Carnegie Hall performance thrills
ACJW concert a fitting premier event for Zankel performance hall
Andrew Lane-Lawless
Issue date: 2/12/10 Section: Arts & Entertainment
The Shostakovich piece, written during World War II and featuring themes taken from Jewish folk songs, was dark and brooding. As pianist Angelina Gadeliya noted, the Shostakovich piece deals largely with death and, fittingly, parts of it were even played at his funeral. The musicians captured the gloomy sentiment underlying the piece, especially in the third movement, when the music reached its most contemplative and dour moment.
The highlight of the night turned out to be the new piece, Gumboots. Written in 2008 by David Bruce as a commission for Carnegie Hall, it includes many elements of African dance music in string quartet format with clarinet. Part I of the piece built tension between the string quartet that carried through the hall with growing force, but never fully exploded, reaching a peak tension and then slowly fading out behind a repeating arpeggio figure from the viola.
However, during Part II, a group of five dances, took the lingering tension and released it cathartically in a string of buoyant and breezy movements. The highlight of these was the fifth dance, which showcased clarinetist Sarah Beaty's immense talent. Her trills and shrill tone wove in and out, leading each piece. In the fifth dance, these trills came in waves, each one reaffirming the last and giving it a sense of unity, recalling its triumphs in the final moments with just the right sense of nostalgia and without sounding like a retread. The piece received a standing ovation and again at the end of the concert, when all the performers walked back out, it received jubilant applause.
Indeed all of the performers received more than the requisite amount of appreciation from the audience. Often, opening nights can succeed on the back of the initial good feeling for something new and energetic. ACJW's performance would have been a brilliant one whether it was the first or 50th performance in the new hall.
The highlight of the night turned out to be the new piece, Gumboots. Written in 2008 by David Bruce as a commission for Carnegie Hall, it includes many elements of African dance music in string quartet format with clarinet. Part I of the piece built tension between the string quartet that carried through the hall with growing force, but never fully exploded, reaching a peak tension and then slowly fading out behind a repeating arpeggio figure from the viola.
However, during Part II, a group of five dances, took the lingering tension and released it cathartically in a string of buoyant and breezy movements. The highlight of these was the fifth dance, which showcased clarinetist Sarah Beaty's immense talent. Her trills and shrill tone wove in and out, leading each piece. In the fifth dance, these trills came in waves, each one reaffirming the last and giving it a sense of unity, recalling its triumphs in the final moments with just the right sense of nostalgia and without sounding like a retread. The piece received a standing ovation and again at the end of the concert, when all the performers walked back out, it received jubilant applause.
Indeed all of the performers received more than the requisite amount of appreciation from the audience. Often, opening nights can succeed on the back of the initial good feeling for something new and energetic. ACJW's performance would have been a brilliant one whether it was the first or 50th performance in the new hall.
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