GREAT BARRINGTON — In 1983, critic Raymond Tuttle described Paul Schoenfield’s piano concerto “Four Parables” as “wild silliness in the face of existential dread.” Nearly 40 years later, the need for wild silliness seems to have grown throughout the world by orders of magnitude squared, and so, fortunately, have the imagination and musical chutzpah of Mr. Yehuda Hanani, artistic director of Close Encounters With Music (CEWM). By programming Schoenfield’s “Café Music” to welcome them back to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center Sunday, Nov. 21 at 4 p.m., Hanani has assured CEWM patrons of a full measure of something we all require but rarely get enough of during pandemic-enhanced holidays: mirth.
And it’s grade-A, heartfelt mirth, too, because this work comes from a guy who knows how to write unexpectedly uplifting music about gloomy topics, such as the Holocaust. (His “Camp Songs” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.) Schoenfield seems to be the kind of person who shows up out of nowhere on your worst day to cheer you up. “Café Music” is at no point wildly silly, but the piece is often wildly enjoyable. And note, please, that the same critic who respectfully referred to the composer’s piano concerto as silly called another of Schoenfield’s works “some of the most life-affirming new music I’ve heard in a long time.”
The genesis of “Café Music” is a little unusual in the world of classical music. It all started in 1985 at Murray’s Steakhouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Schoenfield had taken a job substituting for the restaurant’s regular pianist in an in-house piano-violin-cello trio. The players so impressed Schoenfield with their versatility that he decided to write a new piece for them that would showcase their abilities. “Café Music” was the result. Schoenfield calls it “a kind of high-class dinner music … that might also (just barely) find its way into a concert hall,” and part of the fun of listening to it is picturing the circumstances of its conception.
At the outset, the first movement of “Café Music” leads you to expect fairly conventional ragtime. But Schoenfield soon leaves expectations in the dust and takes you on an unstoppable procession of twists, turns, starts, stops, jazzy melodies, and insouciant violin licks that drip with attitude and wit, all to challenge and delight — and ultimately satisfy — the unsuspecting ear.
Then comes the second movement and its series of loosely connected themes that drift organically from one key to another and bring listeners to tears because Schoenfield’s melodies are at times unbearably beautiful.
The third movement finale sounds like it could serve as an underscore to Mr. Toad’s wild ride. It is pure fun from beginning to end, and it would be unwise to program anything following this crowd pleaser, because it truly is a showstopper.
Also on the program for November 21 are Claude Bolling’s Suite for Cello and Jazz Trio, Gershwin’s Three Preludes for Piano, Beethoven’s Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Piano, and a cameo appearance by hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon (pronounced CHRIS-styles). Other musicians performing on November 21 include Michael Chertock, piano; Xiao-Dong Wang, violin; Artie Dixson, percussion; James Cammack, double bass; and Yehuda Hanani, cello
Masks and proof of vaccination required for entry. Details and tickets here.
"close" - Google News
November 16, 2021 at 10:00PM
https://ift.tt/3qJUNQM
CONCERT PREVIEW: Close Encounters With Music celebrates a return to live performance November 21 at the Mahaiwe - theberkshireedge.com
"close" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QTYm3D
https://ift.tt/3d2SYUY
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "CONCERT PREVIEW: Close Encounters With Music celebrates a return to live performance November 21 at the Mahaiwe - theberkshireedge.com"
Post a Comment