This is a continuation of my description of a few concerts I went to last
weekend.  The first part was posted the day before yesterday.

Friday, December 8
Denison university "Vail" series recital.
Christopher O'Riley, Piano

Prokofiev: Sonata no. 1
Stravinsky: Apollon musagete (complete ballet score)
Shostakovich: Preludes and Fugues no. 13 and no. 14
Scriabin: Sonata no. 8
Balakhirev: "Islamey"

On Friday, I was supposed to be accompanied by my friend, who asked me
if he could go to a concert with me.  I thought about going to Cincinnati
for "Sound of Music", which both of us would enjoy to the fullest, but
the rather steep price ($41 for the cheapest ticket) prevented me from
even mentioning this to my friend.  I was getting desperate when in
my last-minute net browsing, I noticed there is a recital at Denison
University, a small school about 25 miles away from Columbus.  I could not
find any information beyond the time of the performance, no references to
the program whatsoever, and no reference to the street address for the
venue of the performance either (which would allow me to use mapblast or
the like).

It took a bit of a toll on my persuasive skills to convince my friend he
should go.  He tried to use the usual "I have so much work to do" excuse,
but I tricked him into going by promising to see the "Grinch" at the movies
afterwards.  We never did reach the movies (BWAHAHAHA).

Granville (where Denison university is located) is a tiny town surrounded
by fields.  When we finally got there, I parked in what looked like the
business district and walked into a pharmacy to ask where exactly Swasey
Chapel (the place for the performance) was.  It took me asking 3 people
before I found the person who knew how to get to the chapel, which turned
out to be less than 1000 feet away.  And here I thought everyone knows
everyone and everything in tiny little towns.

Finally, we drove up the hill on top of which Swasey Chapel stood.  At the
desk, where they sold tickets, I asked for 2 student tickets.  The lady
asked if we were Denison students.  I replied that in fact, we were Ohio
State University students.  The lady suddenly appeared to have a blank look
on her face.  I and my friend repeated the name of our school a couple more
times.  Finally, she said "You know what, I'll just give you these for free
then." This must have been the first time OSU students ventured this far
into middle of nowhere to listen to classical music.

Christopher O'Riley is of "From the Top" fame.  This is a weekly radio show
on PRI (Public Radio International) that is broadcast every Sunday on the
local classical station.  The show features a number of young musicians
(under 18, I believe), each performing a short piece.  The show was in fact
to be taped on Sunday.  As I mentioned, I had no clue about the program
until I walked in, but once I saw it, I was quite pleased.  It included
just about everything I would want to hear on a piano recital, and was
well-balanced as well.

The evening started with Prokofiev's sonata.  It is an early work, and one
that sounds more late-romantic than anything else, but it does have some
Prokofievian qualities which I can't quite pinpoint.  It is also quite a
showoff piece, so we knew the guy can play right from the start.

Next came the piano transcription of the ballet score "Apollon musagete".
Christopher introduced this and all the following pieces with a short talk
about the piece.  I rather like this approach, and wished it was used more
often.  The pre-concert talks work well too, however.

The ballet is one of Stravinsky's lesser-known works.  When the pianist
asked how many people have heard it before, only a couple of hands went up.
Then again, only a few more hands went up when he asked about the "Rite
of Spring".  It was written in 1927 and follows Stravinsky's neoclassical
style, though if I had to guess, I would probably think it was written
before the "Firebird".  The ballet depicts Apollo's birth and his choosing
of Terpsichore, the muse of dance as his wife.  The music sounds very much
like a romantic ballet schore, although there are points of rhythmic
excitement throughout, particularly when Terpsichore is on stage.  The
ballet begins (the birth) and ends (apotheosis, representing the trip up to
the sky) on a high note.  Both of these outer movements are based on the
same theme, though treated quite differently.  In between, there are many
a lovely dance.  Definitely one of many lesser-known masterpieces.  I want
to hear this work in the orchestral version some day.

