Review: Chamber Music Society

Oct. 29, First Unitarian Universalist Church

Halloween arrived early, and with extra helpings of spookiness, in “Voyages fantastiques,” the finale of the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia’s French-accented fall mini-series.

Harpist Sivan Magen and the Aeolus Quartet played works inspired by two of the more macabre stories of Edgar Allan Poe: “Ballade fantastique” for solo harp by Henriette Renié, inspired by “The Tell-Tale Heart;” and “Conte fantastiques” for harp and string quartet by André Caplet, a more or less blow-by-blow translation-into-tone of “The Mask of the Red Death.”

Both pieces are products of the French impressionist style at its most advanced, melodically fractured, harmonically prismatic, structurally episodic and vividly evocative. That last quality is what attracts listeners who are often put off by the other three in post-romantic music – an audience that might squirm through, say, Schoenberg or Bartók, is absorbed, even mesmerized, by the moodiness and color of impressionism.

Virtuosity helps, of course, and Magen has both the technique and the intensity to draw the listener deeply into any music he plays. His performance of the Renié showpiece, a trippy danse macabre whose heart beats to the tango (which, though born a continent away and half a century after Poe, surely would have appealed to his sensibilities).

Magen and the Aeolus brought comparable fire, focus and sonic edge, plus a compelling sense of narrative, to the Caplet. James Wilson, artistic director of the Chamber Music Society, introduced the Caplet by reading an abridgement of “The Mask of the Red Death” – a lengthy but useful preface.

Flutist Mary Boodell joined Magen and the Aeolus’ violist, Gregory Luce, in Claude Debussy’s Sonata for those instruments, one of the later (1915) and most abstract of this composer’s chamber works. The threesome effectively emphasized the music’s elusiveness and ambiguity by playing up its transparency. One was as aware of the spaces between notes and instruments, by the tones and tempos that were suggested rather than heard, as by the sounds and rhythms themselves.

Boodell and cellist Wilson audibly relished the feast of tone color and exotic instrumental technique served up by Gabriela Lena Frank in “Four Pre-Incan Sketches,” a set of pieces inspired by artifacts of ancient Amerindian cultures of Peru.

The odd piece out in this program was Camille Saint-Saëns’ Fantasy, Op. 124, for violin and harp, a lengthy exercise in sugary lyricism punctuated with elaborate flourishes, largely showcasing the fiddler. Nicholas Tavani, the Aeolus’ first violinist, and Magen gave the piece what it needed expressively and technically; but it inevitably came across as a rather insipid timeout from the sonic wonders that preceded and followed it.

Review: 'Aïda'

Virginia Opera
John DeMain conducting
Oct. 21, Richmond CenterStage

Verdi’s “Aïda” is one of the grandest spectacles in opera. When Virginia Opera announced that it would open its 2011-12 season with “Aïda,” one wondered whether it could pull it off, having as it does to tailor its productions to fit the smallish stages of its theaters in Norfolk and Richmond (its Fairfax venue is a bit larger), and to work within budget constraints that have led the company to mount sparely staged shows using recycled scenic elements.

Happily, it can, and has. This compact “Aïda” has the pageantry, grandeur and exoticism that Verdi intended. Its cast of dozens is outfitted and choreographed, its choristers sing, its orchestra plays, and its dancers and supernumeraries move, to belie their numbers. Its set is minimal yet monumental.

Stage director Lillian Groag, scenic designer Erhard Rom, costume designer Martha Hally, choreographer Malcolm Burn, chorusmaster Adam Turner and John DeMain, the veteran opera conductor brought in for this production, have conjured a small miracle in this “Aïda.” Burn and his dancers from the Richmond Ballet make especially good use of, and an especially big impression in, the tight space in which they have to work. The choreographer’s distillation of the story in the dance scene of Act 2 is a high point of this production.

Mary Elizabeth Williams is an excellent Aïda, projecting the intense but largely repressed passion of the Ethiopian slave girl for Radamés, the warrior who leads Egyptian forces against her people. Gustavo Lopez Manzitti proved less expressively nuanced as Radamés in the first of two Richmond performances; his “Celeste Aïda” sounded to come more from the throat than the heart.

