Saint Paul Chamber Ensemble
by
Lyn Bronson
Just when you thought the
2006-2007 concert season was truly over and summer had begun, the Carmel Music
Society gave us one last concert as a kind of coda to its regular season. In
addition to constituting a kind of welcoming event merging the Mozart Society of
California with the Carmel Music Society, it was also a mini-gala event with a
“small plate” dinner before the concert and a cake and champagne reception
following. That this concert, featuring members of the Saint Paul Chamber
Orchestra with pianist Reiko Aizawa, and containing some outstanding
performances, attracted only a small audience of approximately 120 people to
Sunset Center, is an unpleasant reminder that the audience for classical music
continues to diminish and fails to be replenished by a new generation of serious
music lovers.
So, you might ask, what
concert events today are managing to
fill Sunset Center's approximately 730 seats? As an example, this coming Friday
at Sunset Center, audiences will have an opportunity to hear
The Del McCoury Band with
Special Guest Jake Shimabukuro. As advertised on Sunset Center’s web site,
"Del and the boys, his sons Ronnie and Rob on mandolin and banjo
respectively, show off their musical dexterity on blistering breakdowns, soft
ballads and everything in between, even as Del's arresting voice improves with
age. Opening the concert will be the mind-blowing ukulele virtuoso from Hawaii,
Jake Shimabukuro. This will be a hot show!”
Actually, the words, “this will be a hot show” may be an understatement,
for normally at events like these, amplification is up in the near 100 decibel
range, and, if you attend, your ears will ring for days afterwards.
Well, anyway, for those of
us on another planet and still addicted to stalwart ancient dead composers like
Mozart, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, there was a lot to enjoy at last night’s
concert. The first half of the program contained the Mozart Piano Quartet in
E-flat Major, K. 493, and the Mendelssohn Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66,
featuring pianist Rieko Aizawa. Since both Mozart and Mendelssohn were virtuoso
pianists of the highest rank, the piano tended to dominate both these works.
This is not to imply that Ms. Aizawa hogged the limelight, for in fact her
playing, if anything, was more respectful than downright virtuosic, although the
instrumental scoring still tended to favor the piano, which is certainly OK for
us hard core piano buffs.
It was a pleasure to hear so
much elegant playing from these fine musicians. The opening movement of the
Mozart Quartet made a strong impression, and, typical of Mozart, amidst the
elegance and refinement were some impassioned moments of
Sturm und Drang in the development
section. After a lovely Larghetto,
the final Allegretto was simply
Mozart at his best.
The Mendelssohn Trio that
followed, practically a piano concerto because of the brilliant piano writing,
showed that Ms Aizawa has major “chops” as well as a lovely sensitivity and
wonderful skills as an ensemble player. The rapid tempo in the whirlwind Scherzo
was faster than I would have thought possible, and in truth the music suffered
slightly in diminished clarity, but it was nevertheless dizzyingly spectacular
(although the audience might have felt more comfortable with seatbelts).
After intermission, even
more spectacular was the Tchaikovsky String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70 (Souvenir
de Florence). Everything you
could ask for was there – string playing on the highest technical level, lush
romantic impassioned feeling and those elusive qualities, charisma and charm. It
was a knockout, and received a nice standing ovation.
One last thing, if you go on
Friday night to hear the Del McCoury Band, do not forget your ear plugs. You’ll
need them!
