Tag: shaw

ProMusica closes season with celebration of Caroline Shaw

On By Sam JacobsonIn columbusLeave a comment

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
David Danzmayr, conductor
Caroline Shaw, vocals
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 13, 2023

Shaw: Blueprint
Shaw: Is a Rose
Shaw: Entr’acte
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

Ever keen to celebrate living composers, ProMusica’s final performance of the season explored the work of the remarkable Caroline Shaw. In addition to being featured as composer, the multi-faceted Shaw was additionally seen as vocalist in one of her own works, and as violinist, joining ProMusica’s ranks for the Brahms symphony which closed the evening. Originally scheduled to take place prior to the pandemic, it was well worth the wait, and further to the convivial spirit of the evening, Shaw revealed a few touching Columbus connections: she had studied violin with ProMusica concertmaster Katherine McLin, and her mother sang in the Columbus Opera chorus in the 1970s.

Caroline Shaw performing Is a Rose with David Danzmayr and ProMusica, photos credit ProMusica

Scored for string quartet, Blueprint featured McLin along with Jennifer Ross, Mary Harris, and Cora Kuyvenhoven. Inspired by Beethoven, it captured the spirit of the elder composer indirectly and obliquely, not relying on obvious allusions. Snappy pizzicatos gave variety to the texture, and much was made of the empty space that separated its terse gestures, a sure sign of the quartet’s seamless cohesion.

Is a Rose constitutes a short song cycle, intriguingly scored for string orchestra with the addition of oboe and harpsichord. The three songs respectively set texts by Jacob Polley, Shaw herself, and Robert Burns, and it was really treat to hear Shaw sing her own work, an adept performer offering the insight of a composer. In “The Edge,” the oboe complemented the richness of the strings, with a gentle vocal line rising in intensity in mirror of the text. The harpsichord opened “And So,” here, the lyricism of Shaw’s voice complemented her lyrical text. In a clever orchestration, the words “borrowed time” were marked with pizzicato strings, sounding like a ticking clock. The closing setting of Burns’ “Red, Red Rose” made for a melancholy farewell.

As Blueprint looked towards Beethoven, Entr’acte drew inspiration from Haydn, take the minuet rhythm – a key element of much of Haydn’s output – as a departure point. Cast for string orchestra, its crunchy dissonances and use of harmonics offered Haydnesque wit fit for the 21st century – very much in Shaw’s own voice, but no less charming.

Conductor David Danzmayr noted that one may be surprised to see a Brahms symphony on a program from the chamber-sized ProMusica, but explained that Meiningen Hofkapelle that premiered some of Brahms’ symphonies was comparable in size. Thunderous, brooding beginnings opened this C minor First Symphony, though perhaps still a bit thinner sounding to contemporary areas accustomed to much larger ensembles. The first movement’s primary theme was articulated crisp and dramatic, taken at a rather brisk tempo.

The Andante sostentuo was a lyrical look inward, though it could have benefitted from greater dynamic contrast had Danzmayr brought down the dynamics down a bit more. Mellifluous clarinet marked the scherzo, but I felt the movement’s rustic charm needed to breathe more and a less-hurried tempo choice would have better suited. Gleaming brass opened the weighty finale, with lyrical strings intoning a melody that bore more than a passing resemblance to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – a fitting nod to the evening’s beginning which saw students from ProMusica’s admirable Play Us Forward program performing a string arrangement of the Ode to Joy. Intense and articulate, Danzmayr guided the orchestra to a bold finish.

ProMusica performs Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 (spot Shaw on the far left!)

Brooklyn Rider offers healing through music at Chamber Music Columbus

On By Sam JacobsonIn columbusLeave a comment

Brooklyn Rider
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 21, 2022

Shaw: Schisma
Esmail: Zeher
Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

In the concluding entry of Chamber Music Columbus’ 74th season, Brooklyn Rider presented a program drawing upon their recent commissioning project and subsequent album Healing Modes. Inspired by Beethoven’s Op. 132 quartet which the composer used as a means to express his profound gratitude upon healing from illness, the project engaged contemporary composers to explore the healing properties of music. The five works commissioned were premiered by Brooklyn Rider at various venues during the 2018-19 concert season.

Brooklyn Rider, photo credit Shervin Lainez

Caroline Shaw’s Schisma (literally translating from Greek to “cleft”) takes as inspiration the Greek islands which have become makeshift refugee camps for Syrians escaping war. The score was colored by harmonies and figures that wouldn’t have been out of place in a work by Philip Glass (a composer this quartet has recorded extensively), and Shaw made creative use of pizzicatos and the percussive potential of the string instruments’ wooden bodies. A brief work, but the textural variety made for a gripping listen. Reena Esmail’s Zeher (the Hindustani word for “poison”) reflects on the composer’s bout with a throat infection (the titular poison). The Hindustani vocal style was mimicked in the cello (Michael Nicolas – one of Esmail’s classmates at Juilliard), with astringent dissonances in the rest of the ensemble. The work ended with resolution and clarity, finally freed of the pathogen.

The first half was to include the remaining works of the Healing Modes project – traversing pieces of Gabriela Lena Frank, Du Yun, and Mantana Roberts, which I’m keen to explore on BR’s recording – but a previously unannounced program change instead offered a preview of the quartet’s next major endeavor, The Four Elements. The project will seek to explore the four classical elements in musical terms, with Dutilleux’s 1976 work Ainsi la nuit (“Thus the night”) representative of air. Cast in seven movements, Ainsi la nuit is one of the landmark works for string quartet from the late 20th century. A kaleidoscope of moods were traversed in this extensive meditation on the night. It’s a work that challenges the listener, but was made all the more approachable by way of Brooklyn Rider’s committed and incisive performance.

Beethoven’s penultimate string quartet was likewise a landmark of its own time, and certainly a work that continues to speak to listeners. Slow introductory material probed for meaning before the first movement took shape with energy and synergy, given with a poignant dramatic sweep. The minuet that followed was rather lighter fare before the great Heiliger Dankgesang. Even for a composer with so many profound and heart-wrenching slow movements to his name, this is certainly a standout, a gracious paean and the emotional core of the work. Far removed from those meditative musings was the jaunty but brief Alla marcia, and lastly, a darkly-hued, impassioned finale, with the quartet’s fiery playing making matters especially arresting.