Post by egoodstein on Jul 22, 2015 22:09:13 GMT -5
Just getting some time for this 
.
Last night’s concert was entitled ‘Vocal Inspirations,’ meaning those for festival focus composer Schubert. The program consisted of the fairly familiar (though less
so perhaps for American audiences), Schubert 1824 ‘Rosamunde’ String Quartet, three lieder from around that time, and a ‘Quartetsatz’ (Quartet Movement—actually 2 movements) from 1820. And finally, the last part of the evening was devoted to Beethoven’s 1799 Septet for Winds and Strings (violin,cello,viola, string bass, horn, clarinet and bassoon). Musicians included the Escher String Quartet, baritone Nicolay Borchev (accompanied by Gilbert
Kalish on piano); and for the Beethoven: Arnaud Sussman, violin; Paul Neubacher, viola; Keith Robinson, cello; Scott Pingel, bass; Kevin Riccard, horn; Alexander
Fiterstein, clarinet; and Peter Kolkay, bassoon.
The opening Schubert Quartetsatz is an intriguing short piece consisting of an expressive 1st movement and a short sketched incomplete Andante. The work
even in abbreviated form shows a lot of dramatic development from his ‘homier’ and brighter hued early works, adding complex and dramatic elements that point forward towards later work too, and incorporating both Beethoven and the ‘Sturm und Drang’ movement ideas/feel. Then followed Borchev in very fine voice (nice balance of subtlety and drama) on three lieder taken from 1819, 1823 and 1826, adapting poems by Friedrich Rückert and Friedrich Schiller of ‘lost happy days’ and addressing the ephemeral ways of nature and life. On Schiller’s ‘Gods of Greece,’ Schubert uses a piano figure that will be reused in dramatic form in the ‘Rosemunde’ quartet minuet movement, so interesting to hear that work immediately following.
The Rosamunde (so named because the Andante 2nd movement reuses music FS composed for a failed play of that name) is one of his most moving and
significant works. Written in 1824, not long after being diagnosed with syphilis (uncurable then), it is something of a long musing on despair and lost time; but
also finding solace in music. So there’re bittersweet passages and instants linked by rich melody, complex harmonies and undercurrents, and some brighter elements that keep the work buoyant in it’s own way. It is open to a variety of approaches/interpretations. The Escher String Quartet chose a balance of fairly quick passagework, yet with rich vibrato added at times too, and the violins in particular with contrasting singular voices melting to more unified response. Serious, very compelling.
The final work was the lengthy (about 40 minutes) Beethoven. The seven instrument arrangement make this a ‘mini-symphonic’ work. At the time,
he was just beginning to go deaf, which was frustrating of course. Yet this work is mostly upbeat or nearly ‘classically frothy,’ with many elements
of theme and variations in the instruments, and emphasis on contrasting timbres of them, recalling some of Mozart’s work for winds especially, and
in mood Beethoven’s 1st symphony, as well as many of the elements of fine melody and complexity of his Opus 18 string quartets, being written at the
same time. He was very fond of this work, also incorporating some of the minuet of his second piano sonata into the minuet movement here. Written in six fairly
short movements, he compares/contrasts and harmonizes combinations of instruments very well, with some beautiful passages as well as drama and virtuoso ‘breeziness.’ A very fun work, and one I didn’t previously know very well, so cool way to end things. And despite it being a very hot evening,
all the musicians and audience seemed to enjoy this challenging/varied program very much.
. Last night’s concert was entitled ‘Vocal Inspirations,’ meaning those for festival focus composer Schubert. The program consisted of the fairly familiar (though less
so perhaps for American audiences), Schubert 1824 ‘Rosamunde’ String Quartet, three lieder from around that time, and a ‘Quartetsatz’ (Quartet Movement—actually 2 movements) from 1820. And finally, the last part of the evening was devoted to Beethoven’s 1799 Septet for Winds and Strings (violin,cello,viola, string bass, horn, clarinet and bassoon). Musicians included the Escher String Quartet, baritone Nicolay Borchev (accompanied by Gilbert
Kalish on piano); and for the Beethoven: Arnaud Sussman, violin; Paul Neubacher, viola; Keith Robinson, cello; Scott Pingel, bass; Kevin Riccard, horn; Alexander
Fiterstein, clarinet; and Peter Kolkay, bassoon.
The opening Schubert Quartetsatz is an intriguing short piece consisting of an expressive 1st movement and a short sketched incomplete Andante. The work
even in abbreviated form shows a lot of dramatic development from his ‘homier’ and brighter hued early works, adding complex and dramatic elements that point forward towards later work too, and incorporating both Beethoven and the ‘Sturm und Drang’ movement ideas/feel. Then followed Borchev in very fine voice (nice balance of subtlety and drama) on three lieder taken from 1819, 1823 and 1826, adapting poems by Friedrich Rückert and Friedrich Schiller of ‘lost happy days’ and addressing the ephemeral ways of nature and life. On Schiller’s ‘Gods of Greece,’ Schubert uses a piano figure that will be reused in dramatic form in the ‘Rosemunde’ quartet minuet movement, so interesting to hear that work immediately following.
The Rosamunde (so named because the Andante 2nd movement reuses music FS composed for a failed play of that name) is one of his most moving and
significant works. Written in 1824, not long after being diagnosed with syphilis (uncurable then), it is something of a long musing on despair and lost time; but
also finding solace in music. So there’re bittersweet passages and instants linked by rich melody, complex harmonies and undercurrents, and some brighter elements that keep the work buoyant in it’s own way. It is open to a variety of approaches/interpretations. The Escher String Quartet chose a balance of fairly quick passagework, yet with rich vibrato added at times too, and the violins in particular with contrasting singular voices melting to more unified response. Serious, very compelling.
The final work was the lengthy (about 40 minutes) Beethoven. The seven instrument arrangement make this a ‘mini-symphonic’ work. At the time,
he was just beginning to go deaf, which was frustrating of course. Yet this work is mostly upbeat or nearly ‘classically frothy,’ with many elements
of theme and variations in the instruments, and emphasis on contrasting timbres of them, recalling some of Mozart’s work for winds especially, and
in mood Beethoven’s 1st symphony, as well as many of the elements of fine melody and complexity of his Opus 18 string quartets, being written at the
same time. He was very fond of this work, also incorporating some of the minuet of his second piano sonata into the minuet movement here. Written in six fairly
short movements, he compares/contrasts and harmonizes combinations of instruments very well, with some beautiful passages as well as drama and virtuoso ‘breeziness.’ A very fun work, and one I didn’t previously know very well, so cool way to end things. And despite it being a very hot evening,
all the musicians and audience seemed to enjoy this challenging/varied program very much.
