Issue #80, Page Two

French composer Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) died at age twenty-four leaving behind a number of choral, instrumental and chamber works and some art songs. Her song cycle Clairières dans le ciel (Clearings in the sky) includes thirteen selections written for tenor and piano on poems by Francis Jammes (1860-1938). Her only opera project, Princesse Maleine, a setting of a play by Maeterlinck, was left incomplete. Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), the famous teacher, was her older sister and supervised her musical education. Fauré was a friend of the family and regularly visited in their home. She studied composition at the Paris Conservatory (1912) and in 1913 became the first woman to win the Prix de Rome for her cantata Faust et Hélène. Residence in the Villa Medici in Rome for four years is part of the prize. As World War I raged in Europe she came home from Rome to look after the families of musicians who were in the army. By this time she had already composed a large quantity of music and continued to be prolific in her few remaining years. In constant ill health she died of Crohn's disease at the end of the war, leaving “a psalm setting, Du fond de l'abîme, considered one of her finest works. It is a vast piece of striking solemnity and grandeur, densely but subtly written and showing a masterly handling of both large forces and the solo voice...” (Grove Dictionary of Music).

A CD on Helios label (CDH 55153) gives a good introduction to her skill as a composer and includes four songs for solo voice or voices, chorus and piano and the entire 35 minute song cycle Clairières dans le ciel, all sung by tenor Martyn Hill with Andrew Ball at the piano. In an era when many singers are offering recitals by women composers it is past time for this composer to get a hearing. I learned with some research that Ms. Boulanger's music was heard on BBC radio until the 1960's when the serialists and avant garde school crowded out the earlier twentieth-century composers and Poulenc ascended to prominence. (The Music of Maurice Ohana by Caroline Rae).

The forecast for snow had to be weighed against our desire to hear the Norfolk State University Choirs sing. They were highly recommended by our musical friend David Kunkel, conductor of Symphonicity, who worked with the choirs last season. So on the cold, raw evening of January 29, 2010, still in shock from the recent death of Lisa Relaford Coston, hoping that music would help heal the wound, we ventured out to hear a concert sponsored by the Fine Arts Guild of Christ and St. Luke's Church.

As the opening pieces were presented by the NSU Concert Choir we realized that we had made the right decision. The seventy-seven voices blended in selection after selection creating an irresistable wave of sound that enraptured us with a powerful, all-encompassing intensity. With clear diction and crisp endings most of the singers sang from memory with precision in the ever-shifting small groups of voices within the choir .

A Latin text set by William Byrd (1543-1623) was followed by Jean Berger (1909-2002) Brazilian Psalm, a psalm of praise from the Holy Bible in English with a modern musical language that displayed the balanced sound of the inner groups of voices. Contrasts of loud/soft and acceleraton/deceleration were glorious to hear, all with the intensity of an approaching freight train. The group was led by Conductor Dr. Carl W. Haywood and accompanied by Terry W. Butler with tenor DeAndrew Jackson as soloist.

As the piece ended many members of the choir left the chancel, leaving behind the NSU Chamber Choir of fifty-six singers conducted by Mr. Butler with Dr. Haywood as pianist. They sang three selections. Mendelssohn (1809-1847) There Shall a Star with male voices opening, tells of the arrival of the Wise Men, building layer-upon-layer of glorious sound and ends with a beautiful piano postlude. Mr. Jackson was joined by soprano Tomasina Hill and baritones Brion Humphrey and James Riddick. In Latin, Lux Aeterna, set by Brian Schmidt (b.1980), begins with an even, sustained sound by the female voices soon joined by the men in this restrained chant. High soprano descants create highlights in the lovely, quiet singing. A setting by Los Angeles composer Albert McNeil (b.?) of O Mary, Don't You Weep has a restrained, rich sound in motion. The soprano soloist was Ericah Brickers.

The Concert Choir reconstituted and sang fine chruch hymns: Come Unto Me by Harry Burleigh (1866-1949) and Make a Joyful Noise by Reginald Parker (b.?) with an organ opening. This modern, dramatic piece with great slicing crescendos contrasted by an otherworldly filigree of delicate voicings was one of my favorites of the evening.

After intermission we heard the third group in this three-in-one choir, the NSU Spartan Chorale with twenty-one singers led by Dr. Haywood. In Latin they sang Peter Philips (1560-1628) a cappella setting of O Beatum in Sacrosanctum as a madrigal, no long musical lines, no legato lines, all crisp, short syllables with Mr. Butler accompanying at the piano. Next they offered Fare Thee Well, Love by James Mulholland (b.1935). This song, with lovely legato sound, demonstrated another facet of this crack vocal group's great skill. The soloist was Quinton George with an Irish tenor sound with great crooner potential. They topped their set with the madrigal Everyone Sang from the choral cycle Winging Wildly by Kirke Mechem (b.1925). A bright, quick tune, it had vocal pyrotechnics that sparkled all the way down to the deep bass notes that ended the musical phrases.

