Sort
of. Tuesday evening found me in the Washington Square area attending
360repco’s staged reading of Bash: Latterday plays, a set of three
one-act plays by Neil LaBute. All three (one duologue and two
monologues) had a dark tone about them.
A
Gaggle of Saints, with Matt Cohn and Lulu Fogarty, was a recounting of a
trip to New York as told by each of John (Matt) and Sue (Lulu). Their
accounts were similar, if not always exactly in sync. And John
contributed the dark tone in this one. Iphigenia in Orem, with
Paco Lozano, was a recounting of life on the road as a salesman, and also a confession concerning the death of his young daughter. Medea Redux, with Ms. Fogarty, was the telling of sexual awakening at thirteen (if not actual molestation), a somewhat lonely and dreary life, raising a son, and the death of that son. Dark, dark, dark.
Paco Lozano, was a recounting of life on the road as a salesman, and also a confession concerning the death of his young daughter. Medea Redux, with Ms. Fogarty, was the telling of sexual awakening at thirteen (if not actual molestation), a somewhat lonely and dreary life, raising a son, and the death of that son. Dark, dark, dark.
While
the acting was good all evening, Medea Redux seemed to me to be the
strongest of the three plays, and Ms. Fogarty was superb in it. Her
mannerisms throughout the telling of the chilling tale were spot-on. The
staging of all three (Thom Fogarty, director) was minimal yet
effective. As a side note, meeting Mr. Fogarty was fun, since we
previously had only been Facebook connected.
On
Thursday evening I attended a performance of String Quartet No. 6,
sz114 (1939) by Béla Bartók (1881–1945). There was also a
pre-performance conversation with Evan Leslie, of the Lincoln Center
Library for the Performing Arts, and the evening’s quartet, the Aeolus
Quartet (Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violins; Gregory Luce,
viola; Alan Richardson, cello). All four players spoke articulately
about different aspects of the Bartók, including their favorite moments,
interesting information about the score itself and Bartók’s markings
(including the Bartók pizzicato), and touchstone musical moments in the
quartet, some with demonstrations from the players. Having that
information, as presented before the actual performance, made the
actuality very interesting. Of special interest about the composition,
itself, was that each movement—Piu mosso, Marcia, Burletta, and Molto
tranquillo—was preceded by a Mesto, a haunting, interesting tune
presented by solo viola for the first movement, cello (with tremolo
accompaniment from the other three strings) for the second, and violin
(first violin) for movements three and four. Mesto means sadly.
Piu
mosso began, after the Mesto, with the quartet playing unisons and
octaves leading to more contrapuntal writing. I caught sections of a
previous phrase leading into a totally new phrase. The mix of various
episodes had liquid, lightning shifts of rhythm and dynamics, closing
with a fairly ethereal ending. Marcia, after the Mesto (well, you get
the drift), was almost a caricature of martial sounds. At one point the
violist was strumming, almost like a flamenco guitarist (his words, not
mine). Compositionally, it was very evenly shared between all four.
There was nice, quiet strumming to end the movement.
Burletta’s
Mesto had the first violin joined by the second, the cello, and then,
eventually, the viola. It was jaunty, with lots of rhythmic phrases and
glissandos. Portions were strongly and specifically accented, though
there were also portions of relative calm. One of the pizzicato sections
had a real folk tune feel to it, something that is often prevalent in
Bartók’s music. After Molto tranquillo’s Mesto (violin with full
accompaniment), the movement was somewhat dolorous, yet with a sense of
profundity; a feeling of sadness, but bearing that sadness without
giving up.
This was the last piece that Bartók wrote in Hungary, before immigrating to the United States. The Aeolus’ performance was beautifully polished and very moving, and they received a heartfelt ovation from the audience. The evening’s guest of honor was Robert Mann, founder and first violinist (for 51 years!) of the Juilliard String Quartet. He is also a composer, conductor, teacher, and mentor, and the Aeolus had a chance to work with him on this Bartók quartet.
This was the last piece that Bartók wrote in Hungary, before immigrating to the United States. The Aeolus’ performance was beautifully polished and very moving, and they received a heartfelt ovation from the audience. The evening’s guest of honor was Robert Mann, founder and first violinist (for 51 years!) of the Juilliard String Quartet. He is also a composer, conductor, teacher, and mentor, and the Aeolus had a chance to work with him on this Bartók quartet.
A varied mid-week foray for
ConcertMeister
ConcertMeister
I'm a big fan of Neil LaBute ... his works are always challenging and often dark (dark dark) but so worth the effort.
ReplyDelete