Photo courtesy of Frank Almond
Like all performing arts groups, the Frankly Music series could not begin with traditional concerts this fall. Improvising smoothly, a successful virtual live performance of chamber music was streamed online on Tuesday evening from the Grand Ballroom at the Pfister Hotel. Brief clips of pre-recorded spoken commentary about the music were dropped in between selections.
It was good to see and hear prominent local musicians who have been forced off stage since March. Though he stepped down from the concertmaster position at MSO, violinist Frank Almond showed he is playing as well as ever in two contrasting duos with cellist Madeleine Kabat. A movement from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Duo No. 1 in G major (originally for violin and viola) was played with crisp energy. Almond and Kabat continued with a movement from the Duo for Violin and Cello by Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), who died in a concentration camp. At times angular, at other times haunting, this is music of strong emotions, which came through with potency.
Guitarist René Izquierdo performed three Cuban works, masterfully highlighting the song-like melodies over accompaniment figures. Ernesto Lecuona’s La Comparsa showed solid rhythmic energy. Elegant rubato was heard in Leo Brouwer’s Un Dia de Noviembre. Guajira a mi Madre by Antonio Rojas percolated with energetic, minor key joy.
The Latin spirit continued in three cello duos played by Kabat and her husband, Peter Thomas. Trading the sensual melodies back and forth, they heated things up with Sonroso (Samba) by Sebastiao Barros (K-Ximbinha), A la luz del Candil (Tango-Canción) by C.V.G. Flores, and Tiempos Viejos (Tango) by F. Canaro. I’m sure some got up and moved to this seductive music. Thomas (formerly of the rock band I’m Not a Pilot besides his work in MSO) seared in Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango, an arrangement for electric cello and recorded track.
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Almond, joined by Izquierdo, was in his zone, easily soaring the singerly melody of Niccolò Paganini’s Cantabile (Op. 17). The same two players were heard in an arrangement of Béla Bartók’s Roumanian Folk Dances, with the bowed sounds of the violin in sympatico with the strummed and plucked sounds of the guitar.
The small, focused spot lighting on each musician showed high contrast to the darkened room beyond. The placement of the microphones astutely captured the sound of each instrument. There were no technical glitches, and more than 300 viewers ― and not just locals ― watched during the live event. The concert remains up for viewing on YouTube for a limited time. Over a thousand people had viewed it by afternoon of the next day, significantly more than would have heard it in a concert venue.
To read more articles by Rick Walters, click here.
