Richard Paratley, flute; Ellen Bardekoff, oboe; Akari Yamamoto, clarinet; Shotaro Mori; bassoon; Nancy Vizza, horn
Overture to Nabucco (arranged for Woodwind Quintet) – Andante; Andante come primo; Andantino; Allegro – Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901); arr. by Joachim Linckelmann
Divertimento – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Suite, Opus 57 – Canon – Moderato; Allegretto scherzando; Finale – Allegro leggiero – Charles Lefevre (1843–1917)
Sonata for Wind Quartet No. 5 – Allegro spiritoso; Andante assai; “Tempesta” – Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
The Cascades – Scott Joplin (1868–1917)
Take the A Train – Billy Strayhorn (1915–1967); arr. by Uma Karkala
La Vida Es Un Carnival – Victor Daniel, performed originally by Celia Cruz (1925–2003); arr. by Uma Karkala
First off, this was one of the strangest venues I’ve ever attended—the Woolworth Chapel in The Woodlawn Cemetery. As it turns out, the chapel is quite nice. And I’ll probably return to the cemetery. It’s vast, and I picked up a walking trail map of the thousands of trees there. It’s a bit of a trek to get to as it’s literally at the end of the line (the #4 train to Woodlawn). On to the music.
The Verdi opened with chorale-like phrases, lots of rich chords played by all five instrumentalists. After what sounded like a call to arms, a series of Hebrew themes followed. Next was the famed Slaves’ Chorus, with countermelodies, leading to a fairly rollicking finish. Throughout the afternoon, the playing was quite nice, though there were a few out of tune (very few and relatively minor) occurrences.
As announced from the stage, there was a slight question of whether the Mozart was actually written by Mozart. The bottom line is that the clarinetist thinks it’s Mozart and so do I. This flute, clarinet and bassoon trio began with perky, percolating phrases that were balanced by legato sections before returning to perky. The second movement was calmer and more relaxed though there was a contrasting bubbly section. (Bubbly and perky often feature in woodwind chamber music pieces.) The third movement definitely had a dance-like feel, with variations in the themes and tempos. The last movement was brisk but not too much so. All in all, it was a typical, pleasant enough Mozart piece.
The opening of the Lefevre (a composer new to me) piece was pretty, with phrases that bounced back and forth, being shared with all five players. It did have a hint of sadness about it. The second movement was brighter yet still fairly serious. I had a hard time distinguishing between the end of the second movement and the beginning of the third because there were several seemingly false endings. The last movement, though, was livelier, with a bit more substance, leading to a full, strong finish.
From the stage, we learned that the Rossini quartet was written at a very early age (guessed between sixteen and eighteen, though possibly even younger) and that it was originally scored for two violins, cello, and bass. This version, however, was created by Rossini himself. The first movement had fancy finger work for all of the players, which foreshadowed the flights of fancy in his operatic vocal lines. It was slightly frou-frou and definitely spiritoso, as the name of the movement implied. The second movement was a little bit darker but with movement in the phrases that was easily identified as Rossini. The third movement had a chorale-style opening, and then the flute and clarinet were featured. The storm referred to in the movement name started out as a few raindrops which quickly escalated to a tempest before receding to calm to finish the movement.
The Joplin rag was written and/or inspired by a water display at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Surprisingly, there is no arranger listed, so it’s possible that Joplin arranged his piano rag for quintet. In the hands of the wind players here, it reminded me of a calliope. It had the standard bells and whistles—syncopation, stop-time phrases, etc.—and percolated (there’s that word again) right along.
The arrangement of Take the A Train was the weakest on the program, in my opinion. It was okay, if a bit scattered, and included a nod to Gershwin at the beginning and then again at the end.
Not being familiar with the Celia Cruz song, I found this arrangement interesting and more fulfilling. Both it and the tune did have a party-like feel. It was a nice way to end a fun concert in a cemetery!
ConcertMeister
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