Bill

Takács Quartet

by
Takacs Quartet by Patrick Ryan
Photo Credit: Patrick Ryan

Three great pieces by this great string quartet, reputed as among the best in the world.  The group started in Hungary (the name is pronounced like “tah catch”) in 1975, and 2 of the original members are still playing: that’s 40 years!  The newest member is Geraldine Walther who joined 10 years ago after a 30-year orchestra career.  So that is a lot of talent.

As I didn’t know the Dvorak piece, it was a pleasant surprise, especially the 3rd movement.  The third piece was Schubert’s Death and the Maiden.  There was a question about the lack of vibrato in the opening (which I didn’t notice) which they said made it more primal.  The last 2 movements were especially rousing.  They say the play this piece a lot and know it very well, and it showed.

They are currently the artist in resident at University of Colorado in Boulder.  It started as a 3 year scholarship in 1986, but they loved the area so much they moved there and have stayed ever since.

Cellist Walther teasingly prodded first violinist about a book he has written about the quartet and Beethoven’s quartets: Beethoven for a Later Age.  It will be published in a few months, and looks like it will be quite interesting.  The concept of working intensely and artistically with the same 4 people for 40 years is very unusual.

Program Notes

As You Like It

by

A St. Paul’s School summer course, this being the second of two Shakespeare plays produced over a 4-week program.  This was an ambitious goal, but they carried it off.

The highlight was definitely the “sheeple” admirably led by Corin the shepherd.

As You Like It program

Cymbeline

by

This production of Cymbeline was held at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH.  It is hard to believe that a group of students can prepare a performance of Shakespeare in a little over 2 weeks, but they did indeed do it.

The synopsis helped, as well as prior viewing of the recent movie version. It was interesting that one of the best performances was Hadley Pope as Imogen, in her debut performance.  She played alongside a very good Poshumus by Sam Kingston.  His bio indicates prior theater experience, and certainly the rapidity but perfect clarity of his lines bore that out.  Some strong supporting roles were Cymbeline by Nancy Gregory and Helena Whitcomb as Lucius, in her debut as well.

There were some unintended humorous moments, with the beheading of Cloten, and also some intended ones with the blustering of Jupiter.

They did a good job with a challenging play.

Cymbeline July 2015

Gypsy

by

GypsyThis was the season opener for the New London Barn Playhouse.  This is always a fun and intimate venue, with a cast made up of young enthusiastic theater students.

This was a musical that I knew very little about, and it was not about the Roma as I learned.  Rather it was based on the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee, a famous stripper in the 50’s.

This was also unusual in that it is not your typical happy-go-lucky show, but rather more of a tragedy.  The evolution of the character, in particular the titular Gypsy does not become clear until the end.  The key part here is the driven mother Mama Rose, well acted by Anne Torsiglieri.  However, I found the singing somewhat harsh, and shrill – maybe the sound system or the acoustics?  Not a musical I would recommend.