Jeniece Golbourne conveys the spiteful vehemence of Amneris, the Egyptian princess who is Aïda’s rival for Radamés’ love, perhaps rather too well to fit into a love triangle, but quite effectively if the women’s rivalry is seen as a battle between love and possessiveness.

Nathan Stark, as the Egyptian king, and Ashraf Sewailam, as the high priest Ramphis, are suitably stentorian in voice and manner. Fikile Mvinjelwa, as Amonasro, the Ethiopian king and father of Aïda, weaves effectively between the character’s commanding and calculating roles in the drama.

DeMain, leading members of the Virginia Symphony, brings out both the passion and grandeur of Verdi’s orchestration and consistently complements the singers and dancers. Conducting opera is a special kind of work, especially in this show, and this man clearly has mastered the art.

The final performance of the production, at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, is sold out.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
Oct. 15, Richmond Center Stage

It’s doubtful that any cellist could be rated one of the greats without mastering, or at least making a strong impression in playing, Dvořák’s Concerto in B minor. Yet this most familiar of cello concertos isn’t a conventional solo instrument-with-orchestra showpiece – it’s really more of a symphony for cello and orchestra. For much of the work the cello is closely integrated with the orchestra and its soloists (most noticeably, clarinet and violin); and in most of the concerto’s exposed solo passages, Dvořák wants the lyricism of the human voice, not ear-dazzling virtuosity.

The ideal soloist for this piece is one who has the technique of a star instrumentalist but is more conversant with orchestration than the typical soloist, and one who is inclined to play with, rather than in front of, orchestral musicians. Carter Brey, the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, proved to be that ideal soloist in the first of two weekend performances of the Dvořák with the Richmond Symphony.

Both audibly and visibly, Brey was deeply engaged with the orchestra’s performance as well as his own. His understanding of the cello’s role in the piece, leading here, supportive or collaborative there, was consistently on the mark. When called upon to make his instrument sing, it sang, expressively but without a trace of self-indulgence. From start to finish, his was a performance that said, “Listen to Dvořák’s creation,” not, “Listen to me play beautifully.” And the result was music-making of unaffected beauty and genuine nobility.

Conductor Steven Smith and the symphony’s musicians performed at Brey’s high level of technique, expression and concentration. They brought the same qualities to performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 and “Fratres,” a 1977 work for strings and percussion by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

The Shostakovich Ninth is a tricky piece, surprisingly cheerful for this composer and the year of its writing (1945). Shostakovich often laced good humor with sarcasm and parody, and does so in this symphony, but with more subtlety than usual. His more somber writing is similarly understated – the tonal-emotional atmosphere is more partly cloudy than overcast. Smith’s interpretation was suitably calibrated, curbing the music’s bumptious enthusiasm (more effectively in the last movement than in the first) and giving the darker inner movements appropriate shades of gray.

The symphony’s strings, who played superbly throughout the program, brought a fine balance of rich tone and austere expression to the Pärt, quite effectively evoking the tone of monastic chant that this piece calls for. Smith just as effectively contoured the performance from deep quiet to high intensity and back.

The program repeats at 3 p.m. Oct. 16 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $18-$73. Details: (800) 514-3849 (Etix.com); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Review: Paley Festival

Oct. 14, First English Lutheran Church

Opening night of Alexander Paley’s 14th annual Richmond festival was highlighted by a singular performance of Schubert’s last piano sonata, the B flat major, D. 960, in which the pianist filtered Schubertian style and lyricism through Russian passion and volatility.

Paley took substantial liberties with Schubert’s tempos – the sonata’s great andante, for example, slowed to a near-largo pace at times – and played the work’s stormier and faster passages with extraordinary vehemence. Eccentric or willful the performance may have been; but it was also compelling and palpably heartfelt.

The pianist and violinist Akemi Takayama treated Beethoven’s Sonata in G major, Op. 30, to a similarly fiery reading. Takayama favored a sweetly soulful sound, but proved ready to ratchet up to match Paley’s level of nervy intensity. The result was not the tidiest of performances, but tidiness is rarely what one wants in Beethoven.

