By Christine Facciolo
Mélomanie, the critically acclaimed ensemble known for its
provocative pairings of early and contemporary works, capped off its 2016-17
season with a program tilted a bit more toward the contemporary than usual.
Joining regulars Kimberly Reighley, flute; Christof Richter,
violin; Donna Fournier, viola da gamba; and Tracy Richardson, harpsichord were
guest artists Naomi Gray, cello and Joshua Kovach, clarinet.
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| Mélomanie performs at The Delaware Contemporary near the Wilmington Waterfront. Photo by Tim Bayard. |
Mélomanie also welcomed flutist/composer Bonnie McAlvin
whose work Sandstone Peak received
its World Premiere at this concert. McAlvin explained how her fascination with
mountains — in this case the highest peak of the Santa Monica Mountains — inspired
the composition. The work is in four movements: Illusion, Conversation, Throne
of Sand and Everywhere at Once, throwing a nod to Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
McAlvin is a clever composer who skillfully adapts the
serial technique to tell a story of illusion, erosion and feeling exposed. Throughout
the composition, the row becomes dismantled and recombined reappearing in each
movement in various guises and instrumental textures. The effect is one of