The final set was the entire NSU Concert Choir in Rachmaninov's (1873-1943) Glory be to God on High with vocal sound clusters that build one on the other. Set by Jester Hairston (1901-2000) Great God A'Mighty opens with bass voices like a great hammer striking. In An' I Cry, set by Noah F. Ryder (1914-1964), a river of sound washed over me as they sang three verses: "Sometimes I feel like I've never been born again," "My Savior died in vain," and "I lost my soul again." It is all resolved in the next song I'll Stand set by Raymond Wise (b.1961) when the rhetorical question of “anyone here that will stand for the master?” is answered by playful, ever-changing clusters of voices singing “I'll Stand” creating a most happy feeling. A song by Randall Thompson (1899-1984) in memory of “our friend” Lisa Relaford Coston closed the program.

There were two CD's available for purchase but you must hear this group live to fully appreciate them. It is an unforgettable experience and the CD's help me recall just how wonderful they are live. The CD titles: Songs of Our Weary Years, Beloved Spirituals and Motets, Anthems, Spirituals and Gospels! all sung by NSU Concert Choir with several selections in settings by Dr. Haywood.

A program on March first and second at Old Dominion University Theater titled Transformations was a huge undertaking for artisitc co-directors Andrey Kasparov and Oksana Lutsyshyn that included seven pieces of contemporary music performed with visual enhancement, mostly dance.

In opening remarks Dr. Kasparov encouraged us to evaluate each piece on the basis of completeness within the world created. He also thanked Fred Bayersdorfer for finding the resources for instruments for the colorful percussion piece José beFORe John5 (2000) by composer Aurél Holló (b.1966). Percussionists Dale Lazar, Bryan Maurer and Nikolas White began with clapping and stomping in out of phase rhythms. Soon, scintillating sound created on one marimba by two players, Mr.Lazar and Mr. Maurer, working together as the piece gained complexity enriched by Mr. White on crow call, tuned gongs and Devil chaser stick. Log drum, the hose-shaped Egyptian oboe (mismar), box drum, snare drum and Africa talking drums all added to the exotic sound. The choreography of making the music against a deep-blue lighted scrim added up to a rich experience. Drumsticks striking a slack-stringed guitar punctuated by other exotic percussion led to the dramatic ending.

The finale was a reprise of José beFORe John5. The instruments and the percussionists were tightly placed in the left corner of the stage to make room for the dancers. The choreography by Misses Duane, Foster and Steeley was an interesting project and you could see elements of each dance vocabulary in the actions on stage but visually it did not work for me. Uncoordinated diversity and incongruous combinations of percussionists and dancers were confusing to watch. Finally I gave up and focused on Nikolas White and the other percussionists. Dancing added no sense of completeness to a world created by the piece, just undefined boundaries, a hole where a completeness might have been. The dancing failed to capture the charm of the music.

The piano trio Concurrence by Ryuichi Sakamoto (b.1952) followed. Known for his film music, tonight's choreographic composition is based on his work Bibo no aozora (Endless Flight) and was used as ending music for 2006 film Babel. The trio in the left corner of the stage was made up of violinist Anna Dobrzyn, cellist Michael Frohnapfel and pianist Andrey Kasparov. In costumes by Clair Garrard, Amanda Kinzer and Megan Thompson danced to their own choreography. The two young women with flowing hair danced steps that looked like morning exercises as the lights created a feeling of sunrise. The music had a repeated brief figure in the violin with cocktail type lyric piano with cello. The musicians knew what their bodies were to do, the dancers seemed less clear. There were rag dolls posing and athletic twins moving together, where one sometimes seemed to be the shadow of the other.

Armenian composer Petros Ovsepyan (b.1966) was choreographer for his piece titled His (2009). The stage was dimly lit, with three performers dressed in black except flutist Bonnie Kim with a red sash and dancer Remmie Bourgeois in a red shirt, black pants and bare feet. A grand piano sat in the middle of the stage and the violinist Anna Dobrzyn stood nearby. The powerfully built dancer assumed the sturdy pose reminiscent of the sculpture “The Thinker” as the violin made occasional detached quiet scratching sounds. At other times we heard faint whistles from the flute but the sound of the air handler obscured the intent. Suddenly the dancer leaped in a chimpanzee-like way onto the top of the piano where he crouched looking pensive while the violin and flute created wild creature noises. In time he leaped to the floor still crouching then over several minutes rose slowly toward standing. His hand trembled with great effort. Finally upright, primordial first steps seemed about to happen with his body angled toward the flutist playing lyrically and with his back to us he seemed to be pushing against the piano as the lights went down. The human race is moving to high culture.

