La Fenice ends Newtown Season
By Jim Pegolotti
NEWS-TIMES MUSIC CORRESPONDENT
NEWTOWN - On the afternoon of the gorgeous spring day that was last Sunday,
the Newtown Friends of Music presented their final concert of the season
in Edmond Town Hall. That the chamber group was La Fenice (the Italian
word for the mythical Phoenix, a symbol of rebirth) seemed more than appropriate
for the new life that nature was exhibiting outside.
La Fenice consists of five instrumentalists: Catherine Cho, violin; Maria
Lambros, viola; Marcy Rose, cello; Peggy Pearson, oboe; and Diane Walsh,
piano. They chose five works, which made for a program of two hours and
ten minutes, which provided further personal evidence of the need for
new seats in the auditorium.
The program began with a Mozart trio for clarinet, viola and piano, except
that an oboe took the clarinet part. This Trio in E-flat Major, K.498,
is one of the Salzburger's less joyful works. In fact, all three movements
seem to be cut from the same cloth. Was it pleasant to hear? Yes, but
ultimately a little bland. A little sleuthing online determined that a
violin can replace the clarinet in this trio, but no mention is made of
an oboe doing that. Well, in the words of Rodgers and Hammerstein's King
of Siam: "Is a puzzlement."
Each of three Boston composers - John Harbison, John Heiss, and Peter
Child - was commissioned by oboist Pearson to choose one of J S Bach's
chorale preludes and transform it for oboe and strings. La Fenice first
played the chorale, then the adaptation. Only that pf Heiss brought a
touch of the modern, with a bit of astringency in the strings. Oboist
Pearson gave a lovely rendering of both the original and new works.
Robert Schumann's "Fantasiestuecke Opus 73" is a duo for piano
and either a cello, clarinet, or violin. In this program, pianist Walsh
and cellist Rosen gave it a full romantic treatment. It was especially
gratifying, after the initial rather calm works, to have Walsh and Rosen
give life to the final movement by following Schumann's musical instructions:
"Rasch und mit Feuer" (fast and with fire).
The second half of the concert provided one of Brahms' longer chamber
works, the Piano Quartet in A Major, Opus 26. A fan of Brahms knows that
he is capable of wonderful hummable melodies, but his themes here were
short and pithy. Nonetheless, there were wonderfully developed portions
by the group that gave special pleasure, especially the adagio movement,
with its muted strings. The final movement with its gypsyish flavor, allowed
violinist Cho to shine with her strong bowing and beautiful sound. Violist
Lambros nicely partnered her. Brahms is always demanding on the pianist
and Walsh delivered a vigorous performance. An arrangement for oboe, piano,
and strings of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" provided a quiet
ending to the concert.
It was a program that needed something to bring out another side of music
than the relatively heavy romanticism of Schumann and Brahms, and the
sober chorales of Bach. Perhaps Haydn, Boccherini? The musicianship was
present but something was missing. I think it was in the programming.
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