Paley and his wife and piano partner, Pei-Wen Chen, are surveying the four-hands works of Mozart in this edition of the festival. They started with the Sonata in C major, K. 521, a substantial work with an especially soulful slow movement, and the Theme and Variations in G major, a decorous set of variations on a theme that might have been a comic-opera aria.

The Blüthner piano that Paley uses for these festival performances is a German-made instrument whose bright tone and clarity ought to be ideally suited to the composers represented in this program. On this occasion, however, the piano’s treble register was almost painfully bright at high volume, while its bass sounded recessed and often muddy. The imbalance was bothersome in the Mozart sonata, and even more so in the important bass lines of the first movement of the Schubert.

The Paley Festival continues with performances at 8 p.m. Oct. 15 and 3:30 p.m. Oct. 16 at First English Lutheran Church, Stuart Circle (Monument Avenue at Lombardy Street), Richmond. Admission is by donation. Details: (804) 355-9185; http://www.paleyfestival.info/

Seth Williamson (1949-2011)

Seth Williamson, the voice of classical music, on the air and in print, in Roanoke and Southwest Virginia, has died at 62 from complications following surgery.

An obituary and appreciation of the longtime WVTF announcer and reviewer and columnist for The Roanoke Times by Matt Chittum:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/299454

Chamber Music Society 2011-12

The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, presenter of the chamber-music series directed by cellist James Wilson, will launch a three-part 2011-12 season with “French Fall,” four events this month featuring the Israeli harpist Sivan Magen and the Aeolus Quartet.

A “Parisian Gala,” whose program includes Debussy’s Quartet in G minor and the “Meditation” from Massenet’s “Thaïs,” will be staged at 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Ellen Glasgow House, Main and Adams streets. The event will feature music in the parlors of the historic downtown Richmond home and a buffet dinner following after the performance. Tickets are $75.

Magen will conduct a free workshop with the American Youth Harp Ensemble at 5 p.m. Oct. 28 at Grace Baptist Church, 4200 Dover Road in Windsor Farms, and the Aeolus Quartet will perform in a free casual concert at noon Oct. 29 in the Gellman Room of the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets.

“Voyages fantastiques,” in which Magen, the Aeolus, Wilson and flutist Mary Boodell will play works by Ravel, Saint-Saëns and Gabriela Lena Frank, will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at First Unitarian Univeralist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon. Tickets are $25, $20 for seniors, $5 for students.

Later festival events include two “Winter Baroque” concerts, Jan. 6 and 8 at First Unitarian, and a free lecture-recital on Jan. 7 in the Gellman Room. These will feature baroque violinists Christina Day Martinson and Fiona Hughes in the “Mystery” sonatas of Heinrich Biber and music by Vivaldi, Geminiani, Corelli, Locatelli and others. Ticket prices will be announced later.

The festival’s spring series, “Water Music: Chamber Music for the River City,” will feature concerts on May 18, 19 and 21 at First Unitarian and a free program on May 19 in the Gellman Room. Featured works include a suite from Handel’s “Water Music,” Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, Smetana’s “The Moldau,” Menedelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture, George Crumb’s “Voice of the Whale” and works by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Szymanowski, Carl Reinecke and Richard Strauss. Subscription and single-ticket prices will be announced later.

For more information, call (804) 519-2098 or visit http://www.cmscva.org/

Symphony's 'Come and Play'

The Richmond Symphony’s “Come and Play,” a chance for community musicians of all ages to rehearse and perform members of the orchestra, will be held on Nov. 6 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center, Broad and Harrison streets.

Erin R. Freeman, the symphony’s associate conductor, will rehearse the musicians from 2:30 to 5 p.m., and a free public performance will begin at 6 p.m.

The deadline to register is Oct. 7. Registration fees are $5 for students 22 and younger, $10 for adults.

Instrumental parts will be available to all performers.

For more information, call (804) 788-4717 or visit http://www.richmondsymphony.com/