Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents The Music of Dinos Constantinides in Review
Athanasios Zervas, alto saxophone; Christopher Lowry, viola; Nathan Carterette, piano; Caio Diniz, cello; Kurt Nikkanen, violin; Maria Asteriadou, piano; Perla Fernández, violin; Mireille López, violin
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
October 10, 2022
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presented its annual concert dedicated to the music of Dinos Constantinides on October 10, 2022. It also was a memorial to Mr. Constantinides, who passed away on July 20, 2021, aged ninety-two. The featured performers were Athanasios Zervas, Christopher Lowry, Nathan Carterette, Caio Diniz, Kurt Nikkanen, Maria Asteriadou, Perla Fernández, and Mireille López.
Greek-born Dinos Constantinides was the head of Composition and Music Director of the Louisiana Sinfonietta at Louisiana State University. He had the title of Boyd Professor, the highest academic rank at LSU. Mr. Constantinides has composed over three hundred works, including six symphonies, two operas, and music for a wide variety of instruments and voices, and has a long list of prizes won and excellent reviews worldwide. His writing style is all-encompassing, from the simplest of forms to the ultra-complex, and from the strictly tonal to the acerbically atonal and serial. He is especially adept in his use of Greek influences, such as Greek poetry from both ancient and modern sources, and Greek modal harmony.
There were thirteen works offered, from some of his very early works to his late, and in a variety of styles (i.e., serial, folk-influenced, etc.). It would be beyond the scope of this review to comment about each work, but the interested reader can find a complete list of works played and Mr. Constantinides’s notes here: Program notes
The program was no doubt intended to be a survey of Mr. Constantinides’s oeuvre. The unmistakable impression I got was one of trying to fill the program with as much as possible, which in principle is a good thing, but in practice makes a concert overly long and taxes the listener’s stamina to the point of exhaustion. After a seventy-five-minute first half, more than half of the audience did not return for the second half, which was unfortunate, as the best of the night was awaiting them. Twenty-five minutes of the program could have been removed without any loss, i.e., works “in the style of” and practice room studies for starters. I have made this point in at least two other reviews of programs that were devoted to Mr. Constantinides’s music – they have been exhausting rather than exhaustive, and that is doing a disservice to his music and to the concert-going experience in general.
This is not meant to take anything away from the performers; they are all excellent musicians who deserve praise for their commitment to this music. Athanasios Zervas, alto saxophonist, bookended the program. Fantasia for solo saxophone, LRC 80(1981) was his highlight, played in a jazzy, improvisational manner, even though each note and phrase was carefully thought out. Violist Christopher Lowry followed with the Sonata for Viola and Piano, LRC 21a (1971 rev. 1977), strikingly beautiful with his sweeping lyrical tone against the often-violent piano accompaniment (for which the glassy upper register of the hall piano was especially apt). Next came Ballade for the Hellenic Land for solo cello, LRC 159 (1998), a work revealing Constantinides at his best, and cellist Ciao Diniz transported the listener to Athens in a truly enchanting performance that danced and sang. Like many of the Constantinides’s Greek-themed works, the Ballade has an idiomatic flow that sounds completely natural and spontaneous. Theme and Variations for Piano, LRC 1 (1965) followed, showing the meticulous playing of pianist Nathan Carterette. Each detail was carefully prepared and delivered in a well-executed performance. Violinists Perla Fernández and Mireille López are fine players, but their featured work, Twentieth-Century Studies for two violins, LRC 14 (1970 rev. 2001) was one of those pieces that could have been relegated to the practice room for which such studies are suited. In other words, just because a work can be programmed does not mean it should be programmed- my sincere apologies!
Violinist Kurt Nikkanen was the star of the evening. He is a dynamo with technique to burn and enough passion to fill any hall. It is almost a tragedy that he was featured on the second half, after the mass exodus. He truly loves the music of Dinos Constantinides, and it shows. Mr. Nikkanen also informed the audience that he was playing Mr. Constantinides’s violin, which lent an additional poignancy to his performance. Pianist Maria Asteriadou, a force in her own right, was the ideal collaborator, and their gorgeous Idyll for violin and piano, LRC 147 (1994) was the highlight of the evening for this listener. Again, unfortunately, subsequent offerings emerged as works that ought to have been omitted. The derivative pieces “in the style of” Beethoven and Brahms, Sonata for violin and piano (A Beethoven), LRC 13b (1946) and A Brahms for violin and piano, LRC 13a (1946), would not have been missed if omitted, despite Mr. Nikkanen’s fine performances. There is simply more than enough genuine Beethoven and Brahms to hear without hearing imitations (with rare exceptions), especially on such a lengthy program.
Two works influenced by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Mutability closed each half. The first, String Quartet No. 2 (Mutability), LRC 62 (1979 rev. 1998): IV. Moderato, was an eighteen-minute journey of funereal despondency, with echoes of Chopin’s Funeral March hovering about, which sent the audience joylessly into intermission. The second, Mutability Fantasy for alto saxophone and piano, LRC 66(1979 rev. 1995), closed the program. It meanders about and just seems to stop rather than actually ending. There were no curtain calls and no assembling of all performers on stage for a final bow. It made for a less than ideal presentation (and hint: it was not Shelley’s fault). This listener, an experienced and avid concertgoer, left both confused and vexed. Imagine how the lay listener must have felt. This must be addressed and not repeated in the future. Mr. Constantinides for one deserves better.
