It’s been a while since I visited this standby. The crowd was a good size, about 50 people, and there was a smattering of kids in attendance. It’s good that they’re exposed to such quality musicianship. The program, announced from the stage, included Bach, Peskanov, Prokofiev, and Ravel. Peskanov? you might ask? Yes.
Mark Peskanov, violin, opened the concert with a pair of movements from an unaccompanied Bach violin sonata. In a minor key, the first movement was nicely played, with some double stops included. That’s where the violinist plays two strings at one time, adding extra harmony to the main melody being played. The second movement presented here was fugal (extra voices added reiterating the original theme) and was livelier and muscular, for want of a better word.
Mr. Peskanov followed those with a dance-like gavotte (a gavotte is a type of dance) that was pleasant and not too brisk. He urged the children in the audience to dance, if the spirit moved them, but there were no takers.
Mr. Peskanov then turned the stage over to Mr. Peskanov and Ms. Peskanov (Mark’s brother Alexander, piano, and Alexander’s wife Lu Ann, flute). We were treated to a truncated version of the program that they would be presenting Saturday night, but this one was free. The first piece for flute and piano was Sicilian Impromptu, composed by Alexander Peskanov. It was gentle, very traditional sounding, and really lovely in an almost haunting way.
That was followed by a couple of movements from the Prokofiev Sonata in D. The first movement that we heard was more modern sounding without being overly harsh—a mix of spiky and fluid. The second movement we heard was a jaunty sort of perpetual motion, and a bit of a mad waltz followed by a brief lyrical section before returning to the dark waltz.
Continuing in the dance mode, we heard the Ravel Habanera, with its requisite BUM-ba-dum-bum, BUM-ba-dum-bum rhythm. After a brief introduction, it morphed into the familiar tune (Google it and you’ll see/hear what I mean). Interesting fact announced from the stage is that it was originally a vocalise for a bass! that was then adapted for a variety of instruments of the non-vocal type.
The final piece was also dance inspired—Mambo, by Alexander Peskanov—that came about after he was noodling at the piano in Latin America and then was joined in the improvisation by (I think) a violinist. It was lively and pleasant as was the entire hour-long concert.
Check out Bargemusic at 4pm on various Saturday afternoons. It’s a bit of a grab-bag but that’s also part of its charm. That and the stunning view of lower Manhattan from the barge on the Brooklyn side of the East River.
ConcertMeister
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