Lincoln County News
Thursday, August 30, 2006
Concert Review of Tuesday, August 25, 2006

Salt Bay Chamberfest -- Ambitious Program and Excellent Musicianship

By Nancy Wilson

The Beethoven was magnificent in the program which opened with two modern works and was the final one in the Salt Bay Chamberfest summer series at the Round Top barn, in Damariscotta, last Friday night.

A trio, violin, cello, and piano, played his Archduke trio, Opus 97, after intermission. The musicians were obviously enjoying themselves, as they gave the audience a true musical experience.

The first of the opening works was titled Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, with the score for these, primarily anti-war poems, written by John Corigliano. Lucy Shelton, soprano, sang, to the piano accompaniment of Thomas Sauer. These were intense pieces, with music very different from the originals, as Dylan did them. Masters of War, for example, showed tremendous power; while Blowin’ In The Wind also had great feeling, it died out to an eerie ending with the single word, blowin’, fading away to nothing.

Shelton also sang the second work, the Canto General, by Pablo Neruda, with music by Dutch composer Peter Schat; this was dedicated, in memoriam, to Salvador Allende. Shelton was accompanied by Catherine Cho, violin, and Pedja Muzijevic, piano. This work, also extremely intense, and full of pain, was admirably performed. Much of it was harsh and atonal, reminiscent of Schoenberg, whose music Schat had studied. Only excellent musicians can play this music, say my notes about the performances of these two modern pieces; anyone less could not do it at all. The two works, the Corigliano and the Schat, although they both dealt with considerable weltschmerz, were very different, with the Corigliano a bit more understandable to an ear that prefers tonality.

The Beethoven trio was pure enjoyment, for both the audience and the musicians. Thomas Sauer returned to play the piano part, with Soovin Kim, violin, and Allison Eldredge, cello. A classical trio in the classical mode, Beethoven nevertheless broke from tradition by writing the scherzo (joke) as the second movement, rather than the more usual third movement. This went on and on, finally blending into a lovely andante cantabile that, in turn, leapt immediately into the final movement, the allegro moderato. This trio finishes thunderously, in a typical Beethoven ending.

All in all, this final concert of Salt Bay Chamberfest was a success, bringing together some of the finer musicians of our time. It was an ambitious program, performed with grace and expertise; the high quality of the musicianship made it all worthwhile.