Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
  • Home
  • About Colin Eatock
  • Composing
  • Catalogue of works
  • Writing about music
  • Eatock Daily (blog)
  • New and upcoming
  • Contact me

Amici Goes Fashionable

1/31/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Three dresses by Umetsu, at the Glenn Gould Studio.
Here’s a review I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail, of the Amici chamber ensemble’s Sunday concert.

Toronto’s Amici chamber concerts took a turn for the glamorous on Sunday afternoon, at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio, with a program called Fashionista.

This marriage of chamber music and haute couture – an example of Amici’s penchant for spicing up their performances with additional elements – brought to the stage a collection of evening gowns by Toronto designer Rosemarie Umetsu and musical selections by three composers. The result was a cross between a concert and a fashion show.


However, the repertoire Amici selected for this concert suggested that classical music sometimes embraces ideas well outside the aesthetic realm of haute couture.

For instance, we probably won’t see brutality, bleakness and manic-depressive obsession as fashion themes in Paris, Milan or New York this season. But these values were driving forces in Galina Ustvolskaya’s three-movement Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano. Ustvolskaya, a Russian composer who died six years ago, was a student of Dmitri Shostakovich – and in some ways her music sounds more like Shostakovich than Shostakovich does.

Clarinetist Joaquin Valdepenas and pianist Serouj Kradjian – two members of Amici’s core trio – were joined by guest violinist Lara St. John for Ustvolskaya’s Trio.

The piece was like a tightrope walk with no net, so thin and sparse was its musical substance. Both Valdepenas and St. John faced challenging parts that were both difficult and highly exposed. Kradjian’s contribution was harsh piano outbursts that suddenly shifted to introspective quietude.

Fortunately, all three musicians were more than equal to the composer’s technical demands – and found common cause in an impressive performance, marked by a refined austerity.

For Toronto composer Alice Ping Yee Ho’s Breath of Fire, cellist David Hetherington (the third member of Amici’s trio) joined Valdepenas and guest accordionist Joseph Petric.

There wasn’t a strong haute-couture affinity here, either. Breath of Fire is a quirky piece – a cleverly crafted study in subtlety and contrast. Passages of repose, sometimes making use of unconventional instrumental techniques (windy sounds from the accordion, sliding glissandos in the cello and complex multiphonic chords in the clarinet), were set beside rhythmic passages that emerged as fragmentary little dances.

As well, Ho’s score has a “Swiss watch” quality to it: tightly wound, with precisely interconnected parts. Playing such a work is no mean feat – and the success of this performance was largely due to the tight cohesion of the ensemble.

It was in the final piece – Ernest Chausson’s four-movement Concerto in D for Piano, Violin and String Quartet – that the Fashionista theme was at last matched to the chosen repertoire. With this rich and lush work, Amici came up with something that aptly mirrored the elegance and sophistication of Umetsu’s evening gowns.

St. John was the violin soloist, Kradjian was the pianist – and appearing as guest artists, the up-and-coming Cecilia Quartet.

St. John made this four-movement piece her own, with a commanding performance built up from long phrases piled one on the other. Kradjian was also a musical force to be reckoned with, as he negotiated his way through some effusive piano passages with skill.

In this unusual work, the string quartet often serves as a miniature orchestra. The Cecilias embraced this role, filling out Chausson’s chromatic harmonies with a solid yet supportive performance.


© Colin Eatock 2012
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

    Archives

    March 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    September 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Index

    Click here for an alphabetical list of blog entries.

    RSS Feed

    Follow colineatock on Twitter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.