Summer Strings faculty hits a high note in recital
Tuesday night’s concert at Porterville College showcased the amazingly talented group of teachers who are working with over 100 local fifth through 12th grade string instruments students at this year’s Porterville Summer Strings music camp. A tradition during the nine years of the camp is to have the teachers perform for students, parents and friends, and it seems that this performance gets better every year.
The music camp will culminate with the “Finale Concert” at 6 p.m. on Friday in Porterville College’s newly-renovated gymnasium.
Tuesday’s recital began with a movement from a sextet written by Johannes Brahms. These are six independent parts (two each violin, viola and cello) and provided quite a workout for the musicians. The overlapping textures (while one uses a bow, the other plucks the strings, pizzicato) were at once a delight for the audience and difficult, but brilliantly executed by the performers, all of them professionals in their own right. A movement from a Schubert piano trio (piano, violin and cello) followed, and pianist Irene Kim was not only flawless in her performance, but sensitive to the other two players. It is easy for a piano to drown-out just two other instruments, but the balance between the three was fantastic. Violinist Benjamin Hoffman and cellist Paul Young were equally sensitive in their treatment of Schubert’s melodic phrases, and their intonation (tuning) was flawless.
A contemporary work by Crosmer featured violist Meghan Yost-coe and bassist Evan Spieker. Neither of these are the typical “melody” instrument in an orchestra, yet the two of them played the rather disjunct (and at time dissonant) selection with poise and amazing accuracy.
With Gregory Smith on piano, Rodelyn Lipumano-smith (violin) and Jared Cooper (cello) played a movement from Mendelssohn’s d-minor piano trio. Mendelssohn’s amazing gift for writing a melody was certainly in capable hands as Rodelyn and Jared traded melodic phrases above the harmonic foundation Gregory provided on the piano. This was simply beautitul, start to finish.
Violinist Vijeta Sathyaraj and Jared then played a short piece by Ravel which seemed to be more akin to 20th century expressionism than Ravel’s usual Impressionistic harmonies. Textures were once again at play — he raises the fury (like a couple arguing) only to settle the quarrel with a musically sweet ending chord.
What followed next was the final movement from Haydn’s “String Quartet No. 76.” Long acknowledged as the timeless master of this genre, Haydn’s energetic and vivacious opening was a brilliant call-back to the audience after a brief intermission. The spirited segments of the piece were punctuated by long melodic phrases on violin (or cello) while the other three provided the accompanying chord — the slow harmonic movement so typical of the “noble, pleasing and uplifting” music of Haydn and the Viennese composers.
The “Suite for Violin and Double Bass” by Reinhold Gliere showed how the impossible becomes possible — violinist Mannwen Lo and bassist Maurice Todd were literally playing a quartet (each playing double-stop, or two strings at once). But hearing the violin, already playing doublestop, accompany herself with a drone pitch (literally playing on three strings) — amazing!
The audience was thrilled with the concluding piece which featured all 16 of these talented performers playing the first movement of J. S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3,” forming a chamber orchestra. With four cellos and two basses, the bottom end was a bit heavy (and drowned out the harpsichord), but it was a thrilling end to a fabulous concert.
In the late 18th century in Mannheim, Germany, the elector recruited all over Europe to bring the finest musicians to his town to create a truly worldclass orchestra. He should have been in Porterville on Tuesday for the world class playing of world-class music. Bravo to one and all.
Ellen Nichols is a long-time resident of the Porterville area and an active member of the musical community. She studied music at Mills College (Oakland) and has played piano for numerous organizations locally, including the Porterville Developmental Center, First Congregational Church, and the Porterville Unified School District. As a singer, she has performed with choirs for more than five decades.