Reviews

New York Chamber Soloists

Soloists - Alone And As A Group - Performed An Entertaining, Diverse Program

by June April

In the many years of experiencing concerts sponsored by the Newtown Friends of Music, this reviewer cannot recall a more varied program than the one presented last Sunday afternoon at Edmond Town Hall. The New York Chamber Soloists is a most interesting group because it is not only a group of fine musicians with a large and diverse repertoire, but the flexibility with which a group of instruments is used is also quite intriguing. For the February 9 concert in Newtown the group opted to go with four wind instruments: bassoon, clarinet, flute and oboe came from New York City to perform.
The Soloists opened the program with an absolutely charming work, Mozart's Divertimento No.4 in B-flat Major, K.439b, and one could not help but be captivated by the technical expertise of founder Melvin Kaplan's oboe performance, the perfect tones created by bassoonist Andrew Schwartz, or Allen Blustine's velvet clarinet skills.
Interesting information about the music or its composer was peppered throughout the program and added to the appreciation of what was being heard.
Flutist David Fedele joined Mr Blustine for Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos' Chorus No 2 for Flute and Clarinet. The rhythmic magnetism was captivating and had that pulsating character that marks Villa-Lobos' compositions.
The range of mood and melodic variations of Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet began with a very brief and rather sad spirit. The second piece sounded much like a host of birdcalls, while the final short work recalled a mixture of jazz, ragtime and Latin beat and ended with a smile-producing grace note.
The remainder of the program had a French stamp on it: either the composer was from that country or had been a student of the famous piano teacher-conductor Nadia Boulanger. Walter Piston (whose writings on harmony and music theory are still used in music class today) and Arthur Berger both studied under Boulanger and continued in her tradition of teaching their love and knowledge of music.
Piston's Three Pieces for Flute, Clarinet and Bassoon continued the afternoon's program, as did Berger's Quartet in C Major for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon, which offered a large degree of contrast between the three movements.
Darius Milhaud's Suite d'apres Corrette, Opus 161b for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon had eight quite different segments - "Entrée et Rondeau", "Tambourin", "Musette", "Serenade", "Fanfare", "Rondeau", "Menuet" and "Le Coucou". Meter varied greatly, as did the nature of each of these, with the final piece heralding the cuckoo bird.
Sharing the tale of the nymph Syrinx, David Fedele preceded his solo performance of Debussy's work of the same name by explaining that basically it is the story of how the god Pan pursued this lovely spirit and in order to protect her or put a kybosh on the potential relationship, the Greek gods changed her into reed plants. Pan gathered them up and created the instrument (syrinx is Greek for panpipes), which brings such a lovely, melancholy tone to the musical world. Mr Fedele's performance shimmered.
The afternoon's final presentation, a piece created by Jean Francaix, once again involved all four musicians. Now in his early 90s, the composer is still writing music, and this one conjured images of ballet dancers in this reviewers mind. Actually, each movement conjured different mental pictures. The "Allegro molto" was especially delightful and felt like bubbles appearing and bursting, while the Allegro vivo recalled a gossipping/chit-chatting circle of women. Overall, there was a jocular quality to this wonderful piece of music.
The range of Mozart to modern music did not cause anyone to leave after intermission and that was because of the educational and musical expertise of the four gentlemen on stage. The New York Chamber Soloists brought joy and warmth to an otherwise cold afternoon.