Review: Simone Dinnerstein

Oct. 26, University of Richmond

Simone Dinnerstein is one of the leading Bach pianists of our time. Perhaps the main reason for that is her combination of digital dexterity – few pianists can beat her for speed and accuracy – and bright tone.  

Thanks to those attributes, Dinnerstein doesn’t have to compromise on tempos and phrasing and can render Bach’s often dense elaboration and ornamentation with almost as much clarity on a Steinway as harpsichordists produce on their instruments.

What’s good for Bach, however, is not necessarily good for composers of the romantic era.

Those were the upsides and downsides, respectively, of Dinnerstein’s program at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center. The same technique and sensibility that made her performances of Bach’s partitas Nos. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825, and No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826, so satisfying made her rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27, No. 2, sound uncharacteristically hard-edged.

The pianist brought a softer touch and more subtle tone-coloring to Schumann’s “Kinderszenen,” and a fine balance of classical clarity and romantic lyricism to Brahms’ Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2.

Her Bach, idiomatic as it was, still showed the limitations of the modern grand piano in this music. The tone of the instrument tended toward the congested in fast, loud and/or heavily ornamented sections of the two partitas, such as the rondeau of the C minor and the menuets and gigue of the B flat major. Dinnerstein made more of slower movements, notably the allemande and sarabande of the C minor, playing with more songful phrasing and conveying a pronounced sense of introspection.

In Daniel Felsenfeld’s “Cohen Variations,” a fantasia-cum-pianistic showpiece using the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” Dinnerstein (for whom the piece was written) reconciled virtuosity with moodiness, and stayed true to the piece’s stylistic shifts, from romantically lyrical to expressionistic and neoclassical.

Symphony's 'Come and Play'

The Richmond Symphony’s annual “Come and Play” concert, in which symphony musicians play alongside instrumentalists from the community, will be staged on Nov. 18 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center, Broad and Harrison streets.

Erin R. Freeman, the symphony’s associate conductor, will lead a rehearsal from 2:30-5 p.m., and the concert beginning at 6 p.m.

Registration fees are $10 for adults (23 and older), $5 for those 22 and younger. The registration deadline is Oct. 26. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Symphony @ School program, which supports music education in Richmond area schools.

To register for “Come and Play,” visit www.richmondsymphony.com

Dinnerstein appetizer

Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat major in the studio at NPR:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/10/18/163096165/simone-dinnersteins-bach-between-the-notes

The pianist is due to play this, as well as Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor and works by Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Daniel Felsenfeld, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Modlin Arts Center at the University of Richmond. (See October calendar for details.)

Review: 'The Pearl Fishers'

Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Oct. 19, Richmond CenterStage

Considering the popularity of “Carmen,” you’d think that Georges Bizet’s other major opera, “The Pearl Fishers,” would be at least vaguely familiar. Not really. Many longtime operagoers in this country have never heard, let alone seen, a production. Others know the opera only from this or that excerpt, notably the Act 1 “Pearl Fishers duet” for tenor and baritone.

The opera’s story hinges on our old pal, the love triangle. Zurga, the newly elected chief of a Ceylonese village of pearl divers, and his old friend, Nadir, in their youth were smitten by the same woman. She now reappears as Léïla, a veiled priestess brought in a for a village ceremony. Léïla and Nadir soon fall into each other’s arms, risking execution for impiety. Zurga must man up to ethical and romantic dilemmas and decide whether to condemn the lovers or help them escape. That basic story line is dressed up with the exoticism of the Asian locale and several ceremonial dance and/or choral numbers.

Narratively, “The Pearl Fishers” is clunky, at times almost grinding to a halt. The score by the 25-year-old Bizet is richly orchestrated and positively fecund with melody, if a bit cross-culturally wacky (South Asian fisher-folk doing Provençal dances?). Bizet provides show-stopper arias for all three principals, as well as the (semi-)familiar male duet (recurring as a leitmotif through the score) and the memorable Act 2 lovers’ duet “Dieu puissant, le voilà!”

Virginia Opera introduces “The Pearl Fishers” to its repertory in a production that’s visually arresting and generally well-sung, but musically and choreographically under-energized.

Conductor Anne Manson’s measured tempos give the opera’s three principal voices plenty of room for expression, phrasing and coloristic nuance, but also take away the rollicking quality of the show’s production numbers. Dance sequences are pretty earthbound – tight confines and a steeply raked set likely narrowed choreographer Matt Ferraro’s options; a larger-than-usual chorus is largely static during its numbers.

