Stephen Tosh - Piano Quintet No. 1
by
Lyn Bronson
Composer Pianist Stephen Tosh
Ensemble Monterey presented a significant concert last
night at Madonna Del Sasso Parrish in Salinas, and almost no one came to hear
the event. Only about 60 brave souls (in a church that could hold twelve times
that) were in attendance for a program of solid musical substance plus an
important premiere, a Piano Quintet by local composer Stephen Tosh.
Generally speaking there is an enormous amount of apathy on
the part of audiences today for contemporary classical music. In the past 150
years the audience for music has shifted from an elitist upper class minority to
the mass audience of today where Rock, Hip-Hop and Rap dominate the musical
scene. Most of this is ephemeral and has a distinctly brief shelf life. On the
other hand, some of the best music being written today is commercial music for
television, musical theater and films.
We have seen fashions and fads in serious music come and go
during the past 100 years. Serial composition, although it produced a few master
pieces, turned out to be a dead end, as did Musique Concrète, aleatoric
music and minimalism. In the past 50 years we witnessed the ultimate degeneration,
a kind of musical “Dadaism” where absolutely anything from the ridiculous to the
absurd received attention from the serious music establishment. There were
scores that were interesting on paper and totally boring in performance, and
there were examples of absolute nonsense — one bearded “composer” did a stunt
dressed up in military fatigues to look like Fidel Castro, covered archery
targets with music score paper, blasted away at them with a twelve-gauge shot
gun, and then used the tiny holes in the score paper as the basis for musical
notes on which to compose a self-indulgent (and totally forgettable) piece of
music.
Fortunately, Stephen Tosh is none of the above! He is not
trying to be clever or “cute,” and he is not trying to imitate many of the
unsuccessful experiments of the past. In this respect he is being uniquely
himself — writing music about which he is obviously quite passionate, and
ultimately succeeding in engaging our attention and our emotions. What more
could you ask from a composer?
Tosh appears to be somewhat conservative in that his Piano
Quintet does not rely on avant garde or gimmicky effects (Lucas Foss began
one of his compositions with the sound of a Coke bottle being broken by a hammer
inside a wastepaper basket), but rather on solid musical techniques in
which he demonstrates considerable mastery.
What impressed me most about Tosh’s new work, Piano Quintet
No. 1, was how well he writes for strings, for his string writing sounds
idiomatic, yet fresh to our ears. Again, it was never gimmicky, and it
ultimately was quite satisfying. His piano writing (he is an excellent pianist)
is also well conceived for the instrument and blended well with the strings.
Never did the piano writing dominate to the extent that the work seemed like a
piano concerto with string accompaniment. On the contrary, the piano part was
underplayed so that it seemed to be merely an equal part of a larger ensemble.
One problem with the evening’s performance was the
reverberation in the church, which benefited the strings more than the piano. It
was difficult at times to hear the piano clearly, and it is my guess that in a
different venue (such as the Church of Religious Science in Monterey) with a
different instrument (hopefully with the piano lid at its highest position) the
piano part would be a great deal clearer.
But, the bottom line is that Stephen Tosh’s Piano Quintet
No. 1 is an exciting, well crafted work deserving repeated hearings — how often
can you say that about a piece of contemporary music?
The first half of the evening’s concert featured
Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir of Florence” performed by the string ensemble consisting
of violinists David Dally and Vernon Brown, cellists Margie Dally and Nancy Skei,
and violists Chad Kaltinger and Catherine Bishop. This is a lovely work that I
had never heard before, and it received a most charming performance.
It also turned out to be a showcase for some fine playing by the individual
musicians.
Hopefully, this program will attract a larger audience
tonight in Monterey. It deserves it.
