Final Student Concert
by
Lyn Bronson
California Summer Music wound
up its 2006 season on Sunday afternoon with the final student concert featuring
two premieres by young student composers and two standards, the Mendelssohn
Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor and the Schubert Piano Trio in B-flat Minor.
Albert Tseung,
Alison Lee and Nathan Chan
The concert kicked off with the
Mendelssohn Piano Trio performed by violinist Albert Tseung, cellist
Nathan Chan and pianist Alison Lee. The star of this ensemble was
diminutive Nathan Chan, who at age 12 (just barely 12, that is), is very tiny
and may look Lilliputian, but he plays like Superman — getting a rich beautiful
sound and shaping the big phrases like a pro. It was often difficult to hear
Chan and violinist Tseung because pianist Alison Lee played so loudly it was
only when the strings had solos with the piano tacit that you could hear them.
Lee’s best moments were in the devilishly difficult Scherzo, which she tossed
off like the fine young pianist she is.
Alex Kotch,
Tereza Anna Privatska, Hyun Soo Kim and Abraham Aragundi
The first of two premieres was
“At Bay” by Alex Kotch, scored for Piano Trio and performed by violinist
Tereza Anna Privatska, cellist Abraham Aragundi and pianist
Hyun Soo Kim. This is a highly personal work, which, in the words of the
composer, “refers to a state of mind I’ve often experienced in the past few
months. Recently, I had a few things pulling at me from different directions,
and the ‘bimodal’ sections of the work represent these opposing pressures.” What
we heard in the first section, “Ambivalent,” was examples of minimalism
exhibited by repetitious 16th-note figures in the piano against which
the strings intruded with spiky thematic fragments using pentatonic scales. In
the second section, “Pensive,” the piano intoned thematic material that kept
restarting itself over and over again, despite constant interruptions, until it
finally achieved something resembling momentum. In the final section, “Bold,”
there was more minimalist piano writing, with the strings making a vague
contribution. In this piece Kotch is trying to achieve something personal and
innovative, and this he did successfully. Whether it was involving for the
audience is the ultimate question. In any case his peers in the audience cheered
him loudly.
Maria Myrick,
Lauren Haley, Evan Shallcross, Emily Candaux and Kelvin Ng King-fung
The other contemporary piece on
the program was “Asterisk,” by Kelvin Ng King-fung, 20, from Hong Kong.
This work is scored for string quartet, conductor and three page turners. The
musicians performing this work were violinists Evan Shallcross & Maria
Myrick, violists Lauren Haley and cellist Emily Candaux. At
one point in the beginning section there was a loud screech from the violins
repeated over and over that reminded me of the violent soundtrack in the scene
from the movie “Psycho” where Janet Leigh gets stabbed in the shower. In this
work we also heard sliding glissando sounds from the strings, eerie harmonics,
and an intentional avoidance of anything resembling a melody. The most
impressive part of this piece was a beautifully written pizzicato section that
was very effective.
Annie Wisell,
Shirley Hu & David Kealhofer
Ending the concert was a
performance of Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D.898, performed by
violinist Annie Wiswell, cellist David Kealhofer and pianist
Shirley Hu. The heaviest burden here was carried by pianist Hu, and hers was
an impressive achievement, for although she has a bazillion notes to play, the
trick is not to have them sound like notes, but like music. This she did with
great distinction. Her most impressive achievement was her skill as an ensemble
pianist, for she never got in the way of her partners and always seemed to know
whether she was foreground, background or an equal partner. Violinist Annie
Wiswell has a small sound and was difficult to hear at times, but David
Kealhofer’s big rich tone and elegant phrasing was clear as a bell throughout.
