Cellist Brought Audience To Its Feet
By Julie Stern
With regard to the concert sponsored by Newtown Friends of Music last
Sunday afternoon, the operative description has to be "charm"
- in the best sense of the word. Before a packed house on February 11,
the lovely and appealing young cellist Soo Bae demonstrated her total
mastery of both technique and interpretation. Watching, and listening
to her perform makes it easy to understand why she has so many "firsts"
in her resume, including first cellist in nine years to win the Concert
Artists Guild International Competition, and the first Canadian ever to
be awarded a prize in the 6th Adam International Cello Festival and Competition
in Christchurch, New Zealand.
After opening with the powerful and luminous Elegie, Opus 24 by Gabriel
Faure, Ms Bae departed from the announced program to play an additional
piece, written especially for her by Huang Ruo, who had also composed
"Tree Without Wind" for pianist Soyeon Lee, who played it here
last November.
Ruo's short piece, "Fragments," is complex and experimental
in form, weaving together many different elements. Ms Bae's ability to
bring these together into a harmonic whole was an impressive feat, greatly
appreciated by the audience.
This was followed by the twin Caprices for cello solo, No.9 and No.11,
by Alfredo Piatti, in which the cellist is asked to play double notes
on two strings, and double notes on the other two in what is known as
"quick time," while the second half is mother and beautifully
lyrical.
The first half of the program closed with a three-part piece by Robert
Schumann, Fantasiestuecke I, II, II, Opus 73. As always, Schumann is a
listener's delight. This work begins with a lyrical melancholy section
in A minor, followed by a light and playful middle section in A Major,
and ending with a spirited finish.
After the intermission, the entire second half was given over to a powerful
and engrossing Cello Sonata, Opus 40, by the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
Although it is billed as a Cello Sonata, it actually involves the piano
on an equal basis, giving full rein to Shostakovich's symphonic vision.
It was hard to believe that so much power and passion were not coming
from a full orchestra.
This was enhanced by the presence of Ying-Chien Lin on the piano. Like
Soo Bae, Ms Ying is a musician of the first rank, and the interplay between
the two of them was inspiring and delightful. The standing ovation at
the end of the concert was well deserved.
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