LCCE’s “Tale” of Two Centuries

Banner design for the concert being discussed (from its LCCE Web page)

Last night the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) concluded its season with a program entitled Spring Contrasts. The performance took place at the Noe Valley Ministry, and only three members of the group performed. These were clarinetist Jeff Anderle, Liana Bérubé on violin, and pianist Allegra Chapman. The concept of “contrast” had less to do with the seasons and more with a judicious interleaving of compositions from the both the last century and the current one.

The title was also reflected in the final selection on the program. Béla Bartók’s “Contrasts” is a three-movement composition involving all three of the performers. Through his ethnomusicological studies, Bartók had cultivated a keen ear for sonorities. Bérubé played on two separate violins, presumably to allow for a richer palette of those sonorities by having more open-stringed pitches. There are also significant contrasts across the three movements themselves. The first one is playful, almost to the point of silliness. The second draws on the “night music” rhetoric found in so many of Bartók’s works. The last is downright raucous. One could almost imagine this as a soundtrack for a cartoon. However, it would never have fit into the style of Walt Disney’s Fantasia. If Bartók had any animated film in mind, it would have been one of the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes!

The one composer on the program to “bridge” the two centuries was Robert Sierra. Only the first movement from his sonata for violin and piano was performed. He completed this piece in 2010; and, on the program, it was both preceded and followed by movements from Cinco Bocetos, a set of five “character pieces” for solo clarinet. In other words, all of the musicians had an opportunity to play Sierra’s music; and the interleaving served as a somewhat engaging suite unto itself.

The only weak offering in the program took place during the first half of the program. While Chapman seems to have done her best to give an account of the music, Hannah Kendall’s “Processional” lacked any sense of determination that one associates with a procession. Far more satisfying were the works flanking this piece on either side in the first half of the program. The Suite en Trio by Mel Bonis was originally composed for flute, violin, and piano; but Anderle’s clarinet work seemed to capture all the rhetorical devices that Bonis had in mind. Similarly, Kevin Day’s “Unquiet Waters” was composed for saxophone and piano; but Anderle was definitely up to capturing the underlying rhetoric of turbulence.

The instrumentation for this recital was significantly reduced, but there was no questioning the richness of the music that was delivered!