Young Artists in Concert
by
Lyn Bronson
As we approach the windup to California Summer Music’s 2007
season, the final series of student concerts reveals the fruits of some very
intensive ensemble collaboration involving the talented young artists in
residence here for three weeks.
Jing Qiao, Paul Kerekes & Ben Dorfan
The first work on the evening’s program in Keck Auditorium
at the Stevenson School was an original work by 20-year-old composer
Ben Dorfan, a student at the Oberlin
Conservatory of Music. This new
work, “Variations & Interlude,” for which we had no program notes informing us
of precisely what Dorfan set out to do in the composition, brought out three
performers on stage − violinist Jing
Qiao, 21, also a student at Oberlin, pianist
Paul Kerekes, 18, a student at
Queens College, and the composer himself seated at a small table with an array
of electronic devices that added electronically enhanced music to the ensemble
during the performance. Some compositions tend to be motoric and revel in a
steady perpetual motion flow that constantly pulls the listener along, no matter
how much rhythmic conflict and tension exists along the way. At the opposite end
of the spectrum we have pieces that seem more static and involve apparently
formless, episodic series of events, the order or development of which is
difficult for the audience to perceive. Dorfan’s work leans in the latter
direction, for it is not about rhythmic tension in conflict with a steady pulse
(although, there was a brief passage that took us momentarily in that
direction), but rather unpredictable episodes involving fascinating sounds, some
readily identifiable since we are hearing familiar instruments, but others so
synthetically altered that they seem eerily otherworldly to us.
Even the presence of the piano was far from familiar, for we heard from
pianist Kerekes sounds from a prepared piano that took us far from the pianistic
comfort zone to which we are accustomed. The opening minimalistic muffled
episode in the piano’s bass was an effective background for the entry of the
violin’s spooky chromatic glissandos, further enhanced by even spookier computer
generated sounds. So, the bottom line here is that Dorfan’s composition is
really about novel and interesting sounds that have a life of their own. In this
respect, Dorfan’s work was interesting and consistently held our attention
throughout. Qiao and Kerekes gave a splendid performance, as did Dorfan in
“twiddling his dials” and acting as conductor and music director. If the work
has a fault, it is its lack of inevitability – one episode does not unerringly
compel us logically and inevitably to the next.
The next young musicians to come out on stage were
violinist Mark Kagan, 17, born in
St. Petersburg, Russia, cellist Brooks
Hoffman, 16, a pupil of Irene Sharp, and pianist
Rucka Shironishi, a graduate of the
San Francisco Conservatory. They performed Debussy’s Piano Trio in G Minor and
Primavera Porteňa by Piazzolla. The
Debussy trio is an early work, written when Debussy was 20, and is not an
example of one of his most characteristic works. However, the trio gave it a
solid performance. It was in the following work by Piazzolla that the trio
sounded its best. This was very charming, and all three musicians sounded very
fine indeed. Pianist Shironishi had most of the fun parts – the great rhythms
that we love so much from Piazzolla – and she played them with enthusiasm and
charm.
Margaux Kreitman, Akiko Kozato, Tiffany Ou, Nick Browne & Lauren Coburn
After intermission we heard the Cello Quintet in C Major by
Boccherini performed by violinists
Margaux Kreitman and Akiko Kozato,
violist Tiffany Ou and cellists
Nick Browne and
Lauren Coburn. This quintet turned
out to be a thoroughly charming work and it received a fine performance. It was
the third and fourth movements that made the strongest impression. In the Grave
third movement, there are some heartfelt melodic moments plus some beautifully
complex contrapuntal writing that was really effective.
The last movement was impassioned and full of great writing for the
instruments. This is a piece we
would like to hear more frequently.
Dagenais Smiley, Petra Victoria Priesterova & Tin Chin
The concert ended with the Ravel Piano Trio in A Minor
performed by violinist Dagenais Smiley,
cellist Ting Chin and pianist
Petra Victoria Priesterová. This was
a “wow!” performance from the very first to the very last note. Not
surprisingly, pianist Priesterová played a major role in the success of this
performance, for the piano part is substantial and demanding. She tossed off
many of the work’s formidable difficulties and made it look easy. Smiley and
Chin both contributed magnificent playing as well. Simply said, this was a very
finished, artistic and compelling performance – equal to many professional
performances heard on CD. What more could you ask for?