Heather Buck, the soprano who sang the role of La Princesse in last season’s Virginia Opera production of Philip Glass’ “Orphée,” returns as Léïla, displaying a bright and flexible coloratura and deftly reconciling the character’s stylized priestess persona with the passionate woman within.

Tenor Chad Johnson takes on the punishing tenor role of Nadir gamely, riding the high-register roller-coaster aboard which Bizet straps the tenor with solid technique, if not ringing volume. That is supplied, in plenty, by baritone David Pearshall as Zurga; Pearshall nicely reins in his voice to complement Johnson’s in their duet, and similarly aims to blend in other ensembles. Bass Nathan Stark is a looming, ominous presence as the priest Nourabad.

The chorus is, or should be, a prominent and vivid character in “The Pearl Fishers.” This production’s 36-voice chorus, prepared by Adam Turner, sounded rather shaky early in the first of two Richmond performances. The ensemble came together and gained some heft as the show progressed.

Stage director Tazewell Thompson, like choreographer Ferraro, appears to have addressed the problem of a crowded and raked stage with caution. The crowd doesn’t move much, and when it does so it’s in tight formation. Thompson’s treatment of more intimate scenes is unfussily genuine.

Donald Eastman’s set, a construct of blond wood fronting stylized rigging and fishing lines, has a raked and cobbled floor, suggestive of waves – a clean, uncluttered look, refreshingly devoid of “tropical” kitsch, but angled steeply enough to inhibit movement. Costume designer Merrily Murray-Walsh outfits all the non-priestly characters in South Asian garb that appears well-weathered by water, sun and sand; in this company, Léïla’s red priestess vestments flash almost like neon.

Conductor Manson obtained a warm-blooded and sonorous performance from the Virginia Symphony players in the pit. Flutist Debra Wendells Cross, oboists Sherie Lake-Aguirre and George Corbett and cellist Michael Daniels contributed fine solos.

Virginia Opera’s “The Pearl Fishers” receives its final performance at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $20-$119. Details: (866) 673-7282; www.vaopera.org

Review: Jennifer Koh

with Shai Wosner, piano
Oct. 13, Virginia Commonwealth University

Violinist Jennifer Koh is one of the best of a growing number of young and youngish artists who come at the classical repertory through the looking glass, so to speak – presenting familiar works in unfamiliar company, shuffling chronology and style, veering from the sensual to the brainy and back (sometimes within the same piece), and making the presentation work through a combination of technical precision and palpable passion for the music at hand.

Koh’s program for her VCU recital with pianist Shai Wosner was characteristically venturesome: a first half of sonatas by Leoš Janáček and Béla Bartók, a second half with György Kurtág’s “Tre Pezzi” miniatures serving as a prelude to . . . Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor. For many in the audience, it was a harrowing journey that finally ended in a warm, safe place.

The chief harrow was Bartók’s Sonata in C sharp minor for violin and piano. The two instruments play markedly different material quite independently of each other; if the performers are mutually attentive and sensitive, occasional, and rather shaky, reconciliation of their parts is possible. Koh and Wosner assumed their respective characters (songful but intense and vigorously rhythmic, respectively) and maintained a certain respectful distance. They played up all available tension and surprise in the sonata’s long central adagio but couldn’t make it sound like a coherent whole.

Janáček’s Violin Sonata (1914-21) is, as its dates suggest, music echoing to the upheaval and radical transformation of Central Europe during and after World War I. As a Czech, eager to throw off Austro-Hungarian rule, the composer looked to Russia, both as a liberator and pan-Slavic cultural beacon. The sonata, a kind of mind’s ear soundtrack to Janáček’s thinking and feelings about the world changing around him, employs many of the same expressive devices that Janáček used in his operas, making this piece sound like a wordless chamber drama.

Koh was a vivid protagonist, playing at an expressive pitch one might expect to hear in Tchaikovsky or even Mussorgsky. Wosner was a richly evocative musical presence throughout the piece.

Kurtág’s “Tre Pezzi” are three short nonlinear pieces about sound and tone color. The tones, especially those of the violin, are quiet and tonally rarified, usually resonating into silence. The set was a surprisingly effective ear-cleanser for the Brahms.

The duo’s performance of the Brahms was straightforward. Koh and Wosner played with breadth and expression, but seemed intent on not over-interpreting this staple sonata. One sensed that Wosner wanted a bit more flexibility in phrasing.

