Reviews

Stephen Coxe, Impresario, Composer, Pianist
Faculty Recital, Chandler Hall, January 29, 2019
Reviewed by John Campbell

To showcase his many talents, Stephen Coxe's faculty recital involved the musical talent of eighteen other musicians to bring to a good size audience music by Bernstein, Messiaen, Coxe, Varèse and Brahms. This annual event is only one of many programs he has helped organize and participate in over several years, hence my use of the word “impresario.”

As a coda to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth (1918-1990), we heard Seven Anniversaries (1943) for solo piano played by Dr. Coxe. We heard two of the seven last season on a Norfolk Chamber Consort program.

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) was an American composer and critic who lived in New York City and was fond of writing musical portraits of his friends—several sets were published. Bernstein was influenced by Thomson and created his own portraits, calling them “Anniversaries.” Over many years he penned thirty-three short works and the ones we heard were the first ones published. Unlike their models they were more tributes than detailed portraits. They are short (1/2 - 2 ½ minutes) and often include the first appearance of a musical idea that will later show-up in a more substantial work.

Bernstein's I For Aaron Copland, with an occasional dissonance, has a sense of the wide-open spaces of Copland's musical world. IV For Paul Bowles opens with left hand only. It has a quick tempo and an inviting tune. In VII For William Schuman, he offered his fellow composer a sort of modern, very brief “Kitten on the Keys” with a glassy surface. Conductor Serge Koussevitsky, who championed both Copland and Bernstein's compositions, got his own piece with bold, deliberate playing. Filled with nostalgic music, V In Memoriam: Nathalie Koussevitsky and III In Memoriam: Alfred Eisner, were intense, with stately music that became meditative and tender by the end. Eisner had been Bernstein's roommate at Harvard and died of a brain tumor in January, 1941 while Bernstein graduated from Curtis Institute later that year. II For My Sister Shirley offers a repetitive tune, stuck in place. He and his sister were buddies in his college years and beyond.

In the next piece Wayla J. Chambo played flute with Coxe at the piano in Le merle noir (The Blackbird) (1952) written by French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) who was teacher, organist and ornithologist. The spare piano was enhanced by amazingly fleet flute techniques of bird-like sounds in this experimental soundscape. We heard a solo angry bird call that gave way to a mellow duet and later an edgy interplay between flute and piano until the blackbird has the final word. It was a wonder of collaboration—exciting!

Dr. Coxe was joined by tenor and fellow ODU faculty member Brian Nedvin for three of Coxe's (b. 1966) Levertov Songs (2003), setting of poems by Denise Levertov (1923-1997). Coxe has said “The imagery and sensitivity in her work suggests immediate musical ideas.” In Waiting, the singer matter-of-factly describes waiting at the corners of the earth for “the forever longed for.” There is no conclusion to this existential condition except continual vigilance. In Adam's Complaint, with a ferociously powerful piano opening and in excellent voice, Coxe and Nedvin explore further the lack of fulfillment—desire always outpacing what one has. Nostalgic longing is found in The Rain. The poem speaks of fleeting images of the past as gentle rain covers all, while a moment in time is cherished by the poet.

A reprise of Ionisation (1931) by Edgard Varèse came next. French born Varèse (1883-1965) became a U.S. Citizen in 1926 and spent his career experimenting with sound. The thirteen performers were the same at the January 26, 2019 Governor's School for the Arts concert but the Chandler Hall acoustic is more vivid with focused details, making this a nuanced, crisper, clearer sounding performance. The electrical siren was first used in this piece, beginning Varèse's new focus on electronic music, challenging both the audience and his critics. Still true today! Dr. Coxe at the piano with four GSA students, six ODU percussion students and guest alum Sarah Williams with ODU alum and GSA faculty Dennis Northerner, were conducted by David Walker. Based on atomic change, or ionization, rhythmic cells are expanded, varied and contracted against one another. The cells are represented by blocks of sound that grow and pulse. Rhythmic unisons sometime happen, bringing separate blocks together in a single, propulsive rush. Random, like nature itself, this performance was more interesting than the one at the Roper or even the CD in my collection. Be glad if you were there.

The single work after intermission was Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60 (1875) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). There is the making of tragedy in the awesome first movement Allegro non troppo (lively but no too fast) played by violinist Paul Kim, violist Rebecca Kim, cellist Jeff Phelps and pianist Coxe. Music of a brooding intensity opens the first movement with a strange dissonance: an E-natural plucked (pizzicato) in the violin and viola undermines the sense of the dominant piano flow. Finale offered ardent playing, edgy, intense strings while the piano soothed.

The second movement Scherzo offers bright, lively music. Then a bit of calm playing leads into orchestral grandeur by the end. By contrast, the beautiful, lyrical Andante third movement offers melting sweetness! Mid-way through intensity challenges the listener briefly with a Wagnerian ecstasy to an exquisite cadence left unresolved, only to return to a gentle melody of plucked strings to end. Finale Allegro comodo is soon on a tear, with a constant, quick piano tempo as the string fragments come and go. The music provokes shifting moods as tempos and intensities vary. The instrumentalists gave a fine performance and ended it in an explosion of sound with a mighty, final chord. Their coordinated tone-painting makes me want to hear them perform more piano quartet repertory.

