Photos: Frankly Music - franklymusic.org
Frankly Music 'Three For Spring'
Nicholas Mariscal, Victor Asuncion and Frank Almond
“Three for Spring” is a delightful way to conclude the 19th season of Frankly Music. These concerts combine exciting music along with a brief talk about each piece. A complimentary reception after the concert permits you to share your experience with other members of the audience as well as the musicians. It is a wonderful way to explore chamber music or a delightful introduction if this is your first time hearing this classical genre. And it’s a pretty safe bet that by May 15 spring will have come to Wisconsin.
Frank Almond, who held the Charles and Marie Caestecker Concertmaster Chair with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, begins with general comments about the compositions on the program. There’s a brief break and then the music begins.
The formal concert begins with Dvořák’s Sonatina for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 100. Almond will be joined by Victor Asuncion on the piano. Asuncion is a Filipino-American pianist who has appeared in concert halls around the world. He was 18 when he made his orchestral debut with the Manila Chamber Orchestra. In 1999 he gave his New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.
Dvořák composed this sonata in 1893 while in New York City. It was dedicated to his daughter Otilie and son Toník. He wrote to Simrock, his Berlin publisher, that “It is intended for youths but even grown-ups, adults, should be able to converse with it.” One of the principal delights of listening to chamber music is hearing the interplay of the musicians and detecting the subtleties of their exchanges.
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The structure here is simple and clear with themes inspired by Native American melodies and spirituals, many having already appeared in Dvořák’s earlier compositions. It’s been said that Dvořák wrote the motive for the Larghetto, the slow movement, on his shirt sleeve while on a visit to Minnehaha Falls, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Fritz Kreisler often performed it as Indian Lament.)
Next on the program is Lukas Foss’s “Three American Pieces for Violin and Piano.” Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy. His parents moved their family to Paris in 1933 where he continued his studies of piano, orchestration, and flute. In 1937 they relocated to the United States and, following the advice of their host Quaker family, his father changed the family name to Foss. Lukas continued his musical studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Foss originally wrote these three spring-like pieces for violin and piano in the 1940s. He later adapted them for flute and piano as well as arranging them for flute or violin and small orchestra. Foss was the conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1986.
After intermission a few more words will be offered by Almond who will then be joined by Asuncion and cellist Nicholas Mariscal for a performance of Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio, Op. 70 No.1. Mariscal is the new assistant principal cellist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He made his professional concerto debut in 2018, playing Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. He has presented modern cello music written by Latin American and other lesser-known composers to audiences world-wide as a soloist and with various chamber groups. His CD, Nubes Bajas: A Collection of Solo Cello Music from Latin America, was released in 2013.
Beethoven’s “Ghost” trio uses themes found in the second movement of his Symphony No. 2. Composed while he was staying at Countess Marie von Erdödy’s estate, it was published in 1809. It is strangely scored and requires an immense amount of virtuosity from the musicians. The slow movement has unique and eerie-sounding passages, which are the source of the nickname “Ghost.” Beethoven was contemplating writing music for Macbeth at that time and there was speculation that he sketched this for the Witches Chorus. However, his pupil Carl Czerny wrote in 1842 that the slow movement reminded him (Czerny) of the ghost scene at the opening of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the nickname stuck.
This trio is an exciting way to end the program.
“Three for Spring,” 7 p.m., May 15, Wisconsin Lutheran College Schwan Hall. Ticket information and directions to the auditorium can be found on the Frankly Music website: https://franklymusic.org or on their extensive Facebook page.
