Saturday brought a program of silent films – with a spooky theme. One short and four two-reelers, all with live piano accompaniment.
Short: "Koko's Earth Control" – A Max Fleischer Inkwell animated. Very funny – and still relevant!
Two-Reelers: "Haunted Spooks" (1920), Harold Lloyd; "The Haunted House" (1921), Buster Keaton; "Shootin' Injuns" (1925), Our Gang comedy; and "Who's Afraid?" (1927), Lupino Lane.
Lupino Lane was new to me, and the November afternoon in the series features him prominently.
There were some real out-loud laughs – the piano scoring was superb. With haunted houses as an overriding theme, there was a bit of repetition in the gags and the set pieces. Still, a really fun afternoon.
Sunday was chamber music – The Con Brio Ensemble. Four selections from Max Bruch, Eight Pieces, Op. 83. The players were violin, viola and piano. Very nice playing, especially the unison/octaves from the string players.
The next two pieces added 'cello to the mix – a three-movement Quartet in A minor, Op. 67 by Joaquin Turina (a Spanish composer, 1882–1949, new to me); and a four-movement Brahms Quartet in G minor, Op. 25.
Lest I sound like a broken record, the playing was of uniformly high quality. Minor quibbles were a bit of spotty ensemble playing (a few hiccups), some rough unisons/octaves when all four players were going at it, and a few patchy sounding exposed 'cello lines. But those were EXTREMELY minor.
The players received a well-deserved lengthy ovation.
CM
There's an apostrophe before cello? Please, tell me more.
ReplyDeleteSince it's an abbreviation, I added the apostrophe. Cello is equally acceptable (and probably the more common use). Thank you Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteThe name cello is an abbreviation of the Italian violoncello, which means "little violone", or referring to the violone ("big viol"), the lowest-pitched instrument of the viol family, the group of string instruments that went out of fashion around the end of the 17th century in most countries except France, where they survived another half-century or so before the louder violin family came into greater favor in that country too.