Idyllwild Arts Academy Chamber Music Concert
When dealing with the expected annual presentation of the musical capabilities of Idyllwild Arts Academy students, one is always aware of the potential combinations of talents such a distinguished institution can afford its audiences. Thus, with the crisp and full autumnal mood setting, the Chamber Music concert at Lowman Hall this past Tuesday evening was presented as admirably as in previous years.
Beginning somewhat unconventionally with a complement of 3 equally proficient clarinetists, the “B Flat Minor Clarinet Trio” of the 19th century Austrian composer / teacher / choral conductor Joseph Friedrich Hummel was essayed in spectacular fashion by Evelynn Chae, Louis Chan and Yixi Danzeng, turning about the phrases in a style obviously influenced by Carl Maria von Weber’s clarinet works, which gave out a different yet pleasing opening production. Following that, Unai Tellez and Lillian Ma’s playing of the 1st movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Concerto in G Minor” for 2 cellos was somewhat of a disappointment, in that the usual orchestral accompaniment was missing (at least a piano or harpsichord continuo should have been provided), thus making several cellistic faulty intonations all the more obvious, though in general the execution of the movement was pleasant enough.
There followed the program in the main, with the playing of the 1st movement of Clara Schumann’s “Piano Trio in G Minor, Opus 17” by Katerina Sommers, Stanislava Krylova and Michelle Fan (piano, violin and cello respectively). The fittingly all-female ensemble did their best to exemplify the work as dignified and stalwart as possible, and pointed to the maturer interpretation of the Clara / Robert Schumann relationship, both compositionally and conjugally. With the briefest of pauses, the “Deux Movements” for 2 flutes, clarinet and bassoon of Jacques Ibert followed, with bassoonist Robert Nael obviously leading the way through a somewhat tangled and diverse tonal set, characterized by alternating flowing phrases and rhythmic aberrations that added up to a neatly unified performance whole. The evening ended with the 1st movement of Anton Dvorak’s “String Quintet in G Major, Opus 77”. Here, the leadership responsibility was obviously taken by 1st violinist Abigail Regua, who together with 2nd violinist Brendon Soo kept the thrust of the opening at the indicated “Allegro con fuoco” tempo throughout, with colleagues Seoyeon Bay, Zachary Gellar and Yiwei Guo (viola, cello and double bass) admirable keeping Ms. Regua’s pace, and thus concluding the proceedings on a well-anticipated high mark.
High expectations were also evident on the following Thursday night for the “Vocal Concert” in the same Lowman Hall venue. After a brief introduction by 2 Arts Academy voice coaches, the concert got off to a somewhat rousing start with Jiaqi Li’s rendition of Antonio Caldera’s “Vittoria, Vittoria!” Both this selection and the following “An die Musik” of Franz Schubert by Hera Zhang suffered from both soloists’ incorrect placement in the bend of the piano, resulting in an inaudible understanding of the lyrics; a much better positioning was effected in the next piece, the “Botschaft, Opus 47#1” of Johannes Brahms, offered by soprano Kaylee An, in which the song’s “message” of the singer’s revivifying love came through most clearly. Tenor Andy Yang’s singing of Caldera’s “Alma del core” also benefited from better positioning, though his later number (the “Yue People’s Song”, sung in Chinese) put forward a more heartfelt interpretive effort, as did tenor Jiaqi Li’s rendering of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “O del mio dolce ardor”. The evening’s high spot came with the interplay of the “Letter Duet” from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”, with Kaylee An and Mar Hernandez interpreting the vocal banter of Susanna and Countess Almaviva to near precision.
Of the various popular and light-classical works on the program, it remains for this reviewer to state that however energetic and persuasive the performances might be taken, the accompanying backgrounds left the presentations somewhat marred, resulting in a sort of glorified karaoke session, at least to this listener, who would have eschewed amplified bombast for a more subdued guitar and/or violin accompaniment. Nevertheless, certain salient features prevailed in specific instances — Shen Liu and Isidore Smart-Sammy’s full-blown, torchy and quasi-beboppish rendering of the Harold Arlen / Yip Harburg “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (complete with verse) was a particular standout, and although the version of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” by Elizabeth Mullaly Henderson was somewhat overstated, it left a particularly over-reactive student audience contingent even more appreciative.
As for the remainder of the program, the few seasonal offerings were most convincingly conveyed — Kaylee An’s singing of both Samuel Barber’s “Sure on This Shining Night” and Adolphe Adam’s “Cantique de Noel” (the latter in both French and English) come to mind most readily, as does Hera Zhang’s version of Max Reger’s “Virgin’s Slumber Song”. In all, a varied display of vocal marvels to enlighten and divert a most appreciative grouping of Idyllwild auditors.
