Mellow Cello recital in Newtown
By Jan Stribula
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-TIMES
Newtown - Anyone who enjoys chamber music can thank their lucky stars
if they were able to hear cellist Soo Bae and pianist Ying-Chien Lin give
an exceptional recital last Sunday afternoon at Edmond Town Hall, Newtown.
Newtown Friends of Music President Ellen Parrella really hit the jackpot
when she invited them to perform.
Their selection of compositions came from all over the globe, with works
written from just last spring to well over a century ago. And the Bonjour
Stradivari cello Bae performed on dates back to 1696. The Canadian Council
of the Arts loaned the priceless cello to Bae for three years after she
won a recent competition, and she's certainly making good use of it, to
everyone's advantage.
They opened with "Elegie, Opus 24" by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924),
a passionate supplication, with the resonant voice of the cello doing
the praying. Lin provided a dreamy piano accompaniment in Faure's simple
but moving piece.
Bae displayed her adventurous side with what she called Chinese rock and
roll in "Four Fragments," written in 2006 by Huang Ruo, a young
composer she met at Juilliard. The lyrical solo had oriental roots embedded
in unusual tonalities. Building up in tempo and giving rise to extreme
emotions, you could hear a pin drop as Bae gave an attention-commanding
performance with a bonus piece no one was expecting.
Technically demanding, "Two Caprices for cello solo, Opus 25"
by Alfredo Piatti (1822 - 1901) required tremendous delicacy and bow control.
Bae was light as a feather and faster than greased lightning with her
rapid-fire technique.
Quintessential romanticist Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) "Fantasy
Pieces, Opus 73) allowed Lin and Bae to have an extended dialogue, with
flowing exchanges, developing variations on themes. The ripping piano
and swooning cello fit together naturally, giving and taking, leading
and following, evoking a feeling of another era.
Following intermission, they concluded with the turbulent "Sonata
in D minor for cello and piano, Opus 40" by Dmitri Shostakovich (906
- 1975). Bae's facial expressions showed intense concentration and consternation,
reflecting the state of the world when the work was written, in the 1930s.
Dark passages were rumbling in the background with Lin's piano in this
sensitive treatment of ne of Shostakovich's more listener-friendly pieces.
In the fiery Allegro, Bae and Lin were fully intent with flashes of neoclassicism
exploring new ground, while playing some heavy Russian music. Lin exploded
into cadenzas, and then returned to the lower registers, as Bae deftly
tiptoed about creating and atmosphere of eeriness.
They were all smiles for their standing ovation. For an encore, Bae doodled
around with variations on one of her favorite hymns, the Gospel tune "I
cast All My Care Upon You."
Bae had marvelously captured and incredible range of sound and emotion
with the Stradivari cello, from sonorous sweetness to brash irreverence.
Lin added warmth and depth with her accompaniment. Together they were
delightful.
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