Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) Artist Series presents The Music of Dinos Constantinides in Review
Featured Artists: Maria Asteriadou, piano; Kutztown Chamber Players, Peter Isaacson, conductor; Johanna Cox Pennington, English Horn; Kurt Nikkanen, violin; Esther Waite, flute; Gabriela Werries, harp; Sandra Moon, soprano; Christopher Lowry, viola; Caio Diniz, cello; Perla Fernandez, violin; Mireille Lopez, violin; Luis Casal, violin; Isaac Casal, Cello
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
September 30, 2019
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presented the music of Greek composer Dinos Constantinides for the twelfth time (in ten years) on September 30th, in a very generous program, which was practically a retrospective of his oeuvre. I have reviewed his concerts previously in these pages, always with pleasure. This occasion was no different. All the performers were great, a few of them even world-class, and they infused the composer’s music with heartfelt expressive energy, without which it wouldn’t succeed (no composer’s would).
One over-arching “theme” of this concert was Mr. Constantinides’ ability not only to invent, but to reinvent his extant works. All the great composers have done so, from Bach to Ravel and beyond. It’s wonderful to have this ability and opportunity to reconsider, taken from such a large body of work. All but one of the works exhibited his great love for his Greek heritage, and many sonorities and rhythms of Grecian folk music.
The first half consisted of three concerto-like creations, one for piano (Grecian Variations, from an early solo work), one for English horn (Threnos of Creon, from an operatic setting of Antigone), and the third for violin (Mountains of Epirus, originally for violin and piano).
Maria Asteriadou was the authoritative pianist in the Grecian Variations, playing with great personality and energy, accompanied (as were the other two concerto-like works) by the beaming young faces of the Kutztown Chamber Players, ably led by Peter Isaacson. Johanna Cox Pennington drew forth gorgeous tones from her English Horn in the Threnos, which was uniformly mournful in tone, appropriate to its subject: the disaster that King Creon’s life had become. Kurt Nikkanen’s virtuosity on the violin, along with wonderful flair and commitment, elevated the materials in the Mountains of Epirus to something epic.
After intermission, a generous helping of chamber-music-scaled works included a former concerto for flute and harp, re-arranged for the two instruments and piano (dedicated to DCINY for their 10th anniversary), played with subtle delicacy by Esther Waite, Gabriela Werries, and Ms. Asteriadou.
The only work that didn’t refer to Hellenistic culture directly was a setting of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet “How Do I Love Thee” for soprano and viola. There was a great deal of text repetition, with long melismatic settings of certain words, perhaps a bit much for an already lengthy poem. For my taste, despite the excellent involvement of both Sandra Moon and Christopher Lowry, and Ms. Moon’s really good diction, the setting didn’t add much to my understanding of the poem. However, I suppose the heightened expressivity of Mr. Constantinides’ music did, in fact, coordinate with the white-hot tone of High-Romanticism à la Browning.
The Kaleidoscope Fantasy for solo cello (also a reworking of an original for soprano, violin, cello, piano, and two slide projectors), based on a musical response to children’s art works, provided a rare instance of Mr. Constantinides exploring much more dissonant, exploratory sounds, superbly brought to life by Caio Diniz, who did not let a slipped tuning peg faze him at all. A Hellenic Dance for two violins and viola was the briefest work of the evening; Perla Fernandez, Mireille Lopez, and Mr. Lowry made the audience feel the folk sources vividly. The evening concluded with a former concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra, also re-arranged for piano, resulting in a piano trio. The Casal brothers (Luis and Isaac) were joined by Ms. Asteriadou for an exciting close.
Mr. Constantinides, a committed teacher, surely leaves wonderful influences on his lucky students, and the devotion of his performers attests to a lifetime of collegiality and creation.
