Literally. A barge, moored in the DUMBO region of Brooklyn, with music. Most Saturday afternoons there is a free neighborhood concert. Okay, I stretched the concept of neighborhood, but I'm also stretching my neighborhood of venues—specifically being less Manhatan-centric.
Saturday afternoon's performers were Brandon George (flute), Yuki Numata (violin) and Paul Dwyer (cello), in a program of Haydn and Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960).
The opener was Haydn's Divertimento No. 2 in G Major, Op. 100, a delightful piece. Divertimento indeed! A perfect title (from the Italian divertire—to amuse) for a truly fun, yet not trivial, piece. It opened strongly, with a very transparent and delicate (yet clean) second movement that simply dissolved into nothingness. The brief Finale capped the divertimento perfectly.
Mr. Kernis' Delicate Songs was up next. This three-movement work used harmonics from the strings, the de rigeur pizzicato plucked strings, and a nice switch that included the alto flute (used in contemporary composing, but dating back to the musical impressionists—think Ravel), but the piece rambled a bit for my taste. Nice musical ideas—just a bit too many, too widely cast about. The first movement, Floating Dreamsong, was aptly titled for a Bargemusic concert.
Rounding out the program was Haydn's London Trio in C major, Hob IV No. 1. I wanted to like this more than I did. In a Q&A session after the performance, the players said that they felt as though they could just let loose with a more familiar work after the contemporary Kernis piece, but I didn't quite get this. I found the sense of ensemble not quite as strong—a slightly less cohesive performance. Not bad by any means, just not quite divertimento-like. (Did I mention that I really liked the Divertimento?)
ConcertMeister
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