Daniel Cho, violin

Daniel Cho, violin
Sunglee Victoria Choi, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
April 20, 2010

Daniel Cho

Daniel Cho played with a robust, confident sound at his New York recital debut, sponsored by the Korea Music Foundation; he displays a technique that is comparable to many top professionals today. Winner of the 2009 Great Mountains Music Festival Competition, he studies with Hyo Kang in Juilliard’s Pre-College Division. His technical prowess was exemplary in Wieniawski’s Fantaisie brillante on Themes from Gounod’s Faust; his up-bow spiccato, harmonics, difficult leaps, pizzicato and tricky double-stops were all eye-opening.

Corelli’s Sonata in E Major, which was composed in the second half of the 17th century, required clearer, more elegant phrasing and Baroque-Period simplicity, but Seunghyun Yun’s Decalcomania: Lament, a contemplative work combining the overt nature of open strings and the more mysterious qualities of major sevenths and minor ninths, was beautifully played, and with much devotion by Mr. Cho.

In the Grieg Sonata, pianist Sunglee Victoria Choi made the most of every solo turn, and—when required—she played with a lovely, tender sound. Cho had his musical moments too, but he didn’t always make the most of his opportunities to change tone color (his vibrato, pressure of the bow, etc.) in contrasting sections. Here and in Chopin’s Nocturne in D Major, Op. 27 No. 2, he sometimes forgot to substitute genuine sweetness for passion. Still, there is absolutely no doubt that Cho has complete command of his instrument. In fact, his sound is so resonant and lush that he would have no problem projecting over a full orchestra in heavily scored works such as the Shostakovich and Bartok concerti. And he certainly would be heard from the top balcony of a large hall such as Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium; hopefully, he will play there one day.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Choral Chameleon

Choral Chameleon
Vince Peterson, Artistic Director
Sanctuary of the Fourth Universalist Society, New York, NY
April 18, 2010

Choral Chameleon is a nineteen-voice chamber chorus whose mission “is to engage listeners in a diverse and innovative musical experience through its integrative concert programming and education outreach.” Their early-evening concert was titled “Hymns for the Amusement of Children” and featured four works composed during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These works were integrated in that their texts all have a connection to childhood. The chorus produces a pleasant sound, especially beautiful in soft homophonic passages. But unlike the reptile for which they are named, throughout the concert the sound of Choral Chameleon never changed color. They do sing with fine intonation and are very comfortable performing complex rhythmic passages. Most importantly, artistic director Vince Peterson has the chorus shape the musical lines so that they all have forward thrust and an expressive musical profile.

The concert began with “Three Choral Settings from Alice in Wonderland” by Irving Fine (1914-1962). These works set the tone of the first half – often jazzy, easy to listen to. By the way, Mr. Peterson made his first entrance carrying a baton in one hand and a plastic water bottle in the other, something this viewer found to be quite undignified.

“Five Childhood Lyrics” by John Rutter (b.1945) followed. I especially enjoyed the first song, “Monday’s Child.” It was good to hear the chorus singing some slow, expressive, a cappella music. The first half ended with the work from which the concert took its title, “Hymns for the Amusement of Children” by Conrad Susa (b.1935.) In the next to the last song, “Undressing in the Evening,” we heard the best of the first half’s three soloists drawn from the chorus, baritone Andrew Cook-Feltz.

The second half featured the world premiere of the oratorio “Such Beautiful Things” by Jeffrey Parola (b.1979.) The skillful libretto by Tony Asaro was drawn from the Brothers Grimm’s “The Traveling Musicians.” This is a well constructed major work, almost an hour long. Of the four soloists, soprano Christina Borgioli made the strongest impression. She possesses a thrilling voice – well produced and beautiful in all parts of her range.

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by Harry Saltzman  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

Temple University Symphony Orchestra

Temple University Symphony Orchestra
Louis Biava, conductor;
Terell Stafford, trumpet
Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY
April 9, 2010


This concert “celebrated the American creative spirit” by combining photography and music. The program featured the “three B’s” American style – Barber, Bernstein, and Brubeck (Dave and his son Chris) – and included two New York premieres: the Brubecks’ “Ansel Adams: America,” and Bill Cunliffe’s fourth stream… La Banda (The Band). Composers Dave Brubeck and Bill Cunliffe were present, as were several members of Adams’ family.

The program’s only non-jazz work was Samuel Barber’s 1942 Essay No. 2, three continuous movements, the first slow and stately, the second an energetic fugue, and the third a “solemn chorale.” In Leonard Bernstein’s own symphonic arrangement of the Three Dances from his “On the Town,” the orchestra admirably captured the nostalgia of the middle section and the vibrant liveliness of the outer dance movements.

