A blogger with home computer problems is a bit of a bust, and that’s where ConcertMeister finds himself these days. As a result, I’m going to give brief comments on what I’ve been up to, hoping to flesh them out more later.
On June 6, The Silent Clowns Film Series presented a novel program—two silent films and two “talkies.” The first, Duck Soup (1927, silent), and the second, Another Fine Mess (1930, talkie), were the exact same story! Both featured Laurel and Hardy, with Hardy playing a minor role in Duck Soup but graduating to a major role in Another Fine Mess, since L&H were a better established team by 1930. The third film, Chickens Come Home (1931, talkie), and the fourth,
Love ’Em and Weep (1927, silent), were the exact same story! And both featured L&H again. It was a lot of fun seeing the evolution of L&H as a team as well as seeing the evolution of silents into talkies. Ben Model provided excellent accompaniment to the silents, once again.
June 13 found me at a chamber music concert performed by Vista Lirica:
Beth Levin, piano; Samuel Magill, cello; Lucian Rinando, flute; and
Neil Rynston, clarinet.
Sonata for cello and piano (1915) – Claude Debussy
4 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5 (1911) – Alban Berg
Trio da camera for flute, cello and piano, Op. 48 (1926) – Gabriel Pierné
Trio in a-minor for clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114 – Johannes Brahms
My favorite of the bunch was the Debussy, followed by the last two movements of the Brahms (the first two had disparate sections that didn’t really hang together too well, for me). The Berg pieces were modern and atonal but at least they were brief. My notes for the Pierné ended with: In general, nice enough, if not special. I would probably not seek it out again. (And for the record, this was my very first hearing of Pierné.)
June 20 was a piano recital by Charles Jones, an artist I’ve heard, and enjoyed listening to, before. Saturday’s concert was well played and really enjoyable.
Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3 – Beethoven (1770–1827)
Etude in C Sharp minor, Op. 42, No. 5 – Scriabin (1872–1915)
Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 – Scriabin
Sonata No. 1, Op. 122 – Ginastera (1916–1983)
Etude in A Flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1; Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3; Scherzo in B Flat minor, Op. 31, No. 2 – Chopin (1810–1849)
The Beethoven was solid; the Scriabin, almost but not quite Impressionistic, with a hint of jazz here and there; the Ginastera, very energetic, with a Latin American flavor; and the Chopin, just plain lovely. The two Etudes were familiar to me, while the Scherzo didn’t ring a bell, though it was also very pleasant. I rather liked the fact that, as a well-deserved encore, Mr. Jones repeated the E Major Etude—it was a lot of fun to hear it twice, especially in such close proximity.
June 21 was Make Music NY, a huge event encompassing more than a thousand free concerts throughout the five boroughs of New York. My ahead-of-time planning was less ambitious than what I set out for last year. Still, I heard youngsters from the Chamber Music Center of New York playing—duh!—chamber music in the Lincoln Center area. When I arrived, the group was eight violins, two violas, one cello, one bass, and one flute, though additional personnel arrived and joined during the time I spent there. Different players switched around for different pieces, and the young lady playing the solo violin in Celtic Roots did a great job. Mannheim, by Peter Martin, saw the addition of more strings, and more were added for Mozart. The conductor and one of the organizers lamented the fact that clarinets and a bassoon were missing. Didn’t matter—the kids did just fine with strings, the one flute, and one oboe.
I then traveled up to the Great Hill in Central Park and heard members of the
New York Late-Starters String Orchestra, a group of beginning or recently returning adult players of stringed instruments. Definitely amateurs, not the best techniques in the world, but they played enthusiastically and definitely made music.
Next on the agenda, in a different part of the Great Hill, I took part in a
Mass Appeal Harmonica event. Yep, we affixed our name to a sign-in sheet and were given our very own Hohner ten-hole harmonica. The basics were explained to us, and we were taught Jingle Bells by the leader. It was just easy enough that everybody pretty much got the hang of it, and at the end, we were an enthusiastic amateur band of about thirty playing Jingle Bells all together. A lot of fun!
I had hoped to take in a few performances at Carl Schurz Park, closer to home, but rain sprinkles arrived as I was leaving Central Park, so I decided to call it a day, go home, and become CocktailMeister instead of ...
ConcertMeister.
No comments:
Post a Comment