Alumni and family were treated to a musical sampler at Russell House as the Music Department presented “Musica Viva” on Sunday, November 1st. The event paired faculty and students in a production that celebrated the diversity of Western Art Music. With works ranging from classical composers such as Beethoven and Mozart to contemporaries like Piazzolla and Berio, no one could complain of lacking diversity.
“The Music Department here at Wesleyan has gotten lots of attention for numerous things,” said Ángel Gil-Ordoñez. “What you may not know is that we are building a very strong program in Western Art Music.”
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the performance was the contrast between resident performers and their undergraduate students. While the former appeared easy and flamboyant, the great majority of the students exhibited a feeling of anxiety. While this created a professional atmosphere when the faculty played, there was a greater sense of importance when the junior members took up their instruments.
Two pieces combined these facets by including both faculty and students in their ensemble. As a result, these two were among the most enjoyable of the afternoon. The first was coincidentally the opening number for the afternoon, a guitar duet between Soni Midha ’04 and the Private Lessons Teacher Cem Duruoz. Midha played the lead, with Duruoz accompanying. The piece, “En La Caseta,” was the sole exception to the theme of Western Art as it was composed in the Sevillanas form, too early to be classified Western Art Music.
Although Duruoz played the secondary part, his confidence he exhuded Midha strength to bring out her theme. After their piece was completed, Duruoz remained on stage and preformed a piece by Astor Piazzolla that embellished on an Argentinean tango. His contrasts between light tango twinkling and the heavy strumming of the piece was impressive.
The other ensemble that coordinated between age groups was a clarinet quartet. Performing a Franz Tichshauser piece entitled “Das Vierklavier,” the stage was well set by Antares member Garrick Zoeter. His explanation of how the piece attempted to incorporate a sense of laughter involving a story of death at the gallows included a description of how each part would work together to create a cacophony of sound.
“Another aspect of the movement that should be amusing is that there is no place to breathe,” said Zoeter. “So you can have the added pleasure of watching to see which one of us keels over first.”
With the audience in a jovial mood, the quartet began. Featuring strings of sixteenth and staccato notes, it was easy to see how one could interpret the music for laughter. As the piece progressed, the notes seemed to increase in speed while the music went up the octave. By the final note, Gergely Kiss ’06, Eric Schuhmann ’06 and Rebecca Gordon ’06 were all red in the face while their professor was breathing heavily through a big smile.
In between these two performances, the strings had their moment in the spotlight. First, a string trio consisting of Josh Kaye ’04, Ilana Matfis ’05 and Cassye Dunkhase ’06 performed Beethoven’s First movement of “Trio Opus in Eb.” Kaye’s performance on violin demonstrated the charisma and fluidity one would expect from the Wesleyan Orchestra concertmaster. While Matfis on viola and Dunkhase on cello were occasionally drowned out, they both provided excellent support in a tight and well-rehearsed piece.
Matfis had the chance to take center stage when she performed a solo movement of Dimitri Shostakovich, “Viola Sonata, opus 147.” One of Shostakovich’s last works, the piece featured both light plucking combined with strong bowing to create a sound reminiscent of crashing waves. Her transition from playing Beethoven to the much more contemporary work was well done.
The final three student performances were all solo pieces. The first was a clarinet solo by Kiss that was written by Hungarian composer Bela Kovacs. Kiss explained however, that the piece was written in tribute to a Spanish composer and so therefore resembled the Western style. Working without accompaniment, Kiss performed well, with strong variation between his triplet and sixteenth note runs along with plenty of volume.
Kumar Nair ’05 came out next and did an admirable performance of Chopin’s “Ballad No. 3 in Ab Major, Op. 47” for piano. With a general emphasis on off-beat notes, Chopin was able to capture the sound of hooves beats galloping along a cobblestone road. Nair had to furiously move up and down the ivory keys as the piece came to a close, as Chopin seemed to cram as many notes as possible. With a flourish, Nair came to his conclusion took a quick bow and departed.
The lone vocal performance of the afternoon featured soprano Rachel Lerner ’06.
Performing Mozart’s “Dove Sono” from “The Marriage of Figaro,” Lerner sang the opening with authority. This, however, ceased to be the case when she had a momentary memory failure and forgot the lines. While she was able to recover and continue, she was more tentative with her attacks. This may have been partially due to the fact that the accompaniment, performed by Colin Ellis ’04, was not always on the same page as Lerner. The piece was still well performed, though it lacked the intensity that it exhibited at the start.
The final two numbers featured the musicians of the in-residence ensemble, Antares. “[Antares] is a phenomenal quartet,” Gil-Ordoñez said. “They are winning
prizes all over the county all while working a lot on contemporary pieces but having mastered the nineteenth century music.”
Vessko Gellev performed a Berio violin solo with Eric Huebner providing accompaniment on piano. Simply stated, it was a superior performance.
Finally, Zoeter and cellist Rebecca Patterson joined Gellev for a Carter trio, “Con Leggerezza Pensosa.” An interesting piece, it involved a combination of surrealist fantasy with humor. That meant that each instrument played a part that seemed to have no relation to the other two. Zoeter played eighth notes and then went off on tangential runs. The two strings had more of a sustained sound but neither seemed to be playing in unison. Finally, the instruments simply faded out and with each member smiling as if at an inside joke, they took their last bow.
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