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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Summerfest’s Sunday evening concert at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church was well attended by those who have come to appreciate the group’s championing of musical rarities. From an early Haydn string quartet to the peculiar instrumentation of Martinů’s Musique de chambre, No. 1, the assembled musicians gave fine renditions of the four pieces they presented.

String Quartet in G major, op. 9, no. 3 showed Haydn’s move toward solidifying the string quartet genre in its four-movement structure, upon which many later composers would expound. This piece isn’t without its own quirks, however, as the Minuet, typically the third movement, swapped places with the second-movement Largo.  It was in these two movements that the quartet played most convincingly. Violist Jessica Nance and cellist Alexander East emphasized beats two and three instead of the typical downbeat, making the Minuet charmingly different. The starts and stops in the Largo contrasted the lightness of the arpeggiations with the mournful cello and viola writing.

Carlos Chávez, the Mexican composer best known for his fantastic cycle of six symphonies, arranged four pieces by other composers for his Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp. The combined timbres were effective, especially when flutist Shannon Finney was in her lower registers. Four-note motives swirled around in the arrangement of Debussy’s “Snow is Dancing,” creating images of flurries perfect for such a hot day. As with the Haydn, it was the two central movements that were the most compelling. De Falla’s “Asturiana” and “Polo” were contrasting in the former’s dark lushness, reminiscent of Respighi, and the latter’s bouncy ostinato. I wish the musicians had attacked “Polo” with a more aggressiveness, however. The arrangement of Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” was the least successful in that it lacked performance energy and, compositionally, the harp-writing was murky.

Though the first-half pieces were overall well played, I enjoyed the second half of the concert much more.  Lowell Liebermann’s Fantasy on a Fugue by J.S. Bach, op. 27 begins and ends with the pianist playing the opening and closing phrases of Bach’s B minor fugue (No. 24, WTC Bk. I). The middle section unfolded as if the other instruments emerged as part of the pianist's imagination. These additional instruments added new sounds and techniques unavailable to a corporeal pianist. Though tonal, as is most of Liebermann’s work, it is still decidedly 20th century in its composition. The combined timbres of the wind quintet with piano never fought with each other and intonation was tightly controlled. The piece possesses many tricky transitions, which the musicians navigated with ease, save for one that never seemed to arrive. This piece would complement the similarly orchestrated Poulenc Sextet on any chamber concert.

Bohuslav Martinů, like Chávez, wrote six wonderful symphonies, but his chamber music is equally enjoyable.  Musique de chambre, no. 1 is no exception. Like much of Martinů’s music, it’s a collection of great moments that build upon each other into a sunny eruption of syncopated melodies and sparkling textures. The Summerfest musicians highlighted the timbres inherent to the strange combination of clarinet, harp, piano, violin, viola, and cello. The three strings worked well in conjunction as the piano and harp laid the groundwork for the clarinet to weave through. After the briefly out-of-sync opening, the ensemble locked in and delivered a stellar performance of the difficult work.

REVIEW:
Summerfest
Transformations: Week 3
Saturday, July 23, 2011
White Recital Hall, UMKC Campus
4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO
Sunday, July 24, 2011 (Reviewed)
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
1307 Holmes Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit www.summerfestkc.org

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com