A concert is a little different at the Mount Gretna Playhouse. The open sides and small size of the playhouse allows passers-by a pretty good view of what’s going on, while the playhouse’s site, in the middle of a residential area, allows plenty of traffic — very quiet, well-behaved traffic.
From my position in the standing-room-only area at the back of the theatre, I had a fine view of the stage for Midori’s performance Sunday. The accoustics suffer a little in the back. For a violinist as subtle and nuanced as Midori, there’s a distinct loss in the quieter passages. However, there are gains as well: obbligato birdsong, the sounds of children at a nearby playground, the gurgle of iced drinks being slurped up through straws, cool breezes on the back of the neck, the rumble and squeak of passing strollers, a barking dog, an occasional car (the road by the playhouse is closed to all traffic but that of residents). At one point, a couple on a tandem bike paused to enjoy a few moments of Schumann. Others gathered on the stone wall of a nearby property. “You could just buy a house here,” one standee observed to another. The weather was cooperative as well, reasonably cool and not too humid, an ideal evening for a concert.
Midori and pianist Charles Abramovic played as one being during the program, one that was easily a high point of the summer concert season. It was held as a benefit for the long-running summer music series and also in memory of Russell Hatz, a musician and longtime friend of Music at Gretna.
The concert program matched the environment, being made up of works of agreeable disposition with little harshness or despair. It was like meeting people at a party: A wise and avuncular Johannes Brahms (the Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100) who can be a little melancholy at times, high-spirited at others but always philosophical; The metaphysical and contemplative Ernest Bloch (Sonata No. 2, “Poeme Mystique”) who takes you along for a few steps of a long and strange spiritual journey; the romantic and imaginative Robert Schumann (Phantasiestucke, Op. 73), who wears his heart proudly on his sleeve; and last but not least, the convivial Franz Schubert, who keeps the party going and everyone happy until the curtain’s final fall.
(A more complete review of the concert ran in the July 23 edition of the Lancaster New Era.)
