Before another week goes by, I want to mention two
concerts I attended on back-to-back Sundays. On April 30, in a program at St.
Asaph’s Church in Bala Cynwyd, the string quartet contingent of the Elysian
Camerata introduced me to the music of Erwin Schulhoff, the Czech who died at
the Wülzbourg concentration camp in 1942. (My German-language music dictionary,
from 1973, does not have an entry for him. I wonder why.) Barbara Jaffe and
Dana Weiderhold, violins; Louse Jaffe, viola; and Talia Schiff, cello, performed
Schulhoff’s thematically rich, expressively complex String Quartet No. 2 (from
1924). The piece reminded me somewhat of Bartok, with its thick textures,
aggressive rhythms, and folk touches, although, in light of the jazz variation
in the second movement, no one would ever confuse the two. The performers
seemed quite at home with the progressive idiom, and I was came away wanting to
hear more of this neglected composer.
The Camerata’s concert began with Crisantemi and
Scherzo, two pretty, early works by Puccini, and ended with Mendelssohn’s
String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1, a big, sunny piece without a shade of
darkness in it. Listening to it is rather like having a Labrador retriever jump
on your shoulders and lick your face.
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| Shannon Merlino, Silviano Reis and Chen Chen perform Dvorak's "Dumky" Trio May 7 at the Centre Theater, Norristown. Sorry, but the photo was tkan directly into the light. |
Then, on May 7, the Centre Theater, Norristown, presented
what was, for me, a more familiar program, consisting of two flat-out
masterpieces: Dvorak’s “Dumky” trio and Schubert’s F minor Fantasy four-hands.
The piano in the lobby of the theater, where the first Sunday recitals are held,
has a bad reputation, but the kids made the best of it, and the small audience
was treated to a memorable afternoon of music. (The original plan was to move the
recital up to the theater on the fourth floor, where another piano had been
freshly tuned, but ― surprise! ― a rehearsal for the June musical, “Chicago,”
had been scheduled for the space at the
same time.)
The concert began with a chestnut, the “Tzigane
Tango” by Jacob Gade, played by Steve Kramer, cello, and Maria Taylor, piano,
who seemed overqualified for such a little bon bon. This work is not much known
today, but it was big hit in the 1930s, under the title “Jalousie,” and was
recorded by the likes of Xavier Cugat. I came across it in the old radio
programs of Bob and Ray, whose character Webley Webster (played by Ray
Goulding) would play it on the Hammond organ. Or rather, he would try to play
it. The gag was something would always go wrong, and he’d never get through it.
As a consequence, I knew only the first couple of bars. That is, until this
past Sunday.
I played host at the theater, serving the wine and
cheese and making a few introductory remarks. My only regret is that I had to
miss the two-piano program presented at the same time by Rollin Wilber and
Kasia Marzec-Salwinski down at the ethical society. One has but one life
to give for music.