Choreographer Starrene Foster visually realized the many moods of the music of La Valse by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) arranged for piano, four hands by Andrey Kasparov and played by him and Oksana Lutsyshyn. Five dancers of the Star Foster Dance Project of Richmond combined classical and modern dance poses to good effect. The opening vignette of angular figures brightly back-lit with waltz movements reflected the Vienese sound in the piano. As the music deconstructs this classical form the dancers did the same. This experience was one of the two most enjoyable, focused dances of the evening. There was clarity, gracefulness and an imaginative connection to the muisc.

In Musique de Tables (1987) by Thierry de Mey (b.1956), David Walker, Dale Lazar and Bryan Mauer sit at a table facing the audience, lighted like three bergers from a Rembrandt painting. The music consisted of turning pages and striking the table with their hands. In-synch or by turn or complimentary motions created sound patterns with hands and fingers on a glass table top with camera below and images projected behind them as if we are seeing the three sets of hands reflected in a mirror with the faces looming in the background. The video projection was supervised by Stephen Pullen and the work was done by four of his talented students. With pages first turned sequentially, then in unison, there is choreography in every gesture. In this context it became an exciting event in the world created – complete within itself.

Written for the Diehn Concert Series, Clockworks (2009) by Christopher Cook (b.1962) is a rich, sonic piece built from intimate recordings of grandfather clocks, alarm clocks, digital watches, Westminster chimes, all sorts of timepieces, manipulated by computer. Sounds were compressed, stretched and otherwise twisted to become unrecognizable. These yielded rhythmic grooves that were brought vividly to life by six dancers (Jay Ambrose, Kevin Carroll, Julie Champagne, Carrie Moseley, Tamika Steeley and Elizabeth Zamer). The dancers' tunics had strategically placed holes – some large, others very large with finished hems - that punctuated the visuals of movement. The costumer was not credited in the program. For the men a rectangle of colorful fabric suggested ties and added to the hip-hop exuberant movement by Tamika Steeley.

Ms. Dobrzyn played The Red Violin Caprices (1999) with accuracy and style. Composer John Corigliano (b.1938) won an Oscar for the piece for the score for the film The Red Violin. Beverly Cordova Duane designed the dances in collaboration with the performers, Mr. Bourgois, Ms. Steeley and David A. Smith, who also designed the costumes. The violinist was asked to mill around and be part of the dance; this is the opposite of how I understand dance. Dance to me is bodies in space being used to create a visual impact coordinated with the emotion, mood or action in the music. By this definition this piece made no sense. I did not get the connnection between flopping onto and writhing on the floor and this film. I'm sure there must be some modern dance movements that could enhance this music.

After the mostly Chopin recital reviewed in Issue #79 (May, 2010 Artsong Update) I asked Jason if he would answer some questions I had about his preparation and internal experience as he plays such a lengthy program from memory.

JC: How do you mentally prepare for a major performance like the one Sunday?
JPP: The mental aspect of concert preparation is a very important one; even the greatest pianists like Horowitz, Rubinstein and Brendel have been prone to memory slips from time to time, and so preparation has to be extremely thorough.  I try to always have a strong grasp of the large-scale form- key areas, modulations, thematic material, and so forth, and to rely as little as possible on motor memory.  Another strategy which is enormously helpful for me is to practice the work in other keys; this helps cement the harmonic relationships in my mind very strongly and reduce the reliance on motor memory.
I also believe very strongly in the value of mental rehearsal away from the piano; this is something that Glenn Gould was fanatical about.  Before a concert I try to run through the entire program mentally, and if there are any places where I can't remember details, I go back to the piano, review them, and try again.

JC: Where is your focus while you are playing?  Do you evaluate what just happened or only focus on the moment as you flow the music onward?
JPP: While playing, I try to keep my focus as much as possible in the present moment.  It's quite amazing, but if I really stay focused on the present moment I feel that the audience stays there with me. Of course, one can't be 100% in the present moment, as one must also be considering the large-scale form of the work.  I do try to avoid as much as possible the urge to critique and judge during the performance; due to the heightened sense of awareness during a performance, I'm always able to recall afterwards nearly every little thing that didn't go as I planned anyway.  Along those lines, simply performing a piece in public is a wonderful way of cementing it in one's memory.

All reviews by John Campbell unless otherwise noted.