Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Boulder Bach Festival, Joseph Robinson, Krista Bennion Feeney, MeeAe Nam, Mutsumi Moteki, Nikolas Nackley, Timothy Krueger
Saturday, March 6, I attended the Second Festival Concert given by the Boulder Bach Festival. It was presented in Boulder at the First United Methodist Church on Spruce Street. This concert celebrated the 325th birthday of the amazing composer, J. S. Bach. The works on the program included a secular Cantata entitled “Give way now, dismal shadows,” which was written to celebrate a wedding; a sacred Cantata, “I have enough;” the motet, “The Spirit comes to help our weakness;” and the motet, “Jesus, my joy.”
The Boulder Bach Festival was founded in 1981 and rapidly became one of the leading performance groups in the state of Colorado. They have a reputation of having remarkable musicians within the organization, and also for having the ability to have remarkable musicians as their guest artists. I assure you, that I use the word remarkable because it fits. Timothy Krueger is the chorus director, Krista Bennion Feeney is the concertmaster and soloist, Barbara Barber and Anne Beer are the second violinists, Erika Eckert the violist, Carole Whitney plays cello, Paul Erhard the bassist, Joseph Robinson is the principal oboe, James Brody second oboe, Kim Brody the English horn, Linda Lunbeck and Michael Lightner recorder, and Mutsumi Moteki performs on harpsichord and organ. This is a formidable group of musicians who all have the superior credentials and experience to get the job done.
The guest soloists for Saturday’s performance included Colorado favorite, Dr. MeeAe Cecelia Nam, soprano, and baritone Nikolas Nackley, who is from Massachusetts.
MeeAe Nam has performed throughout the world in operas, chamber works, lied, and sacred performances. Formerly on the faculty at Metro State here in Denver, she now teaches on the voice faculty at Eastern Michigan University. She has given many recitals and concerts with her husband, Dr. Horst Buchholz, who is a world renowned organist and conductor.
The first work on the program was the Bach Cantata, “Give way now, dismal shadows.” This is a long cantata in nine movements or sections that places great demand on the vocal soloist, as well as the oboist and violinist. Often called the Wedding Cantata, it depicts love amongst the melting snows of winter and the arrival of spring. It has an alternating pattern of recitatives and arias which end with a final Gavotte. And by the way, did anyone notice that the second aria is also a theme which Bach used for his Violin Sonata, BWV 1019? For those of you who have heard Ms. Nam sing, you are fully aware that she possesses one of the finest voices in the United States, and that is no exaggeration. Her vocal production is so perfect, and it seems so easy, that it always raises one’s eyebrows. Her diction is always very clear and precise. The performance Saturday night, however, had some problems that can befall even the most experienced and profound group of musicians. This cantata, as I said above, was for soprano, violin, and oboe. The oboist, Joseph Robinson, is one of the finest in the country, and was Principal Oboe with the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to September, 2005. One simply does not stay in that position, let alone be appointed to it, without being an amazing musician. But sometimes groups as a whole, in spite of their stellar musicianship, can be unaware of the balance between them. Saturday night Mr. Robinson and Ms. Feeney, the violinist (who is quite excellent) simply were too loud. In the first aria, it was often difficult to hear MeeAe Nam. Both oboe and violin were playing very expressively, but it was only when they were at their softest dynamic level could one hear the words that Ms. Nam was singing. If there were any music students from the University of Colorado in the audience, this should be a learning situation for them: even the most experienced and profound musicians sometimes need to have someone in the hall to listen for balance, for in spite of their vast experience and musicianship, unknown mistakes can be made. Did it ruin the concert? No, it did not, and it didn’t diminish the effectiveness of the performance and the undeniable virtuosity which everyone possessed. In the fifth aria which was for violin, soprano, and continuo, things were a little better but still the violin was too loud. I hasten to point out that Dr. Nam was not singing too softly. In the seventh aria for soprano, oboe, and continuo, Dr. Nam was again covered to a large degree by the oboe. Only when Dr. Nam sang with just the continuo could one here all of her nuance and phrasing, dynamics, and remarkable diction. If Robinson and Feeney had been told at the rehearsal that they were covering Nam, you can bet they would have adjusted their playing accordingly. I cannot stress enough that all of these performers are excellent and are truly concerned with the music first and foremost. Even if there had been no vocalist involved, the balance would have required scrutiny.
