78th
Street Studios
May
17
An unlikely setting for scintillating chamber music. |
It
wouldn’t be fair to say the Cleveland Orchestra saved the best for
last in its week-long residency at Gordon Square. There were simply
too many groundbreaking events and fine performances to allow for any
sort of ranking. But in terms of music that fit the space and
synthesized both into something fresh and exciting, the Friday night
chamber concerts in the 78th Street galleries were the crème de
la crème.
A
mammoth industrial warehouse built in 1905 to manufacture the famous
Baker Electric cars, the 78th Street Studios complex now houses
nearly 40 galleries, artist studios, showrooms and retail shops. On
Friday evening, its dusty gravel parking lot was packed with cars and
a food truck was doing steady business. Inside, the wide metal
stairways and labyrinthine hallways were jammed with crowds that
swelled in size and changed in character as the night wore on.
An
opening chamber trio offered a refined contrast to the factory
ambience and funky art hanging on the walls in the spacious
first-floor common area. Cellist Tanya Ell, clarinetist Robert
Woolfrey and pianist Carolyn Gadiel Warner served up sophisticated
selections of Beethoven, Schumann and Poulenc at a volume and timbre
that provided both dedicated listening and background atmospherics
for an art stroll. A low ceiling helped preserve crisp edges and warm
tones in the sound, anchored by Warner’s flowing, elegant keyboard
lines.
A soothing trio. |
Ell
and Woolfrey are both expressive players who offered rich, full leads
in duos with Warner, and were commanding in Beethoven’s Piano
Trio in B flat major, Op. 11. They were also remarkably focused,
never losing concentration as little children danced near the stage,
scolded by their nagging mothers. It didn’t matter. The music was
so sublime, it bathed the space in grace and reduced everything else
to a background hum.
Then
it was up to the third-floor Survival Kit gallery for an ambitious
program from Ars Futura, Cleveland’s budding modern music ensemble.
Founded and run by Shuai Wang, the multitalented pianist who teaches
at the Cleveland Institute of Music and programs the Happy Dog’s
monthly “Classical Revolution” concerts, the ensemble features
CIM grads and favors local composers. Two of them were at the
performance to introduce their pieces – Eric Charnofsky, a
Juilliard graduate currently teaching keyboard at CWRU, and Keith
Fitch, the head of CIM’s Composition Department. Both works were
built around abstract piano motifs that were perhaps too rarefied for
the occasion; Charnofsky’s piece in particular cleared a number of
people out of the otherwise attentive room.
Pianist Wang. |
The
program opened with a lighthearted piano piece for four hands,
Marshall Griffith’s Children’ s Song, played with good
humor by Wang and Hyunsoo Kim. (There is no other way to play a
deconstructed version of “Chopsticks.”) Charnofsky’s Four
Characters for Flute and Piano moved in random fits and starts,
and suffered from rock music leaking in from a nearby studio. Fitch’s
solo piano work Dances for Tanja opens with a one-handed tango
that was played with smooth precision by Wang, who also nailed the
piece’s fiendishly difficult third movement. Devolution by
Tim Mauthe put Kim back at the piano and added violinist Jimjoo Cho
and cellist Carlos Javier, good players who sounded ragged, as if the
piece was under-rehearsed. Joseph Hallman’s concluding Four
Pieces for Flute and Piano featured Wang and the talented flutist
Madeline Lucas, who put some sharp, satisfying edges on the music.
When
Ars Futura finished, there were about 30 people in the room. An hour
later, there were more than 100 late-night revelers crammed into what
suddenly felt like a hot, crowded club where four Cleveland Orchestra
players showed how exciting avant-garde music can be.
Trumpeter Sutte. |
Trumpeter
Jack Sutte performed four short solo works by contemporary American
composers that included two premieres, Brian Fennelly’s Distant
Call and Paul Rudy’s Jacked! Played
with clarity and finesse, the pieces were perfect for the space,
riveting but not overpowering. Flutist Joshua Smith and percussionist
Jake Nissly wove gauzy atmospherics with expert renditions of Lou
Harrison’s Ariadne
and Leon Kirchner’s Flutings for Paula,
great choices for a hipster art scene. And Nissly provided an
energetic finish with a fluid and accomplished version
of Iannis Xenakis’ complex Rebonds.
But
for this critic, bass player Scott Dixon stole the show with his
virtuoso performance of four etudes by Italian composer Stefano
Scodanibbio. The pieces are a technical tour de force, calling for
techniques and sounds one rarely gets to see and hear. One of them
explores the sonic possibilities of the bass completely outside of
its normal tonal range. Dixon showed impressive command of both the
music and his instrument, eliciting everything from cartoonish
squeals to electric hums with precision and a fine balance between
whimsy and intensity.
The
players were in the audience after the performance, sweaty and
exhausted, but happy to chat. Eager fans could hardly ask for more –
new and interesting music, expertly played by musicians connecting
with the audience on every level. For an orchestra looking to get out
of the concert hall and make a visceral connection with the
community, it was a dynamic finish to a thrilling week.
For
more on 78th Street Studios: http://78thstreetstudios.com/
For
more on Ars Futura:
http://www.facebook.com/arsfuturaensemble?ref=stream
Trio and Sutte photos courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra
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