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“Here! Wear a red ribbon,” said the smiling 50-ish usher as she handed me my program. “Richard used to like to wear red socks when he performed!” She dug a red and gold lapel ribbon out of a basket and thrust it into my slightly bewildered hand. It was clear from that moment this wasn’t going to be your typical UMKC Conservatory recital. Organized by the Conservatory’s Alumni Association, this concert was being presented by 10 former students and associates of pianist Richard Cass as a tribute to his musical life. A much loved and well-respected professor of piano, Cass passed away last November after a brief illness, having taught at UMKC for 29 years from 1975–2004.

The event as a whole was quite lengthy, clocking in at an awards-ceremony-worthy three hours. Opening remarks by the Alumni Association President, Melody Stroth, and then by Conservatory Dean, Peter Witte, preceded an emceed introduction by Stroth or Witte for each set of eight performers. Those bits of monologue might have been acceptable had it not been followed later by three other lengthy pauses in the program. There was an extended emcee session where current and former UMKC piano professors were brought onstage, each given a gift of a homemade card. This was followed by Cass’ widow, Sanna, who offered succinct thank yous in an affable South Carolinian drawl. After the intermission, there was a silent auction as well as a plea to purchase 88 keys from a dismantled keyboard as part of a fundraiser for a piano in Cass’ name. As a general concertgoer, I found myself a bit exasperated by all of this verbosity and would have preferred the speeches, fundraising, and tributes to have been their own event, save a few brief performer introductions.

As for the musical performances, the audience was presented with a bit of a mixed bag with several high caliber performances, a number of satisfactory interpretations, and a couple which were admirable tributes but somewhat flat and unpolished as musical performances.

The most memorable performance of the evening was certainly Vincent van Gelder’s, who played the “Le gibet” and “Scarbo” movements from Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. He produced lovely variegated tone colors in “Le gibet.” The repeated B-flats kept their distinct color against Ravel’s other evolving orchestrations. The planed quintal harmonies were round and unwavering. In “Scarbo,” van Gelder created palpable tension with the long-held silences directed by Ravel. The piece’s many arpeggios and flourishes which taper away to a pianissimo volume were often exaggerated by van Gelder, who sometimes achieved a pianissississimo volume on the gesture’s final tone. There was a great deal of flawless execution in this piece, which remains one of the most technically demanding pieces in the entire repertoire of keyboard music. After such a performance, the pianist seemed a bit sheepish on his second curtain call, bowing respectfully near the side of the stage rather than striding back to the center.

The most captivating piece of the first half was Jayoung Hong’s interpretation of Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor. I was immediately captured by the dark cloudiness of her opening chords. Hong’s playing was alternately delicate and powerful, deftly negotiating Scriabin’s sudden mood changes in the opening movement. This performance was again characterized by impressive control of tonal colors revealing Scriabin’s penchant for orchestral piano-writing. The second movement was again captivating with its striking intensity from the very first note. Hong was fascinating to watch, swaying passionately with the music.

Another memorable set belonged to the honoree’s daughter, mezzo-soprano Liz Cass. Her opening song, Saint-Saëns’ “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix,” was lovely. Her strong voluptuous voice filled the hall during the piece’s climactic moments. Cass had great fun with Bizet’s “Seguidilla” from Carmen, sauntering back and forth in front of the piano. She told a lovely story about her final selection, “The Rainbow Connection” from the Muppet Movie soundtrack. It was the first song her father had accompanied her on in third grade and was one of the last songs they performed together a few months before his illness in a recital series. Strangely, this piece that looked bizarre on paper between Bizet and Ravel fit smoothly into the evening, thanks to Cass’ gracious, bubbly persona and lovely musical performance negotiating that delicate territory between operetta and musical theatre stylings.

REVIEW:
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Richard Cass Tribute Concert
Saturday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
James C. Olsen Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry St, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.