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Joining the ranks of young violin phenoms is British 23-year-old Chloë Hanslip.  Accolades have been showered upon her and her adventuresome recordings.  Her recording of the John Adams Violin Concerto for Naxos entered UK Classical Charts at number 2 in additional to having won the Echo Klassik Award for Best Newcomer and Young British Classical Performer for her previous recordings on Warner.  Her other recent recordings include Godard and Hubay concerti and chamber works by Bazzini and performances of John Tavener’s Ikon of Eros.

It is because of this track record of adventuresome programming that I am somewhat nonplussed by the program she is slated to perform on Friday night as part of the Harriman-Jewell Free Discovery Series.  With works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Saint-Saëns it is only the Szymanowski that you wouldn’t hear over at UMKC Conservatory or Park University on any given day played by same-aged students. 

Too be fair this recital does consist of material she has not yet recorded so I will be interested in discovering her interpretations. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3 opens the recital.  Written during 1801–02 this marks the time period in which Beethoven had to reconcile the beginning of his hearing loss.  He would write his Heiligenstadt Testament only four months later.  Even through this devastation, this sonata is marked by its humor so do not expect Mozartian melodic arches.  Rather, motives will leap and crash in typical “Mannheim Rocket” fashion in vogue with Haydn.

Polish composer Karol Szymanowski is represented in his Mythes, Op. 30 from 1910.  Brief musical tableaux of the Greek myths of Arethusa, Narcissus, and Pan, respectively, the music is reminiscent of Debussy in its lushness.  But Szymanowksi also pushed the boundaries of prescribed methodology and employed many extended techniques and playing positions.  He stated in a letter to Robert Imandt in 1923 that these pieces are “not meant to be a drama, unfolding in scenes one after another, (each) of which has anecdotic significance—this is rather a complex musical expression of the inspiring beauty of the Myth.”

Igor Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne arranges the music from his ballet Pulcinella which itself is a reworking of Pergolesi themes.  Luckily through all the transformations Stravinsky’s panache and Pergolesi’s memorable melodies still manage to shine in this six-movement, neo-classical work.

Hanslip and Wass plan to end the recital with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 75.  The work showcases the epic Sonata style popularized by Beethoven.  The fourth movement is especially virtuosic for both performers.

PREVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Series
Chloë Hanslip, Violinist | Free Discovery Concert
Friday, October 15, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Folly Theater
300 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO
For more information about this and other performances in the 2010-2011 series, visit http://hjseries.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