Tag: price

Escher Quartet and Jordan Bak open Chamber Music Pittsburgh season

On By Sam JacobsonIn pittsburghLeave a comment

Escher Quartet
Jordan Bak, viola
PNC Theatre
Pittsburgh Playhouse
Pittsburgh, PA
October 21, 2024

Barber: String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11
Price: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111

Opening the 2024-25 season of Chamber Music Pittsburgh was the New York-based Escher Quartet — an ensemble whose last local appearance was a streamed performance without audience during the covid lockdown. Euro-centric a tradition as the string quartet may be, the Escher’s program interesting opened with two American works, beginning with Samuel Barber’s youthful entry in B minor.

Escher Quartet with Jordan Bak, photo credit Chamber Music Pittsburgh

Terse, rapid gesture were given with singular intestity, interspersed with more lyrical material. The central Molto adagio would later become the iconic, standalone Adagio for Strings — and how fascinating it was to hear it in its original context, blanketed by contrasting outer movements. Far less saturated than the later expansion for string orchestra, it allowed one to better take note of its intricacies, particularly the melody for viola. The music grew to the impassioned, only to fade to somber quietude. Barber here was at his most neo-Romantic, sharply diverging from the stark modernism that opened. A brief finale followed without pause, at first recalling the gestures of the beginning, but then taking a life of its own in a brief but blistering coda.

The opening of Florence Price’s Second Quartet had a distinctive, recognizably American sound, balancing erudite sophistication with a certain down-to-earth abandon. A genial and gracious melodic line was tinged with folk tradition, and the slow movement that followed was a songful interlude, seemingly at peace with the world. A Juba movement is a device Price often used, and here it took the usual place of the Scherzo. Given without inhibition, bluesy harmonies and vibrant syncopations made for a delightful listen. The finale saw heightened drama, showcasing Price’s compositional skill with its coruscating counterpoint. An impressive close to the American half of the recital, and the Eschers served as strong advocates for Price.

Quartet then became quintet with the addition of violist Jordan Bak, affording the Pittsburgh audience the opportunity to hear Brahms’ expansive G major string quintet. The composer originally envisioned the work as his fifth symphony, and the vestiges of symphonic heft were evident from the grand sweep of the opening. A singing theme added contrast, with the addition of the second viola making matters all the more lovely. Bak blended well with the quartet, and the combined forces offered mastery of the work’s large-scale form.

A pizzicato bass line from the cello was a striking effect in the serene Adagio, as was a richly articulated melodic line in the first violin. The hesitating gesture in the penultimate movement gave it a certain autumnal quality, fitting for a work from late in the composer’s life, but the finale was a playful affair, hardly dour, with a bold and bracing finish fitting for a work of such proportion.

Columbus Symphony spotlights principal clarinet

On By Sam JacobsonIn columbusLeave a comment

Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Rossen Milanov, conductor
David Thomas, clarinet
Ohio Theatre
Columbus, OH
February 18, 2023

Price: Andante ma non troppo from Symphony No. 3 in C minor
Berio/Brahms: Op. 120 No. 1
Schubert: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D417, Tragic

It has been deeply gratifying to see renewed attention given to the formidable work of Florence Price in the past few years. Last year’s Grammy for best orchestral performance went to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s warmly recommended recording of her First and Third symphonies under Yannick Nézet-Séguin – an ensemble of which Rossen Milanov served as assistant conductor for almost a dozen years before coming to Columbus. Last weekend’s Columbus Symphony program opened with the slow movement of the Third Symphony.

David Thomas, photo credit Columbus Symphony

A plaintive choir of winds began, with a tuneful melody gently unfolding. Like Dvorák before her (as in the New World symphony, heard here two weeks prior), Price purveyed a language steeped in folk tradition without making use of specific quotations. A passage for brass chorale was particularly affecting and distinctly American in character before the movement reached a serene ending, aided by a touch of harp. It certainly whetted one’s appetite for more, and I hope the complete symphony can be programmed in an upcoming season.

Though at the forefront of the avant-garde, Luciano Berio had a knack for faithfully transcribing other composers’ works for various media (including a particularly delightful selection of Beatles songs). A 1986 commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic saw him transcribe Brahms’ late Clarinet Sonata in F minor, Op. 120 No. 1 for soloist and orchestra. Championing the work was David Thomas, serving as the CSO’s principal clarinet since 1989.

