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Menlo again
Aug. 10th, 2010 11:14 pmI still can't get over how Music@Menlo gives away some of their best concerts for free.
A program of Ravel's String Quartet and the piano four-hand version of Le Sacre du Printemps is not my ideal choice of program. But I was so impressed with how the Amphion Quartet handled Ravel's scherzo in a master class (also free) a few days ago that I decided to show up. And it was immensely worthwhile.
The Ravel, a piece which normally strikes me with a feeling of uncontrollable ennui, was a brilliantly driven combination of fiery sparks in the fast movements and coquettishness in the slow, with tight control of pacing and a vast array of tone colors. Had the finale not been merely excellent instead of transformative like the other movements, it would have been one of the epic cases of musical recovery.
The Rite in this form I also have heard before. This performance was at least as much fun. Packing all that power onto a tiny keyboard only underlines the intensity of Stravinsky's rhythms and craggy themes. And the two pianists (David Fung and Michael Brown) pounded the heck out of that piano.
It was at Menlo-Atherton, their largest venue, so there were empty seats. There shouldn't have been.
A program of Ravel's String Quartet and the piano four-hand version of Le Sacre du Printemps is not my ideal choice of program. But I was so impressed with how the Amphion Quartet handled Ravel's scherzo in a master class (also free) a few days ago that I decided to show up. And it was immensely worthwhile.
The Ravel, a piece which normally strikes me with a feeling of uncontrollable ennui, was a brilliantly driven combination of fiery sparks in the fast movements and coquettishness in the slow, with tight control of pacing and a vast array of tone colors. Had the finale not been merely excellent instead of transformative like the other movements, it would have been one of the epic cases of musical recovery.
The Rite in this form I also have heard before. This performance was at least as much fun. Packing all that power onto a tiny keyboard only underlines the intensity of Stravinsky's rhythms and craggy themes. And the two pianists (David Fung and Michael Brown) pounded the heck out of that piano.
It was at Menlo-Atherton, their largest venue, so there were empty seats. There shouldn't have been.