The program’s centerpiece was “Ansel Adams: America,” the Brubecks’ collaborative work written to accompany a projection on screen of Adams’ photographs of the American West. The concept was inspired by the composers’ discovery that Adams intended to become a concert pianist until, overwhelmed by the scenic beauty of Yosemite, he turned to photography instead. At the concert, the orchestra performed the music while Adams’ photographic images were displayed on a huge screen behind it. Proceeding without pause or interruption, this visual and auditory experience created a riveting cumulative impact. However, concentrating on both eventually became difficult; and, since each element was absorbing and beautiful enough to stand on its own, one began to wonder whether the simultaneity acted as an enhancement or a distraction.

Bill Cunliffe cites as his inspiration John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet as well as the distinctive rhythms of Latin music. For his La Banda, a jazz band with a large percussion section was added to the orchestra; the players were splendid, but so enthusiastic that they obliterated virtually everything else. Trumpeter Terell Stafford was fine but also had only one dynamic: fortissimo. The orchestra, apart from some doubtful intonation in the winds, was excellent throughout. Maestro Luis Biava was at home in every style and in full command of his forces. The audience was extremely responsive, but included a large group of friends whose behavior was more suitable to a private party than a public cultural event.

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

Peter Fletcher, guitar

Peter Fletcher, guitar
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
March 27, 2010

Peter Fletcher’s loyal followers at Weill Recital Hall were treated to a program of classical guitar music that ran the gamut from Paduana, by Baroque lute music pioneer Esaias Reusner, to the haunting and ethereal Prelude and Ritual from David Leisner’s Four Pieces. Fletcher began the evening with three crowd-pleasing transcriptions: Handel’s Sarabande and Variations, Bach’s Prelude No.1 from Book 1 of The Well Tempered Clavier, and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (a Foster transcription).

The highlight of the evening was Fletcher’s clever transcription of Erik Satie’s Sports and Divertissements. This set of fifteen of the twenty ephemeral, witty pieces was originally conceived as a multimedia project for music, with sketches by Charles Martin—of which some illustrations were printed in the program—and narration by Daniel Brondel, who gave an equally witty demonstration of each of Satie’s poetic commentaries. Colin-Maillard (or Blindman’s Bluff) particularly demonstrated the wide range of his personal vocabulary, which is unique in his transcriptions, and the same can be said of his transcriptions of Issac Albeniz’s Sevilla and Leopold Weiss’ Passacaglia.

In the program notes, Fletcher attributes the cumbersome quality of Bach’s Lute Suite in E minor to his lack of lute skills and reminds the audience that the score does not specify lute as the instrument for which it is written. Though Fletcher’s overall interpretation of the suite was very moving, he illustrated the aforementioned technical awkwardness by rushing through the end of the Gigue. He also performed, with some difficulty, his own transcription of Ravel’s Empress of the Pagodas from the Mother Goose Suite, though his arrangement of this and the Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty were strikingly clever. He did, however, give absolutely seamless performances of Villa-Lobos’ Gavotta-Choro and Carlo Domeniconi’s koyunbaba, (Turkish for “sheep-father”), which was particularly impressive due to the re-tuning of his guitar.

Throughout the program, Fletcher created an air of comfort in his musical presentation: his choice to address the audience in between movements, and his relaxed attire transformed the regal Weill Hall into his own living room, where the audience was made to feel very welcome.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

International Junior Music Competition

International Junior Music Competition
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
March 27, 2010 
International Junior Music Competition

International Junior Music Competition

A Gala program featuring the winners of the International Junior Music Competition began with Sarasate’s Introduction and Tarantella performed by the young Kanon Kobayashi. Only around ten years old, she plays with great intonation, a robust sound, and a mature, varying vibrato. She is exceptionally musical and exudes a joy for the music she is playing. The Skylark by Balakirev, and Alborada del gracioso by Ravel were performed by 12-year-old pianist Hina Inokuchi. The Balakirev was a perfect choice, as she played with much grace and evocative color; the Ravel, which sounds better as an orchestral showpiece, lacked some of the passion and grandeur it needs.

In Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto finale, we heard a most prodigious girl, Emiri Kobayashi, perform on a tiny, buzzing violin. I was at first skeptical, but we soon learned that she is in fact ripe and ready for this virtuosic warhorse. It was her instrument that wasn’t ready—nor will it ever be—and I’m sure she can’t wait until she grows into a bigger violin. Paganini’s I Palpiti in A Major (Kreisler edition) was performed by eighth-grader Mao Konishi. Her harmonics were exquisite, as was her beautiful sound. She only needs to show a bit more flair and some more joy in her facial expressions to play this kind of showpiece.