The second Cantata on the program, “I have enough,” is quite dark. The first movement uses text from the words of Simeon, who talks to God after having held the infant Jesus in his arms, and he says: “I have enough; I have taken the Savior, the hope of the Gentiles, into my yearning arms.” This was sung by baritone Nikolas Nackley, who has appeared with the Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston, the Handel and Haydn Society, and many others. He is also a proponent of new music. He has a staggering baritone voice that is full and rich, and his diction is so perfect that one instantly believes he could sing anything he chooses. He is extremely confident in front of an audience, and I sincerely hope that we here in Colorado can hear him perform again. But I must say, that once again the oboe was simply too loud and in this cantata, sometimes the bass viol was too loud as well. It is true, that Mr. Nackley was not covered as much as Dr. Nam, but it is a shame that it happened at all, because unintentional and unknown errors could have been avoided if only someone had checked the balance between all concerned. Mr. Nackley sang with great sensitivity and emotion, and highlighted what Jacques Barzun said of Bach in his book, “From Dawn to Decadence” where he states that one of Bach’s many geniuses was in transferring the emotion of words into the emotion of the music.
After the intermission, the Boulder Bach Festival Chorus sang two motets, “The Spirit comes to help our weakness” and “Jesus, my joy.” The choir is excellent and sang with great conviction and enthusiasm. And of course, it is always a joy to hear a choir of that size sing with just continuo.
Everyone concerned with this performance made it clear that they are fine musicians who are quite capable of a world-class performance. But even world-class performers can be faced with learning situations. Was this a bad performance? No, absolutely not. But it could have been so much better.
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Alejandro Cremaschi, Earle Brown, Elizabeth Kipper, Janos Starker, Leopold Teraspulsky, Luis Gonzalez, Thomas Heinrich
The other evening I listened to a CD recording of the music of Luis Jorge Gonzalez who is Professor Emeritus of Composition at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The name of the CD is Las Puertas del Tiempo – The Gates of Time – which is also the name of the piano trio that is the first selection on the recording. In addition, this trio is the result of a commission which was awarded in 2006 (and premiered at that time) by the Colorado State Music Teachers Association.
For those of you who are not familiar with Dr. Gonzalez’ compositions, I will quote from the liner notes that come with a CD:
“Luis Jorge Gonzalez was born in San Juan, Argentina, in 1936. After study at the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina, in the early 1970s he enrolled in the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he studied with Robert Hall Lewis and Earle Brown. Initially attracted to the musical avant garde, over the years he abandoned radical innovation and returned to tonality but with great imagination and individual perspective. He taught briefly at the Peabody Conservatory and in Austin, Texas, before coming to the College of Music of the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1982 as a professor of composition and music theory. He retired from that position in 2003, but still resides in the Boulder area where he composes and is active in civic and university musical affairs.
“Gonzalez’ music has been widely performed throughout the United States, and in South America, Europe, and Japan. His musical awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1978-79) and compositional prizes from the Wieniawski International Competition, the City of Trieste, Radio France, the Percussive Arts Society, and the American Harp Society among others. Commissions from Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival, the American Guild of Organists, the Cosanti Foundation, the Austin Texas Music Festival, and many universities and performing ensembles fill a long and impressive professional resume.”
Dr. Gonzalez has his Master of Music and Doctor in Musical Arts degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore.
The musicians who appear on this CD are truly excellent. The pianist is Dr. Alejandro Cremaschi, the violinist is Elizabeth Kipper, and the cellist is Thomas Heinrich. Dr. Cremaschi is on the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Not only is he a compatriot of Dr. Gonzalez, he also attended the same undergraduate school. He received his doctorate in piano performance from the University of Minnesota. His playing is truly sensitive and I really admire his ability to get such an incredibly warm sound out of the piano. He is also a very, very accurate pianist. It is no surprise whatsoever that he has given performances all over the world.
Elizabeth Kipper is a Juilliard graduate who has performed with the Fort Worth Symphony and the Colorado Symphony, and like Cremaschi, she has performed throughout the world. She has served as concertmaster under Seiji Ozawa when she was a Fellow at Tanglewood. On this recording, her dynamics are breathtaking.
