Heinz 57

Lost yet? Catsup? (Nope.) Ketchup? (Nope.) Catch-up? (Yep!)

I have been terribly lax about posting, lately. (I’ve been going places, just not posting. You’d think I’d have more time … but I digress.)

The following will be a listing of things I’ve seen recently, with a few notes added. There will not be full write-ups of everything.

OK, here goes. Wonder Women of the Silents (10/12/19 and 11/9/19): Yes, two editions of silent films with piano accompaniment by the incomparable Ben Model. The films: Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915), Should Men Walk Home? (1927, starring Mabel Normand), and What Happened to Rosa (1921) (note the lack of a question mark—this film explores exactly what happened to her; starring Mabel Normand). Fun stuff. Linking these together, the second installment had Sure-Mike! (1925) and Irene (1926). These starred totally new comediennes to me—Martha Sleeper and Colleen Moore, respectively. New to me and funny as can be.

Pieces of Us – Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra (10/19/19). This was, technically, not a freebie for me as I was guested by a subscriber to the series. That said, tickets bought ahead of time are $5.00. If you procrastinate and buy at the door, you’ll pay a whopping $7.00! Here’s the program: What Keeps Me Awake – Angélica Negrón (b. 1981); Guitar Concerto – Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) – Nikos Andreas, guitar; Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op 98 – Johannes Brahms (1883–1897). Let that sink in—a new work (with the composer in attendance), an established guitar concerto, and a full-blown Brahms symphony. For five, or seven, bucks. Is this the New York Phil? No, but it’s a darned good neighborhood chamber orchestra.

The Pursuit of Happiness – Haydn and Beethoven String Quartets (10/26/19). This was part of the NY Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts’ overarching Beethoven and the New World Spirit program celebrating the upcoming 250th birth anniversary celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven in 2020. This program included readings from works of LvB, Georg August Griesenger, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Wheelock Thayer (an American librarian who traveled to Europe in order to study and write a biography of LvB), and Friedrich Schiller. TMI? The pieces heard: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54, No. 2 (1788) – Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) (considered to be the father of the string quartet); Duet mit zwei obligaten Augensgläsern (WoO) 32 (1796) – LvB (1770–1827); and String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18, no. 2 (LvB). The quartet here (all New York Classical Players members) was composed of I-Jung Huang and Stephanie Zyzak, violins; En-Chi Yeng, viola; and Madeline Fayette, cello. Interestingly, the Beethoven duet was written as a sort of a joke. The player who commissioned the work was famous for misplacing his eyeglasses. LvB hinted in the piece that the patron might play better if he found his eyeglasses!

There is a direct link to the 11/2/19 concert – Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B flat Major, Op. 130/133 (1825). This is a very late quartet—remember Beethoven died in 1827. It’s in six movements, with the sixth – Grosse Fugue, Op. 133 – accounting for the odd opus numbering above. The quartet players here were, once again, all NY Classical Players members. Mari Lee and Harriet Langley, violins; En-Chi Cheng, viola; and Sujin Lee, cello. There were additional readings from Christoph Christian Sturm’s (1740–1786) Reflections on the Works of God and His Providence Throughout All Nature, read by Amelia Anderson. They were effective but not really necessary. Here are a few examples of readings’ titles: The Tireless Diligence of Bees; The Frost Sometimes Seen on Glass Windows; Chance Occurrences (underlined three times!); Wandering Plants and Growths; and The Tulip. At best, saccharine, anyone?

Backtracking just a bit, here’s Songbook (10/28/19), featuring the music of Anthony Nunziata. The kid is talented, though there was no clear delineation between where he was composer, lyricist, or book writer—or both or all—not that there’s anything wrong with that. It just made the evening a little bit difficult to follow, as far as I was concerned. The songs themselves adhered very strongly to the “What’s the right way to build a song?” conundrum style: Slow, light opening, build the intensity, almost reach the pro-style, anthem-hitting plateau, then a gradual release back to everything you were hiding from. It’s very effective, for what it’s worth. It wasn’t worth much to me at the time. Maybe I’ll learn to love it … nah! who am I kidding?

I attended a very interesting piano concert yesterday afternoon (11/16/19). I’ll try to write a full report about this one soon.

ConcertMeister