Reviews

There was some tension: would the new CD arrive in time for the recital on August 13, 2011 at Chandler Recital Hall? Guitarist Anibal Acosta produced the new CD Thrum and performed with Stephen Walsh who played piano and recorder. The other member of the trio on the CD, violist Anastasia Migliozzi, was busy with another performance but came late to the reception at the Walsh's home.

As part of an audience of over 50 listeners we heard a fine selection of chamber music from the 18th and 20th centuries. The opening Sonata in G Major by Johann Christoph Pepusch for guitar and recorder was mostly lighthearted with a somber third movement and a dance tune finish. Pepusch was born in Berlin in 1667 and was mainly self-taught. He settled in London in 1704 playing viola and harpsichord in the Drury Lane Theater where he composed music for operas and masques. We know him as the composer of the overture from Gay's The Beggar's Opera. Mr. Acosta mentioned the idea that this growing audience for English musical theater helped create difficulties for Handel in promoting Italian opera in London. According to the Grove Dictionary there seems to have been no animosity between them. Pepusch composed many sonatas, one of which we heard, and lived to be 85 in London teaching at the Academy of Ancient Music where he was a founding member in 1726. The title was revived by Christopher Hogwood in 1973 for an early music ensemble which has made many recordings.

Mr. Walsh moved to the piano for two solo songs by Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), a New England composer of light music. His very famous The Syncopated Clock and the pretty, romantic The Girl in White Satin carried some of us back to Boston Pops Orchestra concerts on early TV.

A piano and guitar performance of Divertimento by Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) came next. Haydn, the father of the symphony, who perfected the sonata form, wrote the piece for cello trio. There is a fresh, straightforward sound in this music. The lively first movement gave way to the conversational dance-like tune of the second. The presto final movement had lively lines passed back and forth between the instruments. We have developed a new-found enthusiasm for “Papa” Haydn's music this year and this experience added to it.

After intermission we heard an obscure composer, Bohuslav (Jan) Martinu (1890-1959), a Czech who went to Paris to study with Roussel in 1923. He remained in Paris until 1940 when he escaped to Portugal and in 1941 settled in the United States where he composed five symphonies, commissioned by Koussevitzky. He lived out his last six years in Italy, France and Switzerland with a year at Curtis Institute (1955-56). His impressionist music is full of rhythmical energy and imagination. We heard Loutky (Marionettes) (1912-24) for solo piano. The four movements are characterizations of Commedia del' Arte puppets: Divadlo, Zastavenícko (a man about town) and Columbina (a complex young lady, she was). The second movement is a sentimental waltz for puppets to dance. A treat for a summer afternoon, it was charming, lightly scored and entirely tonal, all with a sense of Czech folk inspiration. Martinu is a composer who deserves to be better known. He devoted his life to composition, seldom edited his output and was not much concerned with its being published or performed. I suspect that there are unknown treasures to be discovered.

Leaving the 20th century and returning to the 18th we heard works for solo lute by John Dowland (1563-1626): three dances and his best known piece, Lachrimae, also known as Cry my tears when sung. Using a capo to change the instrument's tone, Mr. Acosta created a lute-like sound. Mr. Walsh commented “Have you noticed how much time Aníbal spends tuning?” Mr. Acosta: “It's all ambiance.”

The last section was Celtic Duos on four anonymous tunes with sounds ranging from sad to forlorn except for a fast, flashy dance tune. Mr. Walsh played recorders, some treble, some bass, to accompany Mr. Acosta's guitar. This set can be found on their just off the press new CD, Thrum.

Also on the CD you will find 2 sonatas in a minor, one by Jean Baptiste Loeillet de Gant (c.1688-1720) and another by G.F. Händel (1685-1759). Staying in a minor key there is Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) Trio in a minor.

The first and last selections on the CD are by J.S. Bach (1685-1750): Trio Sonata I, BWV 525 and Trio Sonata III, BWV 527. The sound of the recording is fresh and natural as if the players are in my listening room. Stylish tempos move at a good pace and the balance of viola, guitar and recorder is pleasant. It's a sound that carries us back to a time of less intensity and stress than our present age.

The food and conversation of the reception rounded out a perfect summer afternoon spent inside, out of the downpour.