by Daniel Hathaway
The last “Sunday Unplugged” concert of ENCORE Chamber Music’s fourth season featured off-the-beaten-track works by Bloch, Dvořák, and Bartók in the sauna-like ambiance of the Tudor House music room at Gilmour Academy on Sunday afternoon, July 7. Fans wafting air over tubs of ice water helped cool the faculty and Young Artist performers, while the audience made good use of the stylish plastic hand fans the management thoughtfully provided. [Read more…]
by Samantha Spaccasi
ENCORE Chamber Music’s “Sunday Unplugged” series presented a true “Transfigured Night” on July 16 at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall. The magical evening was marked by exquisite performances from all musicians. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
Franz Schubert stole the show in ENCORE Chamber Music’s Friday evening, July 14 Mixon Hall concert. Two of the composer’s works showcased the talents of violist Dimitri Murrath (left), playing with two other talented Festival faculty.
The program’s highlight was a transcription of Schubert’s Erlkönig presented by violinist Jinjoo Cho and Murrath. The performance was stunning. Cho began the pulsating, triplet accompaniment at top speed and Murrath answered with the melody. [Read more…]
By Mike Telin
In an interview last week, oboist Alex Klein told us that he looked forward to ChamberFest’s Family Concert. “I confess that when I was with the Chicago Symphony the thing I liked to do most were the family concerts. To walk on stage and hear the buzz of children talking is very stimulating.” Klein went on to say that his program would not be the typical Peter and the Wolf concert but rather would include works by experimental composers as well as portions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations arranged for sting trio. “OK I thought, a room full of kids listening to Berio and Xenakis – what could possibly go wrong?” On Saturday morning, June 21 a large number of families gathered at MOCA and were treated to a 50-minute concert that that held everyone in rapt attention.
“Today’s magic word is context. It’s the most important word in chamber music,” Klein told the crowd following a splendid performance of the opening movement of Kodaly’s Serenade performed by Diana Cohen and David Bowlin, violins, and violist Yura Lee. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
ChamberFest Cleveland’s savvy programming strategy continued on Saturday, June 21 with a 5:00 pm concert at MOCA Cleveland that paired an edgy solo cello work by Iannis Xenakis with a daring arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string trio.
Johann Sebastian Bach has to be one of the most frequently arranged composers of all time, and we have yet to meet a rescoring of his music that didn’t work at least on some level. But taking a piece originally scored for two-manual harpsichord and reworking it for violin, viola and cello would seem to be a real stretch.
In keeping with ChamberFest’s obsession with the number three during its third season, there were that many reasons why this arrangement worked on Saturday. [Read more…]