Cuarteto Rústico in Review

George Anthony Figueroa, violin
Ariadna Buonviri, violin
Cassandra Stephenson-Sulbarán, viola
Jorge Espinoza, cello
Hosack Hall, New York Academy of Medicine
December 9, 2011

This concert was presented by Musica de Camara, one of whose missions is to present concerts in non- traditional venues, so as to bring great music to under-served communities. Who knew that the New York  Academy of Medicine, located just south of the Museum of the City of New York at Fifth Avenue and E 103rd  Street, housed a wonderful auditorium? And although the armchairs and movie screen at the rear of the stage  indicted that music was not the primary focus of Hosack Hall, I found it a perfect place in which to hear this  fine performance by the Cuarteto Rústico.

The members of the quartet all have Latin American roots (Chile, Columbia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico) and  state as their mission “to promote the origins, history and culture of the Americas through its music.” They  also state that “folk, popular and classical music from Latin America is at the heart of their repertoire.” And  tonight’s concert was true to their mission. It began with a spirited performance of Silvestre Revueltas’ Sting  Quartet No.4, “Música de Feria.” In four quite short movements, this work is “a brash and rowdy picture of  a Mexican rural fair.” Yes, it is brash, rowdy and contains Mexican rhythms and melodies, but I found it a  typical example of quite forgettable twentieth-century “classical music.” I was, however, most impressed by the
playing of this fine quartet – a focused sound at all dynamic levels, beautiful phrasing, a perfect balance among  the instruments.

We then heard the String Quartet No.1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos, the Brazilian master whose music is anything  but forgettable. His harmonic language is unmistakable and quite beautiful, as heard in the first movement,  titled “Cantilena.” Many string quartets strive for a consistently blended, homogeneous sound, and when a  homophonic texture called for it, we heard such a sound from Cuarteto Rústico. But what I liked most about  the quartet’s playing was that each instrument retained its own color, making crystal clear the polyphonic web  which was present in so much to tonight’s music.

Popular music followed; an arrangement for string quartet of Antonio Jobim’s bossa nova, “Chega de  Saudade.” During this work, which went on just a bit too long for this listener, the quartet played with the same  intensity, clarity of texture and fine sound as in the previous “classical” works. The first half ended with Astor  Piazzolla’s “Fuga y Misteri,” an excerpt from the composer’s tango opera “Maria de Buenos Aires.”
After the intermission we heard the concert’s longest work, Mozart’s String Quartet in C Major, K.465. By the  way, it was erroneously listed on the program as String Quartet No.6. It is, however, the composer’s twenty-  second string quartet. The mistake arises from the fact that it is also the last of the six quartets Mozart dedicated  to Haydn and had published in 1785 as Opus 10, No.6. I felt that the tempi in the first and last movements  were too fast, which made for moments of insecure playing. And strangely, although they didn’t repeat the  first movement’s exposition, they did so in the fourth movement. (For my strong feelings about repeating the  exposition, see the second paragraph of my review of the Nov 3, 2011 concert by The Stone River Chamber  Players.)

The concert proper concluded with a wonderful performance of Jorge Figueroa’s jazzy “Salsa Clásica” for  String Quartet. It was followed by an encore recognized by most of the audience, Carlos Gardel’s “Por una  Cabeza.”

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Dan Franklin Smith, piano: “La Vida Iberiana” in Review

Dan Franklin Smith, piano: “La Vida Iberiana” in Review
Musica de Camara
St. Cecilia’s Church, New York, NY
February 18, 2011
 

Dan Franklin Smith

Just less than a year ago, I had the pleasure of giving a rave review to Dan Franklin Smith in a recital of works by living composers. Though that first hearing set the bar very high, I was delighted, in his recent program entitled “La Vida Iberiana,” to find that my enthusiasm for his artistry has not waned.

Mr. Smith embarked on his musical tour appropriately with Turina’s “Sanlúcar de Barrameda,” named for the port in Spain from which explorers Columbus and Magellan set sail. The “Sonata Pintoresca” as it is subtitled, was resplendent with the colors and imagery of Spain (as suggested by titles of its four contrasting movements) and was played with virtuosity and sensitivity. Improvisational transitions that can sometimes sound vapid possessed life and inevitability, while trills that can easily sound meretricious were gripping and heartfelt. Mr. Smith strikes one as the kind of player whose integrity could probably ennoble even the most maligned and cliché-ridden works; in a world where Ravel is used for commercials and Liszt is played by cartoon characters, such playing is a much-needed antidote.

It is always a joy to see the still-underappreciated Mompou on a program, and Mr. Smith’s Cancion y Danza No. 6 that followed was no exception. I would have liked its phrases wrung a bit more of their inherent pathos, but that is perhaps a tall order after the exhausting and exhaustive Turina. It could also be that the piano was not cooperating (an Otto Altenburg in a highly reverberant church), but in any case, there was room for more dynamic nuance.

To close the first portion of the program was Infante’s “El Vito Variations”, which had some audience members humming with happy recognition. Though I confess I’ve always thought of the piece as unlikable kitsch (and yes, there’s some kitsch I like), Mr. Smith’s expert treatment came close to redeeming it for me.

“La Maja y el Ruisenor” (“The Maiden and the Nightingale”) by Granados (from Goyescas) opened after intermission. Once again, the piano did not seem ideally suited to the piece, but the pianist handled the tinnier treble lines with grace.  Following the Granados came Surinach’s Cancion y Danza, No. 1, a nice but contrasting tie-in to Mompou’s work of the same title.