ODU Faculty Recital
Stephen Coxe and Fellow Musicians
February 4, 2020, Chandler Hall
Review by John Campbell

As is his usual plan, Dr. Stephen Coxe at the piano played a diverse program with several fellow ODU faculty members. This time there was twentieth-century music by Bartók, Ravel and Berg, as well as two major works by Coxe himself. They opened with Romanian Folk Dances Sz. 56 (1915) by Bela Bartók (1881-1945), which grew out of Bartók's exploration of Hungarian peasant music. The melodic fertility and rhythmical vitality of his imagination was beautifully displayed by Dr. Paul Kim, violin, with Coxe at the piano. The clear, clean, Gypsy-informed mature romanticism showed through the six short pieces. Their titles translate into English as Stick Dance, Sash Dance, Stamping Dance, Hornpipe Dance, Romanian Polka and Quick Dance. Quick Dance offered an all-stops-out powerful piano with fast fiddling. If these titles sound familiar, there is also an orchestral version, Sz. 68.

Next, our pianist gave us three solo pieces by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). The light mood of Prelude in A Minor (1913) evoked early morning light. It was followed by the gentle, inviting Menuet in C-Sharp Minor (1904). Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, (1909) was also light but was more energetic and complex than the C-Sharp Menuet and had a sweet ending. They were all gentle and engaging, like sharing a breath with the performer.

Patti Ferrell Carlson on clarinet joined Coxe at the piano for Alban Berg's (1883-1935) Vier Stüke (Four Pieces) Op. 5 (1913). These pieces can be seen as poetic gestures, extravagant in expression despite their beauty, all in less than eight minutes. Berg dedicated these to Arnold Schoenberg, even though he was no longer Schoenberg's student. At this time, Berg, Schoenberg and Weber were all writing very short pieces. The clarinet opens the first piece and the mood is detached, the sound clear but tentative. The second, very slowly paced movement relates to one of Schoenberg's from his Op.19.— both are based on a major third, here repeated by the piano many times, while lyrical melody rises in the clarinet. In the edgy duet in the third movement the instruments engage each other at an unrushed pace. The fourth is emotionally evocative, tender and a little sad. A clarinet vibrato is echoed in the piano before each goes its own way, only to re-engage with more energy. Low, gentle piano notes and sprightly clarinet bring us to the end. Critic Peter Peterson, contrasting the two pieces, says Schoenberg's piece scarcely comes to fulfillment while Berg offers a wide compass within a short space of time.

The Seven Blake Songs by Coxe were written in 2013 but tonight we heard the 2019 revision sung by Tenor Brian Nedvin. In Cradle Song, Blake projects adult characteristics onto the child. Only the central verse seems to enter the world of the child as we see children today. Complexity versus simplicity are writ large and performed convincingly by both Coxe and Nedvin. The Angel, represented by wild piano accompaniment, comes to a sleeping child. But the singer tells us that the waking child guards against the soft, gentle world and heart's delight of the night. When “”morn blush'd rosy red,” the singer takes on a war-like pose so the angel came in vain and now he has grown old. If we think of Nurse's Song as a continuation of the one before, it expands the poet's ambivalence about the joys of youth altogether. While in The Little Vagabond the world of convention of praising the church and damning the pub is turned on its head. The poet's message: God comes out rejoicing in his children's happiness found only in the pub—both warmth and nourishment are found there. Escaping this land of “unbelief and fear” is the story of The Land of Dreams which the poet declares to be better by far “above the light of the morning star.”

This long set is quite a meditation on life, love and longevity and Dr. Nedvin's diction was crystal-clear and the piano was as the composer wrote it. In the last two songs, The Fly has the singer identifying with the fly that is brushed away by the human hand, just as the man's life is equally precarious. The Echoing Green rings with happy children, exuberant in springtime play, watched over by Old John who laughs away care, reminiscing about his own memories of when he was the kid on the green and being called in to the family warmth as dusk comes on.

After intermission soprano Dr. Bianca Hall very successfully reprised the John Cage (1912-1992) song The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs (1942) that she sang in the December 12, 2019 concert at Christ and St. Luke's that I reviewed on February 4, 2020, here accompanied by Coxe tapping the body of the piano. This was followed by Cage's Second Construction (1940) for a marvelous selection of percussion instruments played by ODU sophomore Ethan Cagle, the talented freelance percussionist Sarah Williams and Professor David Walker who heads the ODU Percussion Ensemble. Ms. Williams was a prize-winning performer before she received her undergraduate degree at ODU and is once again a student in Mr. Walker's studio while working on an advanced degree.

Cage has been a major influence on all classical percussion. The bells sang the beautiful opening theme followed by long tones from the tam-tam (agong struck by a felt mallet). These were followed by a signature rhythmic melody on piano while the brush-work on snare drum delineated a "back-beat," setting the music alight in contrapuntal motion(Gregory Beyer, Third Coast Percussion).

I think that if Bach had lived into the 21st century he too might approach the cello as Dr. Coxe did in his Cello Sonata (2007, completed 2019). Jeff Phelps with Coxe at the piano gave us the three movements that are generous to the cellist but also has many duet passages. Pianist and cellist were superbly tuned into each other. Con moto, sempre cantabile (with motion, always singing) was followed by an airy, quick, light Scherzo-Trio second movement. The piano tempo increases while the deep cello notes offer a somber beauty. The third movement, Fantasy: Lento-Reverie-March, began with slow, soulful playing which moved into a reverie with increased intensity, only to be followed by an intense march rhythm a bit out of step between the instruments. Then we are back to the caressing, coordinated playing, followed by pizzicato cello plucks reuniting with piano at the end.