Beethoven, Grieg, and Brahms in South-Eastern Pennsylvania: Reviewing a Concert by the Lenape Chamber Ensemble

remlaps (74)in #classical-music • 6 years ago (edited)

A Review of the Lenape Chamber Ensemble's October 15 concert at Delaware Valley University, near Doylestown, PA.

Introduction

A couple weeks ago, @cmp2020 was invited to turn pages for his piano instructor at a performance by the Lenape Chamber Ensemble. The performance was held in the Life Sciences Auditorium at Delaware Valley University, near Doylestown, PA. They have more performances scheduled in November, March, and April, so I thought I would write up a review for anyone near south-eastern PA that might enjoy an experience like this.

Venue

If I recall correctly, according to the fire capacity sign, the Life Sciences Auditorium held a maximum of about 300 people. I would guess that it was about 2/3 full. With a sound screen positioned behind the piano, and the shape of the auditorium, the acoustics sounded great to me. Audience members had their choice of seats on the ground level or in the balcony.

I spoke to several members of the audience, and they told me that they had been seeing performances by this pianist for as many as the last 20 years. Several audience members complimented the pianist's skills with claims that he is excellent and amazing. Claims with which I came to agree. If I have any complaint at all about the experience, it would only be that there was another event scheduled at the university at the same time, so parking was a little bit difficult.

Performers

Stringed instruments were played by Cyrus Beroukhim - violin, Emily Daggett Smith - violin, Danielle Farina - viola, and Arash Amini - cello. Piano was played by Marcantonio Barone. The program and the Ensemble's web site list the performers' backgrounds, and even before the first note, I was quite impressed by all of them. Here are some highlights from the group's web site.

Cyrus Beroukhim (violin) plays with the New York City ballet and has appeared as a soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New York Symphonic Ensemble, Oakland East Bay Symphony, and others. He also holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School.

Emily Dagget Smith (violin) has appeared in a number of prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and Boston's Symphony Hall. She also appeared as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra and the New York Classical Players. She has appeared on PBS' national broadcast, "Live at Lincoln Center", and twice on NPR's "From the Top."

Danielle Farina (viola) has a diverse resume, including roles as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, teacher and recording artist. She performs classical and popular music, and has toured extensively in North America and Europe. She is also on faculty of the Manhattan School of Music's Contemporary Performance Program, Vassar College, Hunter College and the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division.

Arash Amini (cello) has performed as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. He is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. He performs often with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and has been featured in a large variety of media from The Wall Street Journal to NPR and Voice of America.

Marcantonio Barone (piano) first played with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 10. Since then, he has performed with orchestras in North America, South America, Europe and Asia including Philadelphia, New York, Houston, London, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. He is also a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music.

I arrived about a half hour early, so I had plenty of time to read through their summaries several times before the event started. After doing so, I was eager to hear the performance, and I am pleased to report that the music far exceeded my, already lofty, expectations.

Honorable mention goes to @cmp2020. In addition to his primary role turning pages for Mr. Barone, he also did an excellent job with rearranging the music stands and seats for the musicians, even receiving a small scattering of applause for his technique at handling the equipment. ; -)

Musical Selections

Beethoven's String Quartet in A, Op. 18, No. 5

According to the program handout, this work was created in 1799, when Beethoven was famous for his virtuosity on the piano, and was beginning to gain a reputation as a composer. He learned to compose for string quartets, largely by studying the works of Haydn and Mozart. This was his first one, and he spent more than a year polishing it. Without being a copy, Quartet number 5 was patterned - movement by movement - after Mozart's Quartet in A (K. 464). As with much of Mozarts' music, much of this quartet has a light, playful, lilting quality to it.

I didn't take any recordings that day, but here is a video of the piece that I found on youtube. The performance in the video is done by the Alban Berg Quartett.

Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 13

Although @cmp2020 has studied piano with Mr. Barone for more than a year, now, this was my first time seeing him play. I thought he was simply fantastic, as was Ms. Smith on violin. My only disappointment is that I frequently distracted myself by watching @cmp2020 turning the pages, because this was my first time seeing him do that, too. It's curious to note how interesting page turning becomes when your son is the one doing it.

Interestingly, although the piece has a pensive tone to it, Grieg composed it on his honeymoon. According to the handout, that is because the Scandinavian musical style at the time was nationalistic, and Grieg wrote this piece to resemble the typical Norwegian village scene of his native land.

Here is a youtube video of the piece that was performed by David Oistrakh and Vladimir Yampolsky in 1958.

Brahms' Piano Trio in C Major, Op. 87

I am not always a fan of Brahms' music, but I really enjoyed this piece. As Beethoven was influenced by Mozart and Haydn, Brahms was influenced by Beethoven. The first movement of this work and the finale both have three main themes, somewhat somber in tone. The second movement reveals Brahms' interest in gypsy music, and the third movement, a scherzo (a light-hearted or humorous composition that often takes the place of the more formal minuet), has been described as "an eerie rustling light". It seemed to me that the third movement is the one that really showcased the musicians' skills.

Here is a video of the work from 1974, performed by Eugene Istomin, piano; Isaac Stern, violín; and Leonard Rose, cello.

Conclusion

If you are near south-eastern Pennsylvania on the dates of one of the ensemble's upcoming concerts, I highly recommend it. Tickets are $18 for adults, $5 for children, and $15 for seniors and students. In my opinion, this is an amazingly low price to hear music played by such talented performers. According to the web site upcoming concerts are scheduled on Nov 3 and 5, March 2 and 4, and April 6 and 8. Friday night events are held at the Upper Tinicum Lutheran Church. Sunday events are held at Delaware Valley University. The web site also has directions.