Passionate, brooding beginnings were had, with Berio’s orchestration inimitably Brahmsian as he left his iconoclastic proclivities far behind – the work sounded almost as the clarinet concerto Brahms never wrote. Thomas’ rich tone was well-suited to this autumnal work, finely balanced with the larger ensemble, and conveying a natural chemistry with his orchestral colleagues. The slow movement proceeded as a long-breathed song without words – really gorgeous – while an Allegretto grazioso charmed with its inflections of the ländler in both rhythm and spirit. A repeated motif marked the closing Vivace, a finale of appropriate vigor.

Another C minor symphony closed the program, namely Schubert’s Tragic. Weighty introductory material announced the minor tonality in no uncertain terms; the movement proper brimmed with Sturm und Drang in this early expression of Romanticism. The primary theme was deftly articulated in the strings, and a development section traversed distant keys before the movement landed – quite surprisingly – in the major.

The Andante boasted one of Schubert’s loveliest melodies, first presented in the strings with a touching countermelody in the oboe, searching for peace amidst the tumult of the rest of the work. The minor key shading gave the minuet added vigor, a contrast heightened by the lilting trio. Milanov leapt right in the to the finale – perhaps in reaction to some of the audience’s insistence on applauding after every movement. Matters felt a tad rushed, but this was an energetic outing nonetheless, leading to a dramatic finish.

Cavani Quartet makes strong impression in diverse program at Chamber Music Columbus

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Louise Toppin, soprano
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
January 28, 2023

Hu: The Clarity of Hope
Saint-Georges: String Quartet in C minor, Op. 1 No. 4
Lomax: A Prayer for Love
Price: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor

Encore:
Washington: Midnight Child

Chamber Music Columbus’ first program of the new year brought forth the Cleveland-based Cavani String Quartet in an afternoon of diverse string quartets by an equally diverse body of composers – none of whom fit the “dead white male” archetype all too prevalent in classical music, perhaps the vaunted string quartet even more so. The program opened with the next iteration of Ching-chu Hu’s fanfare for the organization’s 75th anniversary, styled here as The Clarity of Hope.

Cavani String Quartet, photo credit Robert Muller

In this guise, one was taken by the intimate warmth of the strings – rather different than the initial casting for brass quintet – and the scoring afforded each member of the quartet a moment in the spotlight. Cavani next turned to the work of the fascinating figure sometimes referred to as the “Black Mozart”: namely, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born in Guadeloupe a decade before Mozart to a French father and Senegalese mother. The brief C minor quartet had an opening filled with longing of that tragic key (a tonality later favored by both Mozart and Beethoven for their most personal, profound creations), but an elegance at its core as encouraged by Cavani’s detailed reading. The closing Rondeau was a lively foil, in due course arriving at a bright C major.

The next of the 75th anniversary commissions turned toward one of Columbus’ own, the multi-faceted Mark Lomax II. A Prayer for Love intriguingly adds soprano voice to the quartet, singing the text of “A Prayer” by Claude McKay, Jamaican-born poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Searching, richly chromatic harmonies opened, and the work’s rhythmic complexities were astutely articulated by Cavani – surely Lomax’s background as as drummer encouraged his keen attention to rhythm. Louise Toppin’s lyrical soprano soared over the uncertain, often jagged accompaniment, at last giving way to peaceful resolution. In his interview with me, Lomax noted inspiration from Mahler’s blending of voice with orchestra, and the intimacy that creates in the context of a vast symphony. The taut communication here between soprano and strings conveyed, in a similar vein, an inward-looking affinity.

In recent years, a renewed attention has been given to the work of Florence Price – a major talent and essential voice of American music – and Cavani closed the printed program with her substantial String Quartet No. 2, dating from 1935. A wistfulness wandered throughout the opening Moderato, encouraged by the warm resonance of the strings: an eloquent statement, often bracing. Though in the European tradition, the work exuded a distinctly American flavor with stylistic echoes of Dvořák’s “American” quartet, though arguably more authentic.

The richly voiced Andante cantabile served as a calming spiritual, while the third movement Juba was of good-natured charm, brimming with syncopations that invoked ragtime and were played with abandon. The finale was a largely energetic affair, though still lyrical at its core, and led towards a blistering coda. As an encore, the quartet selected a work by Columbus native Charles Washington called Midnight Child, based upon the spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”: freely incorporating jazz elements, it made for a delightful close to the afternoon.

Louise Toppin, photo credit umich.edu