Another showpiece, Ravel’s Tzigane, was well-performed by 15-year-old violinist, Issei Kobayashi. He reveled in Ravel’s music, playing with a flair befitting a gypsy. He executed excellent double-stops, pizzicato, octaves and harmonics, and started off with a captivating opening cadenza—sometimes he played a bit too deliberately or rushed—but he was always impressive. 16-year-old pianist, An Negishi, performed Griffes’ The White Peacock from Roman Sketches with a lovely sensitivity—sometimes sounding too cautious, but Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 3 was confident and powerful. Only sometimes did the phrasing sound bland in the second theme, and only at the end did the tempo feel too rushed, but her sparkling accents and varied dynamics brought both vigor and sincerity to her performance.In works by Beethoven, Ravel and Pierne, pianist Hinako Ota, who was born in 1994, played with a strong sound and a good technique. There was an engaging playfulness in passages that require it. She needs to work on a wider dynamic range; lighter, more directional phrasing; and better balance between right and left hands. In Wieniawski’s Fantasie Brillante, violinist Kana Egashira performed with exciting energy and clear signs of enjoyment in her playing. Aside from a few tonal and intonation imperfections, her virtuoso passages were fabulous. And she took her time is slower melodic phrases, milking notes with genuine musicality.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Traditional and Classical Music of Kazakhstan

Traditional and Classical Music of Kazakhstan
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
March 27, 2010

An important concert at Weill Recital Hall fascinatingly revealed some history and updates of Kazakhstan’s instruments, composers and current musicians. And the chronology was presented handsomely, with exploration of the traditional qobyz instrument and Kazakhstan folk music. Aizhan Toleubaeva was the impressionable soloist in traditional dress. The qobyz produces many rich overtones, and it resonated beautifully in the hall. She also played it very musically, holding the instrument like a cello and gently caressing her bow against its strings. Then talented pianist Alia Alhan, who is also the director of the Cultural Center of Kazakhstan in New York, proceeded to play Four Preludes by Kazhgaliev, which had some Ravelian influences, and Kyui by Andosov, a work with many open 4ths and 5ths and reminiscent of Borodin’s music. Alhan played the works with lovely shades of color and pedaling, and she was extremely musical at transitions, with subtle, tasteful rubato.

The world premiere of the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Almas Serkebayev could not have been more successful. The piece is extremely well-written for both instruments, is consistently engaging, and the performances by violinist Raushan Akhmedyarova and pianist Temirzhan Yerzhanov were high-energy and high-accuracy. They blended together flawlessly, with both technical and tonal polish. The work itself has two intense and exciting outer movements with a haunting Lento—reminiscent of Shostakovich—in its middle. I particularly enjoyed the always-fascinating bass lines; the snazzy, syncopated waltz-like sections (also sometimes drawing Shostakovich to mind); and the biting harmonies, which were quite original.

The program concluded with Yerzhanov performing Schumann’s Carnival, Opus 9. A graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the winner of the 1993 Schumann Piano Competition, Yerzhanov moved to the States in 2002. Some of the many pieces like Preambule and Aveu were lacking the requisite grandeur or just felt too hurried. But other pieces like Eusebius and Chopin contained just the right amount of delicate, lovely rubato. Marche des Davidsbundler Contre des Philistins occasionally featured an appealing majesty, and the work concluded with a fierce drive and a sheer display of virtuoso technique.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Margaret Cornils, flute

Margaret Cornils, flute
Sharon Jenson, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
March 26, 2010

A packed Weill Recital Hall greeted flutist Margaret Cornils for this recital, which was sponsored by MidAmerica Productions. The first half was made up of three of the most popular pieces in the flute repertoire: Bach’s B Minor Sonata, Debussy’s Syrinx, and Poulenc’s Sonata. Some of Bach’s flute sonatas were written for flute and basso continuo (a keyboard instrument, whose left hand is doubled by a bass instrument such as a cello, and whose right hand improvises chords stipulated by the composer.) The B Minor Sonata, however, is written for flute and an obbligato (fully written-out) keyboard – without cello. Although cellist Kevin Price blended well with the other fine performers, his part was superfluous.

Due to its quasi-improvisatory character, Syrinx is a different piece for each flutist. Cornils’ rendition was somewhat matter of fact, but nevertheless effective. The Poulenc Sonata was the most satisfying offering on the first half. Her phrasing in the opening of the Cantilena was pure perfection, and the last movement (presto giocoso) displayed an impressive third-octave technique and clear double-tonguing.

