Monday’s Vivace! concert at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music brought Chinese and American musicans associated with the academy together in an ”East Meets West” celebration that was, as Vivace Artistic Director (and Newstead Trio member) Michael T. Jamanis said in his introduction, ”a great opportunity to bring our cultures together.” Also present for the concert was Jinqi Ma, who recently donated two pianos to the academy.
Violinist Simon Maurer and violist Ning Mu opened up the concert with the Passacaglia, described by Jamanis as “a theme by Handel that was blown up by (Johan) Halvorsen.” The two instrumentalists entwined Handel’s theme with increasingly difficult variations as they tossed it back and forth. It was a virtuoso showpiece and a fine opening to the program.
Pianist Eileen Huang then took the stage for a series of arrangements of Chinese folk music by various composers associated with conservatories in Beijing and Shanghai. Huang, a native of China who came to the U.S. in 1979, pointed out that the piano was first imported to China in the 1930s and most of the music for it was composed after 1949. The arrangements she played were composed in the ’50s and ’60s. Some of the songs came from that period of revolution – ”Liberation” and “Celebration,” for instance — but others were much older. “Spring River Flower Moon Night,” an arrangement of an instrumental piece for the pipa by Li Ying Hai, dates from the Sung Dynasty — more or less 1,000 years ago. The latter piece was part of a group of “Three Moon Songs” that started off this segment of the concert; the others were “Rainbow-Clouds Chasing the Moon” and “Autumn Moon Mirrored in the Lake.” Though they were arranged by different hands, the three worked together as a sort of sonata, with “Autumn Moon” as a slower, moodier section between two more extroverted, showier pieces.
The sort of microtonal bending and tone variety possible on Chinese instruments were translated into runs, trills and expressive ornamentation surrounding pentatonic melodies by the arrangers, all given a very expressive performance by Huang. At the same time, the translation of the music to a western instrument brought out some hidden similarities between separated traditions: “The Girl with Black Eyes” could have been a modal folk song from Appalachia. One of the most striking pieces was “100 Birds Singing in Homage to the Phoenix,” an arrangement by Wang Jing Zhong of an original for the sona (described here), a multivoiced aviary brought to fluttering, singing life by Huang.
Receiving its world premier by the Newstead Trio was “Lullaby” by U.S. composer Adrienne Albert, who was also on hand for the performance. Over a quiet, minor-key introduction by pianist Xun Pan, violinist Jamanis spun a lovely melody. Then cellist Sara Male joined in and the cello and violin sang together for a while, then the main theme passed over to the cello. Albert described the brief, lyrical piece as being one of three movements, and now I want to hear the others.
The concert wound up with “Seasons of Life,” a set of four impressionistic songs with words and music by Frances Veri, peformed by Veri on the piano and soprano Amy Yovanovich. “Primavera” opened with the word “Hush!” and evoked “the whispers of nature awakening in soft pastels.” “Kissed by the Sun” praised ”my garden so bright,” while “Harvest Moon” evoked falling leaves and the sights of autumn. To an accompaniment of crystalline broken chords, “L’Hiver” called forth images of snow and shining stars, “when all is pure and color turns white.” Veri and Yovanovich brought these delicate miniatures to life in a glowing performance.
Tonight, Hedi Salanki, harpsichord, and Xiaopei Xu, piano, will each perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Wednesday, the Festival Chamber Players will perform works by Mozart, Dvorak and Debussy. For information on ticket prices and more concerts, check here.
