The Concert

Last evening, June 12 2002, at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in
Washington D.C., Washington Musica Viva performed three pieces of Czech
chamber music.  The first half of the program consisted of one of the
stalwarts of chamber music of the Romantic era: Dvorak's Quintet for
Piano and Strings in A Major, Opus 81.  The writer's familiarity with
this work comes only from having heard it on radio, but by any standard
this was an accomplished, energetic performance for which the musicians
should be congratulated for it bringing to life.  I think these musicians
do not have a long history of playing together, but I doubt any listener
would be aware of that based on last night's performance.  The audience
seemed most appreciative, and fans of the viola must be particularly fond
of this work, as the viola carries some of the most expressive moments of
the piece.

After an intermission, the performance continued with a piano quintet,
"Metamorphoses on a Theme of Bohhuslav Martinu", by a contemporary Czech
composer, Hanus Barton (b. 1960), with whom your reviewer was unfamiliar
(the pianist, Dr. Carl Banner, introduced the work and pronounced the
composer's name as "Hanush Bartonyou", as there are diacritical marks
resembling a dimuinutive 'v' over the last letter in his first and last
names).  Banner said he thinks Barton (accent on second syllable) is one
of the most important composers of his generation working in Prague.  The
work, from 1989, was commissioned by Czech Radio in observance of the
centenary of Martinu's birth and is a variation on a theme that Martinu
used in a cantata (Opening of Spring??).  When he introduced this work to
the audience, Dr. Banner played the theme, which unfortunately largely got
lost to this writer in the variations.  Banner noted this work is modern in
more ways than one: he first heard a recording of this work while visiting
Prague, and thought it intriguing, so he contacted the composer, who
emailed him a .pdf file of the score, which the performers used last night.
The pianist noted the work was difficult (not particularly apparent to this
listener) and apologized beforehand for any technical failings which he
assured the audience, were not the fault of the composer.  This listener
discerned nothing that could be considered a technical failing, and the
musicians seemed to perform this work as though they knew it well and with
a surety that came with performing it together innumerable times in public.

The final work on the program was Martinu's Piano Quintet.  Dr. Banner
noted, humorously, that this most prolific of composers was expelled from
the Prague Conservatory for "incorrigible laziness", and said he considers
the string quintet to combine influences from Haydn string quartets, the
late Beethoven quartets, Palestrina, and ragtime.  That's an eclectic mix,
although this reviewer failed to hear the Beethoven.

The Performers (this section largely cribbed from the program notes)

Washington Musica Viva consisted of violinists Lina Bahn and Sasha
Margolis, who is married to the group's violist Mahoko Eguchi, cellist
Lori Barnet, and pianist Carl Banner.  A word about each is in order.
Lina Bahn, a native of Chicago, is a member of the Corigliano Quartet, has
degrees from Juilliard, the University of Michigan, and Indiana University.
She has performed with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Symphony
as well as the Malaysian National Symphony.  She is a member of the
Contemporary Music Forum of the Corcoran Gallery, and last night performed
as first violinist on the Dvorak quintet, then switched to second fiddle
after the intermission.

Sasha Margolis has degrees from Oberlin College, Indiana University, and
Northern Illinois University.  He spent eight years as concertmaster of the
Spoleto Festival Orchestra, both in Italy and the USA.  He recently moved
to Washington with his wife, Mahoko Eguchi who, as a member of the Ariana
String Quartet (along with her husband) who was a finalist at the first
International String Quartet Competition of Bordeaux.  Ms. Eguchi, who is
a member of the National Symphony, received her DMA, MMA and MM degrees
from Yale and her BM from Indiana University.

Cellist Lori Barnet is well-known to chamber music audiences of the
Washington D.C.  area.  She serves on the faculty of The George Washington
University and is particularly active as a performer of contemporary music,
as evidenced by her services to Orchestra 2001 (Swarthmore, PA) and the
Contemporary Music Forum of Washington.  She has been principal cellst of
the National Chamber Orchestra since its inception in 1985 and currently
serves as principal cellist of the Alexandria Symphony.  She has several
recordings to her creidt on the Orion and CRI labels.

Carl Banner is founder and co-director of Washington Musica Viva.  He
helped initiate The Czech Music Series at the Embassy of the Czech Republic
five years ago.  He and his wife, Marilyn Banner, operate BannerArts Studio
in Kensington MD, where chamber music is frequently performed.  He has
performed as a soloist with the St. Louis Symphony and at Carnegie Hall
with teh Creative Associates, a new music ensemble.  Dr. Banner, who has
recorded with AmCam and WMV records, performed last night on a Petrov
piano.

Miscellaneous

The only unfortunate aspect of the event was the demographics of
the audience.  I suspect the 12 year old who accompanied me was the
youngest member of the audience to come of his or her own volition.
Twenty-somethings were, I think, completely absent.  The writer wonders
how long it has been this way at chamber music concerts, and what the
audience will be a generation hence.

Finally, a note about the venue.  The Czech Embassy has a very
good facility for chamber music but has an air conditioning system
barely adequate to Washington summers.  The entrance to the embassy is
graced with a small portrait of Tomas Masaryk, the first president of
Czechoslovakia.  Historians may note that Tomas Masaryk's son, Jan, also
was an important Czech nationalist.  After World War II communist forces
of Marshall Tito almost certainly murdered him by the classic Czech method
of defenestration, but two generations of successive communist governments
claimed he was so depressed that he committed suicide.  I am not aware that
the government of the Czech Republic has a position on the matter.

Larry