Students Impress us Once Again!
by
Lyn Bronson
California Summer Music 2006 is
nearing its close with only a few more student concerts to present, and it would
seem that each concert reaches ever higher levels. The performance that really
blew us away on Saturday evening, July 29, was the closing work on the program,
Ravel’s String Quartet, played by violinists Matthew Mouradian and
Garrett McClean, violist Kyle Miller and cellist Kevin Yu.
Matthew Mouradian, Garrett
McClean, Kevin Yu and Kyle Miller
This was playing on a very
high, near professional level. Sometimes distinguished quartets with exalted
names appear in concert on the Monterey Peninsula and because they are on tour
playing the same program every other night, we find that the performances are
over refined and a bit stale. However, the playing of these four young musicians
that we heard on this occasion was over the top in raw, vital excitement. By
“raw” I don’t mean to imply that the playing was rough, for it was wonderfully
controlled and disciplined, but rather that it had extraordinary spontaneity and
a sense of inevitability — it would be difficult to play it much better than
this. Violinist Matt Mouradian, 19, has an unusual and intense presence on
stage, for he is a string player who moves so little while he is playing, it
would seem that all his physical energy goes directly into his music. This was
exciting playing, and it was matched by the other players, Garrett McLean, Kyle
Miller and Kevin Yu, for whenever their instrument had a prominent passage for
melody, we heard high levels of artistry.
Evan Shallcross, Matthew
Mouradian, Julie Nishimura, Sofia Nowik andThomas Bandar
Another over-the-top
performance in this concert was “Five Elegies for Piano Quintet,” by student
composer Chris Rogerson, of which we heard Elegies 1, 4, and 5. Violinists Evan
Shallcross & Matthew Mouradian, violist Thomas Bandar and cellist
Sofia Nowik were joined in this performance by CSM pianist Julie
Nishimura. We had a moment of low comedy at the beginning of this piece, for
just as they were about to start, Matt Mouradian looked at his music stand and
discovered he was staring at the wrong score, for he had left the correct one in
his dorm. He took off across stage at high speed, surprising the rest of the
ensemble and the entire audience, and we waited for five minutes for him to
return. Sometimes these little mishaps serve to break the ice and bring the
musicians to a more relaxed state. However, when this piece began, it was
obvious that this was not a relaxed, “feel good” piece, but a work of startling
intensity and violence that takes no prisoners, yet kept us riveted in our seats
enjoying the ride. The opening gesture of unison melodies in the strings against
crashing dissonant chords in the piano immediately captured our attention as did
the fine rhythmic propulsion that always kept this piece always moving. In the
second Elegy, Adagio sostenuto, pianist Nishimura produced some distant
muffled sounds in the bass to provide a moody background for the melodies in the
strings. Sofia Nowik had a beautiful extended solo in this movement, and it was
a knockout! The final movement, Adagio – Allegro, just kept turning up
the energy to ever higher and more intense levels. In this movement, after the
spooky opening harmonies, we had moments when cellist Nowik became the
percussion section as she tapped rhythmic patterns on the side of her
instrument. This movement had many moments of fine interplay between the
musicians.
Ryan Shannon,
Mai Mizuno & Isabel Lau
The evening’s concert began
with the youngest musicians we were to hear during the evening, violinist
Ryan Shannon, 14, cellist Isabel Lau, 11, and pianist Mai Mizuno,
12, performing the Dvořák Trio in G Minor. Young they may be, but they played
with lots of heart and skill. Cellist Lau sounded spectacular in her opening
solo in the Largo movement, which she shared with violinist Shannon. The Scherzo
movement made a fine effect, with pianist Mizuno playing up a storm (wow, does
she ever have impressive fast fingers!), while Shannon and Lau stayed with her
every step of the way. The final movement, Allegro non tanto, was a
delicious romp from beginning to end, and these musicians made us enjoy the
ride.
Alena
Řehàkovà, Katherine Scahill, Thomas Bandar and Jessica Lizardo
Another great work on the
program was the Beethoven Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, played by
violinists Alena Řehàkovà and Katherine Scahill, violist Thomas
Bandar and cellist . These young musicians handled the complex first
movement with marvelous finesse, and imparted a sense of urgency in building
climaxes that were passionate, but always under control. Violist Bandar
impressed us with his beautiful sound, as did cellist Lizardo and violinists
Řehàkovà and Scahill, all of whom showed a fine mastery in their ensemble
skills. The Scherzando movement was a marvel of beautiful ensemble
repartee, and the concluding movements were solid gold. Once again we heard near
professional levels of music making.