Review: Philip Glass Festival

Philip Glass, composer & piano
Tim Fain, violin
Oct. 5, University of Richmond

Philip Glass, who turned 75 in January, is being fêted all over the place during this anniversary year. The University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center has staged a Philip Glass Festival this fall; its climax came with the composer appearing for a talk and a concert with violinist Tim Fain.

The concert program, sampling more than 30 years of Glass’ output, centered on the Chaconne from the “Partita for Solo Violin in Seven Movements.” Glass modeled his partita after those of Bach, giving the violinist many opportunities for technical display and high-strung expressiveness, as well as a complex structure to negotiate. “I was looking for a structure that was both expansive and tightly knit,” the composer writes, and he achieves that combination expertly and memorably.

Fain, for whom the partita was written, proved to be both fluent and communicative in the two-part chaconne at the heart of the piece. He was downright frisky in an encore of an excerpt from Glass’ opera “Einstein on the Beach.”

Glass played several solo-piano works from various eras. The Chopinesque “Metamorphoses” Nos. 4, 3 and 2, vintage 1989, contrasted refreshingly with “Mad Rush,” a 1979 piece, originally for organ, whose insistent ostinato and liberal application of arpeggios are characteristic of his early minimalist or “steady state” style.

In “Wichita Vortex Sutra,” a 1990 setting of Alan Ginsburg’s Vietnam War-era poem, the poet’s exuberantly delivered recording of the poem overshadowed the piano accompaniment, despite the busyness of the piano line and its rather loud amplification in this performance.

Glass and Fain played two duets, including three excerpts from the composer’s 1989 music for the Jean Genet play “The Screens” and “Pendulum,” a 2010 work written for an American Civil Liberties Union anniversary celebration.

Like much of Glass’ later music, scored for instruments other than electronic keyboards, these pieces sound more expressive, atmospheric and/or playful – cinematic, if you will – and less rhythmically relentless.

The composer, dressed for a casual Friday and introducing the selections as if he were conversing in someone’s living room, did not give off Grand Old Man vibes.

Maybe when he turns 80, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Review: Symphony 'Rush Hour'

Steven Smith conducting
Oct. 4, Richmond CenterStage

The Richmond Symphony’s new casual-concert series got off to a splendid start musically, a fair-to-middling start logistically. “Rush Hour” concerts – another is scheduled for Feb. 21 – are short programs (an hour or so) of music with talk about it. A free beverage comes with a ticket. The event was staged in Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse, a “black box” theater (only earth-toned) seating about 200.

Steven Smith, the symphony’s music director, did most of the talking, in much the same way that he conducts pre-concert lectures for the Masterworks series. Smith was engaging, informed and cogent in introducing the program’s three selections; before the longest, Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, he invited the featured soloists to have their say.

Joseph Evans, a Houston-based tenor and university teacher, and James Ferree, who joined the symphony as principal horn player in January, gave smoothly delivered talks, Evans focusing on the text of the Britten (complete with translations from 15th century English), Ferree demonstrating the natural horn, the valveless predecessor to the modern French horn, which Britten uses to haunting effect in the prologue and epilogue of the serenade.

Evans has a near-ideal voice for Britten’s settings of Tennyson, Blake, Keats, two other English poets and the 15th-century “Lyke Wake Dirge.” The composer wrote the vocal part of the serenade for tenor Peter Pears, whose rather steely head voice could penetrate complex and unquiet orchestrations. Evans added just enough metal to be heard clearly alongside robust, sonorous playing by Ferree and the symphony strings.

The program opened with Zoltan Kodály’s “Summer Evening,” a late-romantic/impressionistic tone poem liberally garnished with the harmonies and rhythmic inflections of Hungarian folk song and dance. The piece, which sounds like a Hungarian analogue to music of the English pastoral school (Vaughan Williams, Holst, Butterworth, etc.), was a surprisingly suitable companion to the Britten.

Smith and the orchestra concluded the mini-concert with the first movement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 in B flat major, one of the 12 “London” symphonies that the composer wrote for two tours of England in the 1790s. This was a semi-“big band” reading of Haydn, with moderate tempos and blunt accents.

If conversation and audience interaction are to be part of these events, the Gottwald Playhouse is not the ideal venue. The space is intimate, with surprisingly lively acoustics; but the formal-concert "wall" between performers and listeners still stands in this largely fixed-seat space.

The program will be repeated, with a full performance of the Haydn symphony, in the opening of the orchestra’s Metro Collection series, at 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. Tickets: $20. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); www.richmondsymphony.com