I’ve been focusing on Piccolo Spoleto’s Spotlight Concert Series this week, and have to say that the sheer variety of offerings within this one series has my head spinning! This evening’s concert by The Converse Trio proved no exception. Violinist Sarah Johnson was here for the birth of our dear festivals. She and her colleagues performed a program which succinctly captured the nature of the gargantuan beasts, Piccolo Spoleto and Spoleto. How might I make so bold a claim? Well, read on…
The concert opened with Franz Joseph Haydn’s Trio No. 1, Hob 25, in G Major, bringing to florid life a work from that foundational luminary of Western art music. The trio as a whole works like a sort of wedge, beginning with a stately march. The Poco Adagio, though slower, creates a sense of widening through its ingenious melodic content. It closes with a playful dervish, which our trio dove into with obvious glee! Our musicians displayed a facile and wonderfully bright tone, as well as the effortless communication such intimate fare demands. During the opening Andante, which is dominated by the piano, pianist Dr. Douglas Weeks occasionally allowed that dominance to carry his lines a touch out of balance with the other instruments, but never to the point of distraction. The Poco Adagio, a soft, deceptively simply piece, showed exactly why Sarah Johnson is so loved here, and also how cellist Kenneth Law plays a near perfect complement (and foil!) to her. Joy took flight into the infinite with utter abandon from the first notes of the Finale. Rondo all’Ongarese.
From the deep grounding provided by Haydn we then moved on to a living composer, Robert Aldridge. (Sorry there’s no link to his website, it appears to be down right now.) Dr. Weeks knows the composer, and provided insight into his career, as well as some tantalizingly descriptive tidbits of what to expect during Aldridge’s Trio for violin, cello and piano. Jazz, 1960’s western movie music, Vaudeville tunes, and the theme from Mighty Mouse? Written in classic sonata-allegro form? This I gotta hear!
After a rambunctious start, the Allegro Moderato knocked into a sort of meta-clavé rhythm of complex chords, driven by the piano, which snaked around the violin and cello as if it were tango night with The Jetsons. Every so often, the dance gave way to ethereal passages which left me in a state of absolute wonder! This movement showcased Kenneth Law’s vibrant touch, yet the whole movement’s effect was one of insisting that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; for the music and the trio performing. I could call the Scherzo and Trio Coplandesque, but then, Aaron never really went through a psychedelic period, did he? The speed never let up through its waves of crescendos and decrescendos, with our pianist cranking out deliciously long scale runs up and down the keyboard while cello and violin provided the continuity. For all its speed and complexity, a contemplative air permeated as if to say, “Tofu. It’s what’s for dinner.” A delicate piano line opened the Arioso, gracefully leading to its marvel of a melody. Sarah and Kenneth…oh, so gently…passed it’s folk-like lines between their instruments like a jewel of great price. Its contours touched on several emotions, happy/sad, comfort/longing, without ever falling into maudlin sentimentality. It’s the kind of melody around which T-Bone Burnett could forge a whole film score. Truly, the highlight of the evening. The closing Vivace took us on a wild (and I mean WILD…) roller-coaster ride through a not quite alien land populated only with Irving Cohen clones constantly shouting “Gimme a C, a bouncy C.” Our trio appeared to be having a grand time with this (again…) complex and demanding workout, and the audience ate it up. It ended with a quite literal bang, and we were on our feet!
This sort of combination, the marriage of works that have transcended time with the very best of works which ultimately will take that step perfectly encapsulates what our festivals are all about. Bravo!
