Events around and about Dartmouth College and Hanover, New Hampshire
A great concert in Spaulding that ended with a giant NH conga line through the aisles.
I didn’t know what to expect, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. Although the songs were international, the congas and percussion gave everything a great latin feel.
It was a nice touch to do Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” and have women in the audience join them on stage. The stage was packed and everyone was dancing and clapping. My only complaint was that the second half was too short….
This concert was in Rollins Chapel, and was an eclectic mix of modern music. Del Sol is a string quartet, and ZOFO (ZO=20, FO=finger orchester) is piano for four hands. I particularly enjoyed the 6th movement “Adios a Churin from Milagros, a nice cello part in particular. The Wheel & Mythic Birds Waltz was nice too, although I didn’t get how the explanation tied in.
In the second half, there were two Promenade parts, where first Eva-Maria walked around, and then Keisuke walked around. I enjoyed the Paisaje and the Praying Mantis Rag (which was in fact ragtime).
The last piece was a bit comical, as it involved toy pianos, an instrument I had not seen before. Each performer took a turn coming to one of the two to play a section.
A familiar program, with Mozart and Beethoven. The Mozart was one of the Haydn quartets, a familiar and beautiful piece. In the comments after, Paul and Larry said that it is harder to play joyful music like this. “Too easy for amateurs, too hard for professionals”.
The second piece was a written for the quartet, a modern piece by a well-known (to them) British composer. Somewhat of a chore, except for the last movement – more melodic.
And the last was Beethoven’s infamous C#- quartet. It was played without a break, and finished with a resound finale. They said afterwards that it was a journey, and exhausting to play. The key is a tough one, that involved a lot of stretching. To a student who asked if they still found it difficult, they said it is always a challenge. But this quartet is why it is worth seeing chamber music, and seeing it live – and what a treat with a world-class ensemble.
I saw this concert from the second row in Spaulding – not ideal for sound with large choral works, but always interesting to be up close to the first violin and the soloists. The concert was sold out, but there were 2 empty seats on either side of me.
The start was the most famous Bach Orchestral Suite No. 3, with the very familiar “Air”. I suppose this was to make the pre-intermission segment a bit longer, as the Magnificat is a relatively short piece.
The Stabat Mater filled the second half. I had never heard this live before, and it was really wonderful, particularly the duets and quartets with the soloists. Soprano Esteli Gomez and tenor Derek Chester particularly shone, especially with the “Fac ut portem”.
An unusual name for a baroque chamber music group. And perhaps as the director suggested, it should have been Apollo’s Kindling, as the group that played in Spaulding only contained 6 members, instead of the usual orchestra. But it was a fine concernt nonetheless.
The director and harpsichordist, Jeannette Sorrell, dedicated the concert to the memory of John Rassias. She spent 4 summers as a student at the Rassias Institute.
The premise of the program was to emulate Bach’s coffeehouse atmosphere. The instruments are period instruments, or at least in their style, and the musicians are all specialists in the era. The music was a very nice baroque selection, with the familiar Bach piece for flute and strings, and a movement from one of the unaccompanied cello suites. It was interesting in the program to learn about how close in age the composers were, and how well they knew each other.
The last piece was a Vivaldi sonata called “La Folia” after a type of dance that was popular at that time. Jeannette dedicated it to John Rassias, remembering his “madness” which would lead him to shred his shirt at the ALPS banquet. She did not think that they would go that far, but hoped that we would leave the concert with a kind of inspiration.
Jeannette, Olivier, Johanna, and Kristen came to the stage after for some questions. They are spread over the country, but still work well together. Kristen and Johanna, the newest members, have been with the group for 12 years, and a number have been there since the founding 25 years ago.