Issue #59
Last Update September 23, 2008
Arts NYCC Spring Concert by David Katz June 6,2007 The New York Composers Circle final concert of its 2006-2007 season was a triumph in adversity. The unavailability of several performers just a week before the concert meant that a number of the scheduled pieces couldn't be performed. It is a tribute to the depth of the NYCC's bench that composers and performers could be found in such a short time to create a splendid concert. Unlike the concert originally planned, the June 5 offering was, in fact, a theme concert: musical settings of poems illustrated the power of letting words shape music.
The opening work, Daughter of Dawn, by Frank Retzel, gave the audience six very dissimilar love poems in an art song setting. These included a section of the biblical Song of Songs; One Woman, I Remember and Postscript, all by Pierre Louys (adapted from Les Chansons de Bilitis); Upon That Lucky Night, by St. John of the Cross; and Sleep, My Darling by Ada Claire. Jacqueline Thompson, soprano, and Craig Ketter, piano, performed the work with skill and sensitivity.
Richard Russel presented three songs of Carl Sandberg (Fog, Monotone and White Shoulders), also in an art song style. The compositions displayed a great sensitivity to the poetic content. Mr. Russel performed at the piano; Sofia Dimitrova, soprano, showed a strong, accurate, if somewhat piercing voice.
Two instrumental pieces completed the first half of the program. John de Clef Piniero's Penseroso, performed by violinist Stanichka Dimitrova, was an arresting piece full of slides and leaps. Ms. Dimitrova was fully up to the demands this composition placed on her. Eugene Marlow presented three sections from Les Sentiments D'Amour (Rougir Pour La Premiere Fois, Melancolie, and Le Charmeur). Mr. Marlow's work is melodic and engaging, and benefits from his ability to compose in several genres, including jazz. Although in no way jazzy, Les Sentiments was very accessible to the audience. Nataliya Medvedovskaya, a composer member of NYCC, performed on piano with her usual virtuosity.
Returning to the theme of poems set to music, Tiffany DuMouchelle, soprano, and Julie McBride, piano, performed Paul Moravec's Vita Brevis, a setting of James Agee's Lullaby, Wordsworth's My Heart Leaps Up, Dante/Longfellow's Mezzo Cammin, Yeat's The Coming of Wisdom with Time, and Mary Frye's In Remembrance. Mr. Moravec, a Pulitzer Price winning composer, originally wrote this piece for tenor. Ms. DuMouchelle proved it works for sopranos too.
Potpourri, for trombone and piano, is a composition by Victor Frost of incidental music to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Performed by Mr. Frost at the piano and trombonist Matthew Dixon, Potpourri had the magical and humorous qualities befitting the play. In four movements, this composition combined dance sections with musically descriptive segments, and was a pleasure to listen to.
The final offering was Cesar Vuksic's Nana, a setting of a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca. Mr. Vuksic's music is always challenging to the listener, and always rewards the effort required of the audience. Mr. Vuksic at the piano (and sometimes playing inside of it) and Sybelle Johner, cello, were joined by Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano, whose warm, rich voice made this contrast of lullaby and images of death a treasured experience for the audience.
The New York Composers Circle is to be congratulated for having such richness of composing and performing resources that a situation that might have required the cancellation of the concert turned into a triumph.
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