After the intermission, the program continued with two of the preludes
and fugues by Shostakovich.  The set of preludes and fugues is a work I
have heard much about, but never had a chance to hear.  This was my first
glance, and it left me salivating for more.  Mr. O'Riley told us that he
had the idea to learn these pieces after having met Tatyana Nikolaeva
(for whom the work was written) in person shortly before her death.
The story goes she was to perform in Carnegie hall, but the hall was not
open for practice the morning of that day, so they called Mr. O'Riley and
asked if she could practice in his apartment.  Naturally, he agreed.  A few
weeks later, his friend called and related of the incident in San Francisco
when Nikolaeva had a stroke on stage and died shortly after.

The playing was nothing short of masterful.  I wonder if these works can be
messed up at all.  They seemed to be so perfectly constructed.

Scriabin is a composer whose world I have not had a chance to enter
yet.  Whether it was my tired mind, or something else, I was not able
to completely follow the sonata.  It seemed to have its own free-form
structure, which did not seem to make sense to me.  One of these days,
I'll get around to buying some Scriabin CDs...

The evening ended with another showpiece, "Islamey" by Balakhirev.
Christopher O'Riley's only comment about the piece was that it is
unplayable.  He seemed to handle it just fine nevertheless.  He got a
well-deserved standing applause from the not-quite sold-out audience at
Swasey chapel.  In response, he played a couple of encores, one short piece
by Rachmaninov and something he called "the lighter side of Scriabin.  "

Another great evening of music.  Shall we make it three? yes!

Saturday, December 9
Cleveland Institute of Music
Julliard string quartet
Mendelsohn: Four pieces for string quartet, op. 81
Gyorgy Kurtag: Officium Breve in Memoriam Andreae Szervansky, Op. 28
Beethoven: String quartet, op. 127

On Saturday, it was time to go back to Cleveland again.  As a part of
chamber music festival at CIM, they invited Julliard to give master classes
and to perform in this concert as well.  I was somewhat worried the concert
might have been sold out, so I arrived early and even had a backup plan for
another concert if I couldn't get tickets for this one, but fortunately,
they still had tickets.  I got a 3rd row seat, dead center.  I probably
would sit a bit further if I had a choice, but this turned out to be a very
good seat, and yes, this time I actually had to pay for tickets.  Being a
student from another school did not surprise anyone in Cleveland (darn!).

This was my first time hearing Julliard live.  I have their recording of
Bartok quartets (the 1981 version), which I quite like.  I also heard their
cellist, Joel Krosnick, play with Cavani quartet in what was one of the
most memorable chamber music performances I attended.  He joined them to
play Schubert's cello quintet.  This was my first ever live chamber music
experience, but one that I still remember well.

Mendelsohn's four pieces started the program.  The pieces have no real
connection except for the fact they were published right after Mendelsohn's
death.  Much like most of mendelsohn's music written for string quartet,
these works have a beethovenian character, providing a strong connection to
the second half of the program.  Andante is a wonderful set of variations.
The scherzo is supposed to recall the scherzo from "Midsummer night's
dream", according to program notes, but I think it can very well stand on
its own.  Next came the capriccio, which consits of a slow andante section,
and a faster fugal section.  This leads nicely into the last piece, the
fugue in E flat major.  Here is where we found out Julliard still deserves
its reputation.  Every voice could be heard on its own, yet blending into
most wonderful music.  "Wow" is what came out of many an audience member's
mouthes as soon as they finished.

