Le Due Muse Goes Latin

Yesterday afternoon, Le Due Muse, whose members are cellist Sarah Hong and pianist Makiko Ooka, returned to the Old First Presbyterian Church. According to my records, this was their first Old First Concerts recital since June of 2019, when they prepared a full evening of music by Franz Schubert. Once again, they presented a program based on an overall theme, this time featuring four Latin American composers.

The first half of the program was devoted entirely to music by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce. The duo began with what is probably his most familiar composition, “Estrellita,” originally written for solo piano. Some readers may recall that, this past May, this was the encore selection taken by cellist Oliver Herbert and pianist Carlos Ágreda, joined by soprano Esther Rayo. Hong and Ooka played the duo version transcribed by the Spanish cellist Gaspar Cassadó. This served as an “overture” for Ponce’s four-movement cello sonata.

I have to confess that, until yesterday afternoon, I tended to associate Ponce with short selections, more likely to be encountered as encores. While his catalog of chamber music is relatively limited when compared with other genres, it is clear that he was no stranger to working with longer durations. In that context the cello sonata is a highly spirited composition, and Hong definitely knew how to accommodate the full scope of those spirits. By the time I had reached the final movement (Allegro burlesco), I found myself curious as to why such an impressive undertaking should be overlooked by so many cellists.

The second half of the program was framed by the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos and the Argentine Astor Piazzolla. The duo began with “O canto do cisne negro” (the song of the black swan), which had also been performed by Herbert and Ágreda this past May. The same was true of the first (“Ária”) movement of the fifth of that composer’s nine Bachianas Brasileiras compositions. However, while the May recital involved a trio, Le Due Muse played a transcription by cellist Seymour Barab. Piazzolla closed out the program with “Le Grand Tango,” which he had composed for Mstislav Rostropovich. This was preceded by Kyoko Yamamoto’s arrangement of Piazzolla’s “Oblivion.” Villa-Lobos and Piazzolla were separated by Alberto Ginastera’s Opus 21, the second of his “Pampeana” compositions.

Taken as a whole, this program was as engaging as it was imaginative. Hong may have been “front and center;” but there was no ignoring Ooka’s keyboard skills and her consistent sense of balance with Hong. The duo also deserves credit for venturing into a repertoire that seems to be rising in attention and deservedly so.