|
MUSIC
REVIEW | CONCERTANTE
SEXTET FITS PIECES PERFECTLY TOGETHER
|
Sunday, January 26, 2003
FEATURES - ACCENT & ARTS 03D
By Barbara Zuck
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
|
|
Thanks to the Columbus Chamber Music Society, purveyors of fine
music locally for 55 seasons, a program including rarely heard --
and perhaps somewhat rarefied -- later works by Richard Strauss
was performed by a talented young ensemble from New York last
night at the Southern Theatre. A good-sized and enthusiastic crowd
welcomed Concertante in its Columbus debut.
The ensemble opened with the two Strauss works -- the String
Sextet from the composer's one-act opera Capriccio and
Metamorphosen.
What the pieces have in common is a thick texture of one player
to a part, with a great deal of warmth and color placed in the
hands of the violas and cellos. That, and a kind of seamless
contrapuntal structure into and out of which the players come and
go in soloistic fashion.
But the similarities end there. The first work, while
thoughtful, works over a light-hearted and lyrical melody. The
second takes a somber, minor mode theme and drives it into a
frenzy, then abandons it in a cold-hearted epilogue.
These qualities Concertante made very clear in
two admirable and quite different readings of different works.
Among this group's many attributes are its exemplary balance
and flawless ensemble. Another is how well-matched the players
are, not just in the way they approach their work but in the very
timbre produced on their instruments. They almost sound as if they
are playing a family by one maker, so keenly have they sought to
achieve a harmonious sound.
Finally, while it is not unusual to have solo quality
violinists and cellists in chamber groups these days, which
fiddles Xiao-Dong Wang and Ittai Shapira and cellists Edward Arron
and Amit Peled certainly are, the viola can be an afterthought.
Not here. Violists Ryo Sasaki and Kathryn Lockwood clearly
would be a boon to any musical ensemble.
Completing this program for larger string ensemble was Dvorak's
String Sextet in A Major. Again, the players exhibited a
confidence and maturity that belied their comparative youth.
The one questionable interpretive choice came in the first
movement. Here the performance of Dvorak's exuberant music seemed
to take on a life of its own, becoming so bravura and extreme in
its emotions that it departed from the original music.
Elsewhere, however, the sextet's performance was finely honed
and authentic. One looks forward to hearing more from this
exciting ensemble.
bzuck@dispatch.com
|
