|
Back
Secrets and Exclamations New York
Bargemusic
07/21/2024 -
William Bolcom: Introduzione e Rondo “Haydn Go Seek”
Arnold Schoenberg: Six Little Pieces, Opus 19 (Arr. Rieko Aizawa)
Maurice Ravel: Trio in A Minor
Horszowski Trio: Rieko Aizawa (Piano), Jesse Mills (Violin), Ole Akahoshi (Cello)
O. Akahoshi, R. Aizawa, J. Mills at BargeMusic (© Samuel A. Dog)
“Composing is very labor-intensive and the reward is getting a piece played. It doesn’t make any money, it doesn’t necessarily get you girls. The only reason our wives stay with us is they know where we are most of the time. You know, we’re available for taking out the garbage.”
William Bolcom
“Oh, I finished the whole ‘Piano Trio’. Now I just have to find the themes.”
Maurice Ravel
Summer sun glittering on the East River, itself the foreground of Manhattan’s dramatic skyline , families in shorts and t‑shirts, oozing ice cream and pizza and taking pictures to send back to Iowa and Kansas...
“Today,” said I to the lady welcoming me to BargeMusic, “is not the time for Arnold Schoenberg.”
It was indeed. The Six Pieces of Webernian duration (around six minutes) had been re‑done by the Horszowski Trio pianist for an enchanting lilt of color, adding a kind of soft bell for whispering effect.
Even more interesting, I had imagined the Schoenberg as a disruption between William Bolcom and Maurice Ravel. Instead, thanks to this wonderful ensemble, the Bolcom Haydn Go Seek and the Schoenberg Pieces had (with a dollop of imagination) quite a bit in common.
The Horszowski Trio, named after the great pianist whose last student was Rieko Aizawa, hardly deserved the sparse audience at BargeMusic. They are of course technically skilled, and they obviously have a singular creativity, as shown in the Schoenberg. More essential, they are obviously playing for their own enjoyment, as well as those few who knew the secrets of what was going on.
William Bolcom, for instance, is the one genie of composition who can cross any boundary with alacrity and fun. His Ghost Rag is his most popular piece, but he has taken on operas, symphonies and, yes, parodies.
W. Bolcom/M. Ravel
Those parodies are less blatant that, say, the late Peter Schickele. And more composed than de‑composed.
In his Haydn Go Seek (for 18th Century lovers, I’d call it Haydn-Gossec), he did a long Haydn‑esque introduction, followed by a trippy Rondo. The challenge was finding the satire. Unlike Mozart’s endlessly error‑full Musical Joke, one had to listen carefully for the sudden key‑changes, the rondo themes which perfect until they had tiny mistakes.
And like all humor, it was played straight. The Bolcom genius never shouted out. It was whispered.
So now came its unexpected twin: Arnold Schoenberg’s Six Pieces for Piano. Why the twin? Bolcom’s work was melodious, inventive with little “mistakes”. Schoenberg didn’t write this with dodecaphonic rules. It was also melodious, inventive and for those confined to a diatonic bent, had plenty of “errors”.
Of course it was the composer with one of his auf wiedersehens to tonality. What transposer Aizawa did was paint these notes. Violinist Jesse Mills and cellist Ole Akahoshi gave more than tints to the notes. The original piano score, which I have attempted, is interesting, clever, has its own secrets (like the final piece supposed tribute to Mahler), but actually dry.
By separating it into three instruments, one heard an aural painting. Not revolutionary, simply eccentrically late 19th Century.
I have only three comments on the Ravel Trio. First the delight in finally hearing it live. The gossamer colors really must jump out. The Basque melody, the luscious passacaglia fit in together. Second, while an abstraction, I could hear the reflections of Mother Goose and the crescendos of La Valse.
Third was part the genius of Horszowski, part Ravel–and part avian.
In the third movement, both string players worked together with only few notes from the piano. The music was solitary meditative, dreamy... And as they were fiddling, a flock of seagulls could be seen in the rear windows. Wafting, floating, making a visual counterpoint to the so‑vibrant music.
Harry Rolnick
|
