Zahradní ateliér / Garden Atelier
___________________________________________
Christopher Prosser
Concert Review 1
MUS 3151, Lousiana, USA
10/23/06
International Mini Festival of Art and Music
The Baton Rouge Gallery was the setting for the fourth concert of the International Mini Festival of Art and Music presented by the Louisiana Sinfonietta under the direction of Dr. Dinos Constantinides. The concert took place on October 12, 2006 at 7:30 pm, and displayed a combination of visual and performing artists featuring the musical talents of guest soloists Zdenka Vaculovicova on violin, and Theofilos Sotiriades on soprano saxophone. Displayed along the walls of the gallery performance space were the paintings of guest artist Vaclav Vaculovic. Composers featured on the program were Dvorak, Graham, Wiprud, Husa, Constantinides, and Janacek. With the string orchestra tuned for performance, Dr. Constantinides made his entrance to warm applause and briefly recognized and thanked the guest artists for their participation in the mini festival.
The first piece of the evening was Anton Dvorak’s Notturno for String Orchestra, Op. 40, and does a very convincing job of conveying images of a soft sweet night. The opening cello melody is typical Dvorak with its arc-like shape and regular phrasing. The piece presents a slow and inviting tempo that is characterized by a homophonic texture, slight calming swells in dynamics, and gentle pizzicato accompaniment from the double bass. There is a brief contrasting middle section that establishes a more serious mood with increased rhythmic motion, a more polyphonic texture, and a greater contrast in range that eventually relinquishes back to the original tranquility of the opening. The piece was beautifully performed by the Sinfonietta and was very pleasing to the ear.
Theodore Wiprud’s Grail: after the painting by Vaclav Vaculovic for String Orchestra, very cleverly conjures up images of a search for the Cup of Christ. His use of different modal sonorities, polyphonic texture, and a very effective rhythmic ostinato beginning in the violin and violas, call to mind the quest of the Knights Templar. There is a contrasting middle section with dense chords followed by brief pauses that lead to a multitude of mysterious trills that invoke a sense of sullen searching. The beginning returns following a brief solo from the first violin. The result of the search for the Grail is absolutely left up to the audience’s interpretation as the piece ends very ambiguously with back and forth play between the cellos and first violins.
The last piece performed before intermission was Karel Husa’s Four Little Pieces for String Orchestra (1995). “Variazioni,” the title of the first little piece, began with a beautiful melody in the first violin. The second violins, violas, cellos and basses enter in a fugue like fashion developing the beautiful subject. A slower middle section followed with pizzicato in the basses and cellos that lead to a tremolo at the tip of the bow in the first and second violins while the cellos and bassed bowed ponticello. A dance melody commences with a drone-like accompaniment that lead to a recap of the beginning. The second little piece, Notturno, is more solemn and subdued than the first piece, while the third little piece, Furiant, began with a lively triplet motive that leads to a slower section incorporating pizzicato in the string basses. Finally, the fourth little piece, Coda, presents a rich beautiful chord progression in a dense full texture throughout the movement. Each movement is a little masterpiece and were all performed brilliantly by the Sinfonietta.
During intermission, the members of the audience were encouraged to walk around the performing space and observe the many paintings by guest artist Vaclav Vaculovic that were on display. Landscape III for solo saxophone and string orchestra, by Dinos Constantinides was the only world premiere of the evening and featured the second guest soloist, Theofilos Sotiriades on soprano saxophone. The piece began with a sax solo and the strings accompanied with full homophonic texture. Constantinides makes good use of the range of the saxophone exploring the very highest and lowest regions of the instrument. The saxophone solo, which was brilliantly played by Sotiriades, is very virtuosic with extremely fast runs and several cadenza-like moments. Eventually, the string accompaniment thins out and the piece ends rather ambiguously with an unfinished sentiment that is surprisingly very attractive.
The final piece of the evening was Idyll, by the great Czech composer Leos Janacek. This four movement work is very typical of early Janacek and employed several folk melodies in a modal style. It was a perfect ending to wonderful night of music and art with the Louisiana Sinfonietta and the Baton Rouge Gallery.
