Lunchtime Concert #1, Wednesday 8th August


Tuckamore Festival Young Artists
Lunchtime Concert
Wednesday 8th August
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, “The Kirk”

The first of four such lunchtime concerts was held today, with the Kirk again offering a cool relief from the heat and humidity. This is the 18th Tuckamore Festival, and each year the geographical range of participants widens, and more importantly, the level of their talents rises. In addition to Canadians, we have Young Artists from the US, France, Germany and New Zealand. If I have missed out a country, please forgive me – the full printed programs containing the bios of the performers are not yet available.

First up was Iris Hung, from Coquitlam BC, playing the Prelude and Fugue in C Major by J.S. Bach. This well-known piece from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, was published in 1722, and because it is so readily recongizable, presents a special challenge to the performer. Ms Hung gave an admirable performance, starting with the sinuous lines of the Prelude, gently emphasising each modulation to bring out the harmonic structure. The Fugue, featuring four voices, offers the opportunity for showcasing the performer’s ability to handle complexity, something that can sometimes lead to a muddled texture, but Ms Hung continued to bring out Bach’s musical structure to the delight of the audience.

Next was Janine Noorloos, from Iona Station in Ontario (I had to look that up on Google maps). Her choice of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending was an ambitious one, for the piece is not straightforward. RVW composed the first version for piano and violin over a number of years, and it had its first performance in December 1920. The better known version for violin and orchestra had its first performance the following year. The inspiration is said to have come from a long poem by George Meredith, but a more likely source would be the song of the lark itself. If a lark is disturbed, especially during nesting times, the bird seems to rise vertically from the ground, already in song, and full of variations, and continuing to sing until the intruder has moved away. That is a rather prosaic explanation. The experience of the performance was quite different! Ms Noorloos never gave the impression that she was playing notes from a score. Rather, she made the music her own, especially in the cadenzas where RVW’s lack of bar lines gives free rein to the creative performer. Patrick Cashin’s accompaniment was, as usual, flawless and wholly supportive of the violinist’s imaginative line. A captivating performance all round!

Our third performer was Martin Roberts, from Taulignan, France. (Again, thank you Google maps!) He had chosen Paul Hindemith’s ‘Cello Sonata, Op.25, No.3, an unaccompanied work composed in 1922. I know very little about Hindemith’s music, and this was my first hearing. Mr Roberts clearly had full control of this virtuosic work, bringing out the different moods of the five-part work. According to Wikipedia, this was a piece of Gebrauchmusik, music for use, or study to explore the instrument’s capabilities. Mr Roberts certainly demonstrated that he was up to the challenge: dynamic range, double-stopping, seemingly impossible leaps, all beautifully in tune, and rythmically compelling. I’ll have to look for recordings.

The final work of the concert brought us to more familiar territory with one movement from the Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op.78, performed by Frédéric-Alexandre Michaud, from Montréal, and accompanied by Patrick Cashin. First presented in Bonn in 1879, the work is from Brahms’ mature period, and shows the composer in no hurry to get to the end. Long phrases on the violin demand utmost attention to detail, while sustaining the line which guides the over-arching structure. Mr. Michaud did not disappoint, and the rapport he has already established with Mr. Cashin showed a remarkable level of professionalism at this early stage in the Festival.

After this very promising start to the Festival’s concert series, I look forward to seeing more audience members delighting in what is being offered.

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 9, 2018 at 3:14 AM

    BRAVO, Tony Chadwick!!! Beautiful review!!! Thank you for crafting such a wonderful description of the impressive concert delivered by the Tuckamore Young Artists yesterday at the Kirk!

    ReplyDelete

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