Issue #60
Last Update October 22, 2008
Arts Three Perfects by David Katz November 1, 2007 This is not an article about Chinese food. It is, in fact, a review of three recent concerts of very different genres, each perfect in its own way. Early Music New York opened its current season with Stravaganza Venziana, late 16th and early 17th century music of Venice. The St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble presented The Best of the Brandenburgs. Symphony Space hosted Klezmer Tour On Eldridge Street. Each of these concerts was an example of the best of its kind.
The Early Music New York concert was an all-instrumental one, rare for this group which has so many talented singers. The ensemble consisted of strings (violin, two violas, and a violone grosso, an early bass), winds (cornettos, trumpets, trombones (sackbuts) of various sizes, shawms (early oboes) and bagpipes), and continuo (tenor lute, theorbos (large, long-necked lutes with unfretted bass strings) and harps).
As usual for this group, the selection of pieces was interesting and varied, but it was the musicianship that made the evening perfect. The cornetto, a curved leather-coverd wooden instrument with a trumpet-like mouthpiece and finger holes like a recorder, is fiendishly difficult to play without notes cracking. In the early days on the Early Music revival, the New York Cornet and Sackbut ensemble struggled to master the period instruments, with indifferent success. Michael Collver, the principle cornettist of the EMNY group, managed to coax a such a sweet and firm sound from this tricky instrument that the audience was mesmerized.
Christa Patton was extraordinary on the Italian Double and Renaissance harps, and managed to solo expertly on shawm and bagpipes as well.
The Eldridge Street Project is dedicated to preserving the Eldridge Street Synagogue, the first great synagogue in the US built by Eastern European Jews. One of the activities is a Klezmer tour, beginning at Eldridge Street, and including concerts in New York, Poughkeepsie, Freedonia, Buffalo and Rochester. The New York concert was held at Symphony Space, and included many of the modern Klezmer greats. The world of klezmer today is a small, intimate world, and many of the artists appeared in more than one group.
Two basic styles of Klezmer were represented: central European (Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, etc.) and Romanian, which has more Turkish and Middle Eastern influences. The music, toe-tapping joyous and mournfully sad, was presented by the Klezmatics, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and other well-known klezmer groups, and a host of lesser known groups, including Die Goyim, a Dutch ensemble that won a price at an Israeli klezmer festival last year, and a German playing klezmer on a marimba.
The stars, of course were the clarinetists, although really good music poured from trumpets, fiddles, keyboards, basses and other instruments. Running more than three hours, the concert was expansive enough to include music from the Yiddish stage in addition to klezmer.
The third Perfect was the concert given by the Chamber Orchestra of St. Lukes, presenting Bach's Brandenburgs Numbers 2, 4 and 5, and his Concerto for Two Violins in D minor. The performances were clean and lively, and the soloists outstanding. The St. Lukes chamber group consists of a string quartet, a reed section, a continuo section, and whatever other instruments required for the soloists. The clarion trumpet player, Carl Albach, made the difficult high trumpet part in Brandenburg #2 look easy, while producing pure, clean, sweet tones at the top of his range. The flautists, Elizabeth Mann and Sheryl Henze, brought out the inherent joy in Brandenburg #4.
One perfection is rare. Two perfections are more than could be reasonably expected. To have three perfections within weeks of each other is little short of a miracle, and a tribute to the strength of the arts in New York City.
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