Saturday was the first of a three-part series titled Beethoven Encounters. Members of the New York Classical Players played three Beethoven string quartets. Ken Hamao (violin), Grace Park (violin), Wei-Yang Andy Lin (viola), and Michael Katz (cello) performed String Quartet Opus 18, No. 6, No. 3, and No. 2.
No. 6 – I. Allegro con brio; II. Adagio ma non troppo; III. Scherzo: Allegro; IV. La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro
No. 3 – I. Allegro; II. Andante con moto; III. Allegro; IV. Presto
No. 2 – I. Allegro; II. Adagio cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I; III. Scherzo: Allegro; IV. Allegro molto, quasi presto
As we can see from the movement titles (and later from my comments) all three quartets are pretty much fast, slow, fast, and fast (excepting the Malinconia). But all three were also very different.
The first movement of No. 6 was bright and bubbly, with some experimentation in the way Beethoven moved melodic phrases from one player to the next. The second movement was slower, though not exactly stately, and had nicely filigreed turns of phrases, some of which were quietly dramatic. While also moving the melody from player to player, it had a lovely winding down to a pizzicato ending. The Scherzo was pleasant—at times a bit spare, at others, fuller—ending once again with a very light touch. The final movement opened slowly with just the two violins and the viola, followed by a brief section with one violin, the viola and the cello. This Malinconia section was interrupted by a couple of instances of harmonic angst, before eventually slipping into the Allegretto that then bounced its way to the conclusion.
Quartet No. 3 opened with fuller, denser writing and was at times very energetic. As a side note, I have not explored whether the numbering system of the six quartets is strictly chronological or was arranged by some other method. The second movement had a chorale-like feel to it before developing into more individual lines, creating the whole, with a feeling of solidity that then led to a calm ending. The third movement was once again pleasantly solid but with a rather abrupt ending (i.e., short but not unnaturally cut off). The final movement here had a quite brisk, but not frantic, opening, with pretty much a constant forward motion, while including a few dramatic pauses. It didn’t quite have the bang-up ending that I was expecting, instead closing out with a very effective lower energy finish.
Quartet No. 2 began with graceful, pleasant sections that featured strong accents as well as strong unison phrases, including some rich, romantic harmonies. For all of that, it had a fairly quiet ending. The second movement also had a chorale-like opening followed by a section that was jaunty yet restrained (maybe contained is a better word). The return to a slower tempo introduced some new thematic material before closing out quietly. This Scherzo was bright and graceful, yet also with some accented sections that were similar to, though not exactly mirroring, those of the first movement. This movement seemed more fully formed than some of the others, to my ear. The final movement made use of strong sudden accents again. Some of the extremely fast writing toward the end seemed almost overdone, to me, although it, and the entire concert, was played extremely well. The next installment of the Encounters, in early December, will be the other three quartets of Opus 18.
The Brass of Beethoven and Brass was the second of the Overlook Concerts in Riverside Park. On a breezy and chilly Sunday afternoon, the Manhattan School of Music Brass Quintet presented a well-rounded performance of eleven pieces for brass quintet. A quick Wikipedia look told me pretty much what I thought I knew—there are the “usual suspects” but there is also flexibility in the makeup of a brass quintet. Here, we had Nolan Tsang (trumpet), Jerome Burns (trumpet), Corinne Judd (horn), Preston Judd (trombone), and Aden Brooks (tenor trombone). In addition, Mr. Burns played an E-flat trumpet in one of the pieces.
This is a student quartet and, as a result, some of the playing was a bit sketchy, although the afternoon was a total delight. Mr. Tsang carried the emcee responsibilities for most of the afternoon, assisted by Mr. Brooks and Mr. Burns. All three acquitted themselves well, even allowing for a mis-speak of a composer’s name at one point.
Selections ranged from Gabrieli (1500s) to a nifty arrangement of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square; from an arrangement of Debussy’s The Girl with the Flaxen Hair to Jazz Suite #1 by Dmitri Shostakovich; and from Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (with the E-flat trumpet) to Amparito Roca (1925), by Jaime Texidor (1884–1957).
Along with Señor Texidor, I was also introduced to other composers—J. Pezel
(1639–1694) and Ludwig Maurer (1859–1927)—whose Six Pieces and Three Pieces, respectively, were quite interesting.
Bluegrass is on the agenda for next Sunday, which I may or may not attend. Still and all, it was a fun weekend (with some Alice at 150 thrown in for good measure; maybe more about that later).
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