Flawless and Fascinating: Chamber Players of GSO

By Linda Phillips

Geographically diverse music of contrasting hemispheres (South America being the southern, Europe the northern), was performed as the Chamber Players opened their 48th season, presenting an engaging, sometimes surprising, program entitled From Two Worlds.

Known in the past for performances of Argentine tango by the internal group Quartetango, this time the location was the Andes Mountains, and one work was decidedly 21st century — and by a contemporary woman composer.

Opening with a traditional work by George Philipp Telemann, the Trio Sonata in C minor, rescored for cellist Daniel Miller, violinist Susan Hytken Metcalf, and oboist Diane Lesser, who took the stage for the opening Largo, which was thoughtful and provided solo opportunities for each instrument. Vivace was sprightly, with lovely and haunting interplay trills, excellent playing in violin and cello. Andante opened with a lovely tune in oboe, which didn’t miss a beat or a note. The joyous, sprightly Allegro was a conversation and interplay among the instruments.

Violinist Jorge Avila, soon to be Concertmaster of the Greenwich Symphony, announced the Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout of Gabriela Lena Frank, modern, with unusual phrasings, harmonies (or disharmonies) by having each of the six sections of the piece previewed by style of play, letting the audience better understand the unusual techniques and harmonies they were to hear. First section featured third intervals, with a pizzicato violin.The second began with a screech of strings, the cello hovering and striking, sometimes spiccato, until the dissonance simply faded away. A pizzicato violin, echoed in cello, went back to the opening statement. The third is based on a panpipe ensemble dividing up melodies.Hurrying and unsettling was the mode and mood. The fourth section was joyous, sprightly, some conversations. some plucking, The fifth began with atonal, swelling chords, the cello plunking beneath, calling the violin into highest register, which could’ve been heard by local dogs. Screaming strings 1/2 note apart sang above a cello statement in this long section. Coquetos, the close, was Latin in nature, a love song, with pizzicato plunking, and a strong cello statement, going on to whirring strings in cello.

The composition, which was written to emulate some South American instruments, called up our own political disharmony and the disarray of the women’s movement and Me Too, as well as the general cacophony of our times. It was a brave choice of the Players, stretching their techniques, and was received with mixed notices by the audience, who learned from violinist Jorge Avila about such techniques as flutter tongue—and hocketing.

The Fantasy Quartet of Ernest John Moeran began with strings opening, Diane Lesser on oboe, David Creswell on viola, in a lilting and SO English piece, a pastoral tune reminiscent of Vaughn Williams. The four musicians were at their height in a melancholy passage, then back to a lilt, sad and somber, whirring strings underscoring the oboe, the violins and viola shimmering, moving to an antic and rustic close.

Felix Mendelsson, the well-known German composer, wrote his last String Quartet No,6 in the summer of 1847, as he was mourning the death of his beloved sister, Fanny. The work is an elegy and paean to her in four movement. The Allegro vivace assai is a tender, thoughtful, racing and upbeat, all at once. Movement 2 , in allegro assai is a very urgent, passionate and begins in triple meter, then goes to 4/4. Urgency builds throughout with troubling, agonizing chords, and a plunking closure. The cello of Daniel Miller opened the adagio, an elegiac statement full of longing and pain. Sweet and sorrowful, it built tension and was a voice for anyone who’s lost someone close. It is an aching heart set to music, sensitively rendered by fine musicians.

Closing with a passionate, racing allegro, with wonderful bowing in violin, announced anger at the heavens, and heartbreak.

The musicians, all on stage, received a standing ovation and a chorus of bravos.

The Chamber Players of the GSO are the creme de la creme of musicians, always offering a varied, fascinating and diverse program. Their next concert will be on November 17 and 18, and will feature works by pierce, Weinberg, Hahn and Schumann. For information, to chamberplayersoftheGSO.org

Linda Phillips’ classical music reviews have won four “Best Column of the Year” awards from the Connecticut Press Club, and have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. She is the author of the novel, “To The Highest Bidder,” nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

Related Posts
Loading...