Representing Portugal, Vianna da Motta’s delightfully pianistic “Chula do Douro” (from Scenas Portuguesas, Op. 15) gave another perspective on “La Vida Iberiana,” albeit filtered through Lisztian ears. Mr. Smith played it with élan, setting a good backdrop for the plaintive opening of “Alma Brasileira” (Choros #5) by Brazilian, Villa-Lobos, played with a wonderful coloristic sense and plenty of atmosphere. Iberian influence on the New World entered the program here.

“Sin Rumbo” (subtitled Vuelvo al Sur or “Return to the South”) was a welcome taste of the ever-popular Piazzolla, and Santa Maria (#1 from Plenas) by Hector Campos-Parsi brought the musical tour to the infectious rhythms of Puerto Rico, energetically projected. The recital closed with André Previn’s “Three South American Sketches” (Festivo, Flor de Jardim, Mina d’Agua), played with the same brilliance and panache that I recall hearing when Smith played them last May, though now in a fresh context.

An enthusiastic audience received an encore of the famous Albeniz Tango in D (though the only word of the announcement we could make out was “Falla” so we were quite surprised – a hazard of not using a microphone perhaps).

All in all, it was another success for Mr. Smith, and also for Eve de la O, who has been dedicated to this music series, Musica de Camara, for 31 years.

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by Rorianne Schrade  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Dan Franklin Smith, piano

Dan Franklin Smith, piano
Musica de Camara
Museum of the City of New York
May 2, 2010

Dan Franklin Smith is a pianist that any composer should feel lucky to have as an advocate. In “A Musical Tapestry for the Beginning of the 21st Century,” a program featuring eight composers ranging in age from their twenties to mid-eighties, Mr. Smith drew the best from each work. His artistry and versatility seemed to know no bounds.

Opening the program were two premieres starting with Three Dances for Piano (1995) by Susan Riley-Caldini (b. 1952). From the gently lyrical “Dusk” and “Dawn” to the syncopated center, “Dancing Hard in the Moonlight,” Smith’s interpretations had immediate appeal. Promising student David Robert Johnson (b. 1988) was represented next in his “Rhapsody and Postlude” (from Suite for Piano, 2006). An improvisatory work that could have seemed facile in lesser hands, it explored some romantic and impressionistic-sounding colors, which Smith brought out beautifully.

The famous “Blue Rondo a la Turk” (1960) by Dave Brubeck (b. 1920) might be thought of as an “old chestnut,” but it sprang to life, fresh as ever, partly due to a careful program order. Following in a jazz vein were three movements from “Portraits in Jazz” (2001) by Valerie Capers (b.1935). “Bossa Brasilia” and “Waltz for Miles” evoked jazz greats with a touch of nostalgia, but it was “Billie’s Song” that showed Capers to be something of a magician in evoking the singer’s pianistic timbres – with Smith as her able assistant.

Alison Nowak (b.1948) broke from the program’s predominant tonality with her Three Inventions for Piano (2008). Carefully crafted, sometimes approaching pointillism, the work was given a committed performance that seemed to delight the composer.

The “find” of the afternoon for this listener was a work entitled “The Star to Every Wandering Bark” (2003), by Richard Pearson Thomas (b. 1957). Inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, the work showed such ravishing lyricism and meaningful development, that I left the concert determined to obtain the score and anything else by this composer. Moments could be described as Coplandesque, but Mr. Thomas writes from an undeniably individual voice. Kudos to Mr. Smith for this excellent introduction!

Intermezzo (2006) by Francesco Lecce-Chong introduced another promising young artist in a work of considerable range and virtuosity. Smith handled it with polish and drama, capping it off with the marvelous set “Three South American Sketches” by Andre Previn (b. 1929). It was a brilliant close to an outstanding recital.

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by Rorianne Schrade  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

The Madison String Quartet

The Madison String Quartet
Musica de Camara
Museum of the City of New York, NY
April 11, 2010

Founded and directed by Eva de La O, Musica de Camara has been presenting Hispanic musicians for 30 years in concert halls, community centers, churches, libraries and museums—often for audiences with little access to classical music. One of its recent discoveries is the Madison String Quartet, an adventurous, enthusiastic young group dedicated to exploring the Hispanic literature, for whose idiomatic rhythms and colors the players have a natural affinity. The performance, apart from some intonation problems in octaves and unisons, was admirable: secure, well-balanced, expressive, homogeneous in sound, unanimous in spirit.

In a quartet arrangement of Four for Tango by Astor Piazzolla, the players exploited all the resources of their instruments, including harmonics, slides, and knocking on the wood to imitate percussion. Teresa Carreno was born in Venezuela but spent most of her life in France and Germany. One of the first great women pianists and famous as a formidable virtuoso, she was also a conductor, singer and composer. Her String Quartet in B minor was written in the 1870’s during her marriage to the first of her four husbands, the violinist Emile Sauret. A substantial, four-movement work, it is clearly influenced by German romanticism; the Scherzo recalls Mendelssohn, the slow movement sings, the corner movements are fast, intense and turbulent. Its weakness lies in the modulations, that ultimate test of compositional skill. All four parts have demanding solos, which the players negotiated with panache.

The program’s most unusual work, which the Quartet recorded in 2004, was Miguel del Aguila’s Life is a Dream, inspired by Caldéron de la Barca’s play of the same title, La vida es sueno. It opened with three players on stage producing eerie-sounding tremolos with their bows behind the bridge; the first violinist, heard off-stage playing very virtuosic music, eventually joined them. All four musicians took turns reciting portions of Caldéron’s poem while playing; the music built to an intense climax, recapitulated the spooky beginning and faded away. The poetry and the music are arresting enough to stand alone; they did not seem to add anything to each other.

The audience demanded and got an encore: Aldemoro Romero’s Fuga con Pajarillo, Variations on a popular Venezuelan folksong. A fun piece, it began like a Bach Contrapunctus and became an intricate maze of multi-layered rhythms.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY