With Dicterow, Dreyfus and Segev on stage, the nearer Jean Cras’s (1879-1932) Trio for Violin, Viola started with a repeated cello be aware on low a, adopted by a rising, falling, then rising 4 measure motif within the viola and violin. The 4 measures repeat with out change a second time. The motion has a freedom that’s Cras’s personal language. After an interlude of ten bars, the identical motif reappears. All through the continuous introduction of latest concepts, the unique motif stays roughly unaltered and current. Eschewing a Classical sonata construction Cras created a mosaic of variants from one or two germinal motifs. The variants’ particular person characters had been underscored by frequent tempo adjustments (un peu moins vite, vite, rit), ably conveyed by the performers. The cello by no means performs the principle theme as a soloist, as a substitute offering essential rhythmic underpinning. Segev’s articulation and wealthy tone contributed to the trio’s skill to mix freedom with unity.
Motion two, with its seemingly unrelated sections, evidences the affect of Cras’s travels as a navy officer on his musical output. The primary part is meditative, its 16 bars constructed from a mournful one bar motif. Dicterow’s virtuosity and assuredness via an extended violin solo had the rubato and rhythmic elasticity essential to evoke the Levant. Regardless of growing exoticism, the opening motif is recognizable all through.
Dreyfus joyfully conveyed the earthiness of japanese Europe in an extended viola solo that opens motion three. A protracted part the place all devices are pizzicato got here throughout with brightness and precision. The fourth motion, in steady triplets, whirls by with quick melodic references to the primary motion. The piece ends victoriously and affirmatively on an A serious chord. All through Cras’s whole composition the rating typically instructs one of many gamers to play “en dehors” or “un peu en dehors.” That means out entrance, or projecting the amount past the opposite devices. Not a typical demand positioned on a string ensemble, but achieved seamlessly by the threesome.
The viewers expressed its delight with the enriching 100 minutes.
Retired medical biology researcher Dinah Bodkin is a severe novice pianist and mom of Groupmuse founder Sam Bodkin.
