Old First Concerts Hosts Bridge Music Collective

Bridge Music Collective members Caleb Rose, Sarah Hooton, Carlos Valdez, Jessica Folson, and T. Colton Potter (from the Old First Concerts event page)

Last night in the Old First Presbyterian Church, Old First Concerts presented a debut performance by the Bridge Music Collective. This ensemble was formed by five students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), brought together in a Woodwind Chamber Class to prepare a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 39 quintet. This work was composed for a rather unconventional combination of instruments; and the participating SFCM students were Jessica Folson on violin, Sarah Hooton on viola, Carlos Valdez on bass, T. Colton Potter on oboe, and Caleb Rose on clarinet.

SFCM is no stranger to such unique gatherings of musicians. Over a decade ago Nonsemble 6 was formed by six SFCM students to prepare a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. The group subsequently expanded its repertoire to include music by French composers, giving particular attention to Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time). The Bridge Music Collective is now pursuing a different repertoire with a different combination of instruments.

Prokofiev composed only six chamber music compositions. Opus 39 was his third effort, and it was preceded by two other works with unique instrumentation. His first effort was the Opus 12bis “Humoresque scherzo,” which he scored for four bassoons in 1915. About four years later he composed his Opus 34 “Overture on Hebrew Themes” for clarinet, string quartet, and piano. Opus 39 became his second exploration of the interplay between winds and strings. Sadly, while the sonorities were decidedly engaging, the journey through the quintet’s six movements was not particularly compelling in last night’s performance.

More convincing was the first half of the program, consisting of three works, each involving a different subset of the group. Most satisfying was the first of these selections, a duo for clarinet and viola by Rebecca Clarke, whose three movements were identified by the overall title: “Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale.” Clarke seemed to appreciate how the clarinet served as the “middle voice” of a wind quintet, just as the viola was the “middle voice” of a string quartet.

The other two compositions were less engaging. “Maesta” was a three-movement string trio by David DeBoor Canfield. Its uniqueness resided in selecting a bass, rather than a cello, for the “low voice” of the ensemble. The score, on the other hand, tended to muddle around the interplay of the bass with the violin and the viola.

The other selection was a suite for oboe, clarinet, and viola by Randall Thompson. I am not sure how well-known he is these days; but, during my student years, I knew Thompson best as a choral composer. He could be highly impressive in the ways in which he used the words to unfold the musical structure; and I am afraid that, in the absence of those words, Thomson never provided a convincing account of his suite’s structure.

Nevertheless, there was much to enjoy in the many unique qualities of the Bridge’s instrumentation; and I hope that the future will provide them with opportunities to explore more engaging repertoire.