Next was the piece that I suspect prevented the concert from being sold
out (and I am glad for that).  Gyorgy Kurtag is a contemporary hungarian
composer that writes in an atonal style, but according to the program
notes, does not use any particular technique.  This piece is a 15 (don't
quote me on this number) movement work honoring the life of Hungarian
composer and teacher Andreae Szervansky.  The movements are very short,
many lasting less than a minute.  According to the introduction which one
the quartet members presented right before starting to play the work,
Szervansky was a well-respected teacher, who while being a tonal composer
himself taught his students the music of Second Viennese school, something
that was prohibited during the Soviet days.  As a result, he ended up
spending a few years in jail after participating in the revolt of 1956.
The work has many references to Webern (not that I would recognize them)
and other music which Szervansky taught.  There is even a reference to
Bach's two violin concerto in one of the most beautiful movements where
violins play sustained notes for about a minute or so.  The whole work has
a pensive quality, seldom erupting in violent outbursts.  It ends
majestically with a quote from Szervansky's own music, a perfectly tonal
larghetto movement.  Wonderful!  A special piece indeed.

Beethoven's op.127 is a work that I haven't heard much of.  This was my
first time hearing it live, and even the Emerson quartet recording that
I have is not known to frequent my CD player.  On my way to Cleveland, I
played it a couple of times to remind myself what it sounds like.  Just as
other late Beethoven quartets, this work's structure is rather complicated,
and it takes me a few listenings to get some sort of grasp for it.  This
was the intent of playing it during my drive.  It worked well.  When the
Julliard started playing it, it sounded familiar, but not quite.  They
seemed to take a different approach to the music, one that I am at a loss
to describe.  Somehow, their approach seemed to have more feeling, more
introspection in it.  I find that to be a familiar gut feeling as I compare
other performances with those by Emerson.  Julliard sounded like they
deeply understand everything about the piece, and they were even able to
relay some of that understanding to me.  A wonderful performance.

Naturally, they received a standing applause, and played something
incredibly familiar by Mozart which, as usual I can't quite point to.

3 nights in a row when I felt completely lifted off the ground after a
performance.  This does not happen often.  Did I make it four? not quite...

Sunday December 10, 2000
Cleveland Institute of music Chamber music festival marathon
Various works.

Sunday morning, I headed off to Cleveland yet again.  This time it was
for the chamber music marathon.  According to the blurb posted on the web
and elsewhere, this was to be an afternoon when various groups perform
different chamber works simultaneously, a chance to make one's own program.
I figured there would be student groups, but I thought that Julliard would
also be involved.  In fact, one of the blurbs did mention Julliard.
In reality, it turned out to be an afternoon of various student
groups performing movements of chamber works.  The program was rather
conservative:  Shostakovich was the toughest composer.  Mostly, the works
of Haydn and Beethoven were played.  Once I got over the fact that only
single movements and not complete works were performed (well, I never did
get over that), I was able to enjoy the performances nevertheless.

The quality varied from very good to rather horrid.  A higlight of the
day was a performance of Alegretto from Shostakovich's op. 134 violin
and piano sonata.  The only time I heard the complete work live, it was
when guest faculty members performed it here at Ohio State.  That time, I
remember, the violinist apologized about the fact that she will need a page
turner for the Alegretto movement since the violin never stops its frantic
playing.  This time, there was no page turner for the violinist, so I am
assuming she managed to memorize most of it (the score was there, but she
never turned a page).  That was a flawless performance, something I did not
expect from anyone, let alone a student.  Another highlight of the day was
the performance of first, second and third movements from Brahms' piano
quartet.

This time, I knew I was the only person around who travelled this much of
a distance to hear these performances.  The very small audience consisted
mostly of students with a few senior citizens here and there.  It was fun
to see students be excited about the music, congratulate each other on a
good performance, discuss other classical music works.  I'll be honest, I
got a little bit jealous of them.  Why, I too want to be congratulated on
my performance of something or other, but, unfortunately, I can't even play
an instrument.  It was one of those rare days when I thought that maybe,
just maybe, I should have listened to my parents way back when I was a
child.

Thus ended my weekend of concerts.  Unfortunately, I cannot look forward
to such a weekend again until some time in January, unless I get too buried
in schoolwork in which case this will be the last for a while.  I hope you
enjoyed reading this account (if you are still reading, you must have!).
Let me know if you have any reactions.

Igor
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