The second half of the program was as unknown as the first half was familiar. It opened with Gary Schocker’s Musique Francais, written in 1997. This is a pleasant, skillfully written composition, with several tips of the hat to Poulenc. The third movement is a virtuoso’s tour de force in which Cornils again showed her fine technique. The next piece, Pandean Fable by Clifton Williams, effectively displayed the haunting tone color of the bass flute.

The recital concluded with Paul Agricole Genin’s arrangement of Carnival of Venice. A surprisingly interesting, beautiful and rather lengthy introduction preceded the familiar trite tune. Once the introduction was over, the virtuosic variations which followed exploited all the tricks up the flutist’s sleeve. Cornils was up to the challenge and the audience rewarded her with a standing ovation.

Sharon Jenson was the excellent pianist.

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by Barrett Cobb  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Benefit Concert for Haiti

Benefit Concert for Haiti
Xu Hui, piano;
Frank Lévy, piano;
Andy McCullough, tenor
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
February 22, 2010

In the wake of Haiti’s disastrous earthquake, it is heartening to see numerous concerts by musicians joining forces to raise funds, and a recital by Xu Hui and Frank Lévy was among them. Though the audience was small, the spirit of giving was palpable.

Opening with the four-hand work, En Bateau from Debussy’s Petite Suite, the duo gave a gently lilting—if off-the-cuff—reading. Xu Hui continued in a meditative vein with Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 9, Ricordanza. It was refreshing to hear this work alone, as a special homage or remembrance, rather than as part of a barrage of blockbuster etudes. Xu Hui gave the work the sensitivity and patient lyricism it needs.

The programming of Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel raised expectations that the evening would officially “set sail,” but tonal beauty and polish took precedence over drama here. Ondine’s vexation was subdued, and even the nightmarish visage of Scarbo took on a silky veneer. Xu Hui has tremendous potential if she widens her range a bit. To close the first half, Andy McCullough sang An American Hymn, an appropriately nostalgic song by Lee Holdridge (b. 1944, Port-Au-Prince), with Xu Hui at the piano. Though a lovely gesture, it effectively underscored the absence of other composers born in—or with connections to—Haiti; there are several other composers that could have been included to enhance the evening’s theme.

Frank Lévy’s portion of the program opened with Scarlatti’s Sonata, L. 457 in C Major, thoughtfully wrought, even if pedaling became tricky with such a resonant piano. Schubert’s Four Impromptus, Op. 90 enjoyed the command of a mature master with a marvelous ability to bend a phrase at just the right time. Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann, commendably performed, elicited an encore of Chopin’s Nocturne in D-flat, Op. 27, No. 1, which was played with breathtaking delicacy. The evening was capped off with a four-hand encore: Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance in E minor from his Opus 72.

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

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony
David Bernard, conductor

 

Sirena Huang, violin

 

All Saints Church, New York, NY

 

February 7, 2010

 

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

 

Sirena Huang was the featured soloist, and despite her fifteen years of age, she played Saint-Saens’ Third Violin Concerto like a seasoned pro. Not only did Sirena confidently “nail” the difficult notes in the stratosphere of her instrument and play with a beautifully resonant sound, she winningly captured the essence of this brilliant French score. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s talented Music Director, David Bernard, held things together very well, but he needs more rehearsal time to work on the pitch of the winds, as chords in the second movement were significantly out of tune. This was also true of the chords in the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—before the recapitulation. Still, there were many things to admire in this performance of the Fifth. For one, there was excellent precision of ensemble in the notoriously tricky first movement, with all its off-beat entrances. One also felt and heard the players’ emotional commitment throughout the symphony. I also really liked Bernard’s emphasis of the first movement’s famous four-note motive when it appears in the horns two or four times slower than normal (as augmentation). 

I did find it very unusual that on the third fermata of the first movement opening, in which the first violins sustain a high G, some violinists—on two different occasions—also held the B-natural, which, traditionally, is only a part of the chord’s roll. Tempo-wise, the last movement Allegro was faster than usual—it was refreshing to hear, although the strings sometimes struggled with the pace. The third movement Scherzo, on the other hand, sounded slower than usual; Beethoven’s Allegro indication (not to mention his metronome marking), was ignored in this performance—but many agree that Beethoven hastily added some of his metronome markings in order to accommodate his publisher. Wagner’s Prelude to Act III of “Lohengrin”, which was placed on the second half before the Beethoven, was played with unabashed exuberance—as it should be. Food for thought: as it is so extremely short, I wonder how it would have fit on the first half, immediately prior to the Overture to “Die Fledermaus”, which opened the program. The Strauss—like the Wagner—was performed with an immensely appealing flair. 

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY