On Second Hearing (8/23/14)

It’s been a while since my last post, but I did take a birthday getaway trip recently. Saturday was a return visit to Bargemusic, and Mark Peskanov, violinist, outlined a slightly unusual, yet enjoyable, program. There were three relatively short pieces on the program, so each was heard twice. First, we heard the Adagio movement from Bach’s G minor Sonata for solo violin. Mr. Peskanov’s playing was fairly muscular while also displaying periods of sweetness, and there were some very nice segues between musical phrases. When he went back a second time, I found his playing to be a little bit gentler and more flowing, demonstrating his point that pieces are often open to different interpretations. One of his themes throughout the afternoon was that musical works are almost always works in progress.

Next on the program was a pre-world premiere performance of David Del Tredici’s The Last Violin, with Mr. Del Tredici at the piano and Mr. Peskanov playing violin. An aside, here—one of the really cool things about Bargemusic’s free Saturday afternoon concerts is that you never know ahead of time what you’ll be hearing. By being in the right place at the right time, I got to hear a Pulitzer Prize–winning composer! The piece was quite lovely, gentle and song-like. Both musicians played with a chamber music approach and sensibility. There was also a section that built in intensity and drama before returning to the main theme, with embellishments. In this case, we did not get the second hearing immediately. We moved on to the third piece on the program.

This piece also featured the composer as performer, bass trombonist David Taylor. His piece, for bass trombone and violin, was much more modern sounding and was based on repeating “vamps”—musical ideas that were repeated and expanded upon. It was somewhat interesting, yet ultimately too segmented and artificial for my taste. There were effective compositional techniques, and it was well written and well played, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

On second hearing of The Last Violin, I enjoyed it anew. The melodies were just as effective, and knowing what was just ahead made it even more enjoyable—a wonderful combination of haunting and romantic. Can you tell that I really, really liked this piece? I decided not to give Mr. Taylor’s composition a second hearing; I wanted to end my afternoon with the sounds of Mr. Del Tredici’s work in my ear and my memory.

I can’t sing the praises of Bargemusic enough. Check it out if you get a chance. You never know what types of wonderful things you might stumble upon.

ConcertMeister