The cellist on the recording, Thomas Heinrich, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and the Cleveland Institute. He made his solo debut with the Vermont Symphony at age 16 and has played with the Colorado Symphony since 1997. He has also appeared with the great Janos Starker in a performance of the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto. One of his principal teachers was Leopold Teraspulsky, who, along with Starker, taught at Indiana University. Like his mentors, Heinrich’s pitch and sensitivity is outstanding.
The music on this CD is quite surprising in many ways plus the fact that it is all quite beautiful. I know that in reviews one is supposed to be very objective, and that one should always strive to be academically correct. However, the aspect of beauty is one of the reasons I have been a musician all my life, so if any of you are offended by my subjectivity, you are most welcome to stop reading at this point. The biggest surprise, at least for me, in this recording is that the music, while full of Argentine rhythms, has an underlying dark quality. It makes me recall a conversation that I had with Dr. Gonzalez several years ago – and I hope he is not offended by this recollection. He told me that when he was young, one of the reasons he became a composer was that he was fascinated with the harmonies that were used by Serge Rachmaninoff. He simply had to find out why those harmonies sounded the way they did. Keep in mind that I am not saying that Gonzalez’ music sounds like Rachmaninoff. It most certainly does not. As a matter of fact, the liner notes for this CD (which were written by a very fine music scholar and composer, Karl Kroeger, whom I respect greatly) mentioned a certain Brahms ethos. But I think these notes are referring to the drive into the texture that is particularly evident in the trio. And again, I point out that reviewers, such as myself, can easily fall into trouble and incur the suspicion of composers when their music is compared to almost any other composer.
The other surprise on this recording comes from the fact that Gonzalez uses typical Argentine rhythms in such a way as to make them completely atypical. They are unbelievably complex with all kinds of subdivisions of the beats within the measure. Couple that with the fact that the complex rhythms are inextricably coupled with the harmony. You must simply listen to this wonderful music. The drive for the end of each phrase seems to have absolutely no tonal center until the end of the phrase is reached. The resolution of the rhythm and the – and I use this word guardedly, for Gonzalez is a tonal composer – atonality, results in a chord that is a surprise and yet, ultimately very logical, but yet warm, and we are left with the feeling that it makes perfect sense, musically and emotionally. A phrase ending or a cadence that does not make sense, if any of you musicians out there are looking for examples, comes at the end of the second movement and third movement of Hindemith’s Piano Sonata Nr. 2. He ends both movements on a G major chord which, to my way of thinking, simply does not fit. One could make a case that the voice leading which results in the G major chord is logical, but the harmonic outcome is jarring and does not fit the phrase that has come before it.
The trio entitled The Gates of Time is in fairly straightforward sonata form, and clearly displays Gonzalez’ ability to get a variety of sororities out of the instruments involved. He could not have chosen better performers to accomplish this task. All three, Cremaschi, Kipper, and Heinrich performed this piece with remarkable sensitivity and faithfulness to the score. Following the trio are five short pieces entitled From Fiestas and Dances. These are pieces that an intermediate piano student could learn, and in turn, would teach the piano student a great deal about subtleties of rhythm and tone production. How I wish piano teachers who are not teaching at the college level would use music like this with their students. So much could be learned from it aside from the fact that it is genuine music, and it would free the student from material that is inferior music which appears in all of the method books.
The work that follows From Fiestas and Dances is a short sonatina entitled Sonatina Festival and it brings to mind the intermediate sonatina that Dmitri Kabalevsky wrote for his students only because this is another work that many teachers could use to their advantage. Gonzalez’ Sonatina once again displays an incredible variety of rhythmic complexity, and even the architectural form has to be called a modified sonata because the development in the first movement is absolutely nonexistent. But this is a delightful piece of music which will have wide appeal. Following the sonatina, are three short pieces entitled Midnight Lights, and is a personal recollection of strolling down the street of Buenos Aires. The three pieces are entitled Window shops, Window ajar, and Little coffee shop. These are all three very alluring pieces as well, but the Little coffee shop has a remarkable sense of darkness about it. It positively leaves one wondering what could have been so tragic as he strolled down the street.
This CD contains some truly wonderful music played by some remarkable musicians. It is varied and rich and it leaves me wanting more. It opens a brand-new door in contemporary music.
This was recorded on the Meridian label, and the catalog number is CDE 84571.
