Reviews

NCC: IV: Time Machine: Crossing Epochs
April 25, 2022, Chandler Hall
Review by John Campbell

Norfolk Chamber Consort returned to Old Dominion University's Chandler Hall, its longtime home, for a program that surveyed harpsichord music over some 330 years. In Time Machine: Crossing Epochs, the final program of the 2021-2022 season, the five pieces presented were written between 1738 and 1968. NCC Associate Artistic Director and WHRO personality Wayla Chambo was our host for the evening.

To begin, a brief word about the final piece on the program. Manuel de Falla's concerto for six instruments was commissioned by Wanda Landowska (1877-1959). In the early 1900s Ms. Landowska gave harpsichord and piano concerts in Europe and the United States, creating a new interest in an ancient instrument while championing 17th and 18th century music. As the leading figure in the 20th century revival of the harpsichord, we owe her a debt of gratitude for this program.

Bach is always a good place to begin and here we had a quartet of strings with harpsichord conducted by Paul Kim. The players in J.S. Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 (c. 1738) can be heard in many guises. An extremely different version than this is a well-known recording of Glenn Gould on piano with an orchestra led by Leonard Bernstein with the two superstars at odds over tempos in the piece.

But here, all was peace. The live, sweet tones of the in-person playing of harpsichordist Oksana Lutsyshyn (born in Lviv, Ukraine) Gretchen Loyola and Anna Dobrzyn, violins; Anastasia Migliozzi, viola; and Elizabeth Richards, cello, were, so-to-speak, on the same page. The first and last movements are Allegro with the harpsichord creating an energetic and dramatic cloud of sound, speedily seeking resolution. Conductor Kim led a precisely coordinated performance. The inner Adagio was mellow and laid back. We could hear individual notes articulated in the harpsichord. The string players were superbly coordinated, though the cello may have had some intonation issues.

Moving forward 25 years we heard a piece by Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), whose father died when he was 14 years old. As one of the Classical era's leading composers, J.C. Bach had far more fame in his lifetime than Johann Sebastian did in his. By 1763 when the piece we heard, Harpsichord Concerto, Op. 1, No. 6 in D Major was composed, he was living in London and focusing on writing Italian-style operas that he had learned to compose while in Milan, Turin and Naples. His concertos, Op. 1 are essentially opera overtures with interesting themes and extended developments. The Op. 1, No. 6 was dedicated to Queen Charlotte and we were to listen for the “God Save the King” theme in the three-movement work.

At this time the aesthetic of naturalism was in vogue. The lighter textures, slower harmonic rhythms and periodic phrase structures are found in his music. The short Allegro Assai movement is a light dance. The Andante second offers a music-box sounding harpsichord and plucked strings. Finally, in the Allegro moderato third the violinists dig-in with a substantive statement of God Save the King.

After intermission Andrey Kasparov appeared on harpsichord with violinist Anna Dobrzyn in Dixième Sonate à Violon Seul et la Basse Continue (Tenth Sonata for Solo Violin and Bass Continuo). The piece was composed c. 1729 by Paris-born Jean-Baptiste Anet (1676-1755) and later transcribed by Darius Milhaud (1892-1974). The seven-movement piece spanned about fifteen minutes of charming music. In the Andante the fused sound of harpsichord and violin was intriguing. The Allegro has many quick notes that were mirrored by the other instrument. Sarabande was a slow, graceful dance. Ariette had light-as-air elegance. Gavotte was also a brilliant dance. Gigue began on violin in fleet playing suggesting lighthearted dancing. The Finale tempo was brisk as in all seven movements. Both performers appeard to improvise as was customary in Baroque performance with each addding scales and ornaments on repeats of the dances. At age 19 or 20 Anet went to Rome where Corelli “adopted” him as his son because he played the older composer's music so beautifully. Later, he was in the court of Louis XIV. His music was graceful and often interesting without being original.

Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923 – 2006) is known for Atmospheres for orchestra used in Kubrick's film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Equally inventive is the four-minute piece we heard, Continuum (1968) for solo harpsichord. It was written for a two-manual harpsichord, though the one Ms. Lutsyshyn played had only one. The solution: four hands—Invencia Piano Duo, Kasparov and Lutsyshyn—playing one, narrow harpsichord. The reason it was composed for harpsichord is the fast, continuous sound is impossible to achieve on the heavier action of a piano. Described as a densely woven cobweb of sound by Ms. Chambo, it gave the aural illusion of a four-minute continuous sound to carry us into another dimension. It is as if a single, continual sound is doubled, becoming a continuous, quiet roar. A single high note breaks into the whole, creating a ringing tone. Now it becomes lighter, like a rapid Morse code going out to another universe. Abruptly it ends and we have landed 330 years forward in time.

For the concluding piece we return to Wanda Landowska. Both Poulenc (1929) and Falla (1976) wrote harpsichord pieces for her. We heard Falla's Concerto for Harpsichord (Lutsyshyn), Flute (Wayla Chambo), Oboe (Harvey Stokes), Clarinet (Michael Byerly), Violin (Loyola) and Cello (Richards) with Kim conducting. The fragmented, percussive sounds of six disparate instruments assembled into a tune of sorts from time to time. For convenience the music is called “Concerto for Harpsichord” but it was not a showpiece for Ms. Landowska as she had hoped it would be, but a chamber work giving equal weight to all instruments.

This spiky, neoclassical concerto incorporated old popular, religious, and courtly Spanish melodies that took inspiration from the busy clattering sonatas of 18th century composers Domenico Scarlatti and Antonio Soler with piquant, “wrong-note” harmonies in the manner of Satie's Parade. The harpsichord played a 15th century Castilian folk song while the flute and oboe tried to wrest control. The instruments tried to toss the tune around, sometimes in staccato bursts. The second, Lento, movement offered as lush a sound as a harpsichord can make while the winds in octave offered an austere melody at harmonic odds with the roughness of medieval religious music of ecstasy played on modern instruments. The third, Vivace movement had music box Baroque effects of trills and swoops piled on a high-spirited bi-tonal dance. The work was sometimes playful, sometimes somber and all in good fun; perhaps it could even be used as a cartoon soundtrack.

Compliments to Paul Kim for conducting such a challenging piece with its many meter changes and kudos to the group for coming together in such an exciting performance. It was exhilarating to be in the hall to experience this complex, 20th century masterpiece. Even the players were high on the energy they created.

Wow! A fully-realized return to Chandler Hall. Hopefully next season the usual, full audience will also return.