Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) Artist Series presents The Music of Dinos Constantinides in Review
Froso Ktistaki, Louis Wendt, piano; Athanasios Zervas, soprano and alto saxophone; Dionisios Roussos, alto saxophone; Leo Saguiguit, tenor saxophone; Eric Honour, baritone saxophone; McKenzie Miller, soprano; Leanne Clement, mezzo-soprano; André Chaing, baritone
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
October 8, 2018
I have reviewed Mr. Constantinides twice previously in these pages (2015 and 2016), and I am inclined favorably to his music, which displays a truly original point of view and lots of personality, with rewarding stretches of yearning neo-Romantic melody, and helpings of Greek folksong and other monophonic melodies, such as Gregorian chant fragments and/or even ancient Greek fragments of notated music (such as they are understood). It is rhythmically interesting and, at least for the piano, the sonorities are pleasing to the ear.
A forty-minute selection of solo piano works opened the concert, played by the wonderful Froso Ktistaki, who has a great ear for piano sound, a large imagination, and an obvious commitment to and involvement with this composer and his language. Her playing was lovely, particularly in the Reflections IX, a mournful remembrance of a departed rescue cat, Tiger, who belonged to the composer. Theme and Variations, based on a Greek folk tune, was a collection of brief responses or “ruminations” on the original tune. The Heavens Are Telling, a transcription of an organ and voice work, would never be mistaken for Haydn’s joyful paean in The Creation, but Mr. Constantinides’ has its place too, with the second repeat of the “B” section ravishing in Ms. Ktistaki’s hands. The Suite for a Young Man was an often-humorous “musical biography” of coming-of-age, including the longed-for yet dreaded and awkward first kiss. The work reminded me in a strange way of a smaller version of the huge Grande sonate: Les quatre âges by Alkan that depicts a man at the ages of 20, 30, 40, and 50.
Alto Saxophonist Athanasios Zervas brought his wonderful control into play with the Midnight Fantasy II, redolent with clusters adorning the skeleton of a Nat King Cole song, not quoted literally of course, rather stylistically evoked. Ms. Ktistaki was the perfect partner in this work.
After intermission, the Athens Saxophone Quartet (Athanasios Zervas, Dionisios Roussos, Leo Saguiguit, and Eric Honour) took the stage to “speak to each other,” one, two, three, and four at a time in the aphoristic “-logues” (pro-, tetra-, mono-, and epi-). Their massed sound was very orchestral, their virtuosic coordination impeccable.
Unfortunately, for me, the weakest work of the evening came last: Rosanna (and Angelina, in David Madden’s original 1989 libretto), a “one-act opera,” which is an inaccurate billing indeed. It seems more like a sketch for something that could be an opera someday. The subject matter certainly has verismo “cred”: two friends, two dead children, love gone wrong, jealousy, and gossip. Mr. Constantinides, however, has allotted most of the true action to a village priest narrator who sings (and speaks)that action in a great clump right at the beginning, leaving not much room for anything to happen. This was a piano-accompanied concert version, with the singers (McKenzie Miller, soprano, Leanne Clement, mezzo-soprano, André Chaing, baritone) inexplicably arrayed behind the piano, which made their sound less immediate and their language often unintelligible. Mr. Constantinides conducted the able pianist, Louis Wendt, who could have just as easily played his interesting music without a conductor. The strongest of the three soloists was Mr. Chiang, whose diction was clear and whose sonority was appropriate. Ms. Miller and Ms. Clement suffered from the aforementioned lack of clear language, which was interesting to me because when the soprano/mezzo-soprano had a few lines to speak instead of sing, everything was crystal clear. Singers: you can make a beautiful, focused sonority that will not overwhelm your consonants if you remember to place the voice forward and hang the consonants on the front of the tone. The composer’s soaring lines for the soprano and mezzo-soprano did not help this issue, nor did the vocal range, which was all over the map for both, creating either pronounced wobble or shrill tones. They were, however, obviously emotionally committed to what they were singing. There were also two uncredited “assistants” seated on the stage, who delivered only spoken commentary. The music itself contained many good moments of interesting harmony, reflecting the emotions of the story, but it meandered too much, it lacked contrast, and the pacing was “off.” None of this deterred the enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Constantinides, who stood unanimously at the end.
