Tribute to Rostropovich
by
Lyn Bronson
Last night at All Saints Church in Carmel, California Summer
Music presented a heartfelt tribute to the late Mstislav Rostropovich with a
special cello concert. Since it was a warm evening, all the doors and windows of
this charming church were open in order to give us a refreshing breeze. However,
the most refreshing aspect of the concert was the wonderful youthful enthusiasm
exhibited by the young musicians from California summer music who have been here
for several weeks at the Stevenson School engaged in student concerts, private
lessons and master classes. Along
the sides of All Saints Church under the sliding windows are window shelves,
which last night were conveniently used by the young cellists for their cello
cases. Seeing approximately 20
hard-shell cello cases, all hinged open and pointing in the same direction like
a varied group of coffins, was an impressive sight, and it was even more
impressive when a whole cello orchestra took their places on stage and started
making music.
This concert began and ended with two chorales by Johann
Sebastian Bach, arranged for cello ensemble − this was especially appropriate
since at the same time this concert was taking place, the world famous Carmel
Bach Festival was performing a concert 100 yards away in Sunset Center. Two
other works by Bach were also on the Rostropovich Tribute program: two
selections from the Suite No 6 in D Major and the great Chaconne from the
Partita in D Minor for unaccompanied violin, arranged for four cellos.
In addition to the lovely renditions of the Bach Chorales
numbers 9 and 80, especially effective in this concert was the performance of
the first movement Aria of the Bachianas
Brasileiras No. 5 by Villa-Lobos. This haunting melody seemed especially
well suited for cellos, and it received a heartfelt performance.
The great surprise on this program was the beautiful Requiem by David
Popper performed by cellists Irene Sharp, Richard Andaya, Maggie Edmonsdson and
pianist Julie Nishimura. The printed program incorrectly attributed this
composition to Karl Popper (1902-1994), an Austrian Philosopher, instead of
Austrian cellist and composer David Popper (1843-1913), famous for the many
studies he wrote for the cello (and for a very fine Stradivarius cello he once
owned and is named for him). In any case this was a lovely piece that sounded
magnificent in the rich acoustical environment of All Saints Church. We also
heard a very fine arrangement of Fauré’s song,
Après un Rêve with a nice solo by
Jessica Lizardo and the Preludio from
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 by
Villa-Lobos.
At the end of the concert Irene Sharp related to the
audience some memories she had of Rostropovich and also a few anecdotes that
gave us an intimate glimpse into his personality. Curiously, although this concert was a memorial tribute to this great Russian cellist, there was no
Russian music on the program. What more fitting tribute to Rostropovich could
there have been than a performance of the slow movement from the Rachmaninoff
Cello Sonata or an arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s
Vocalise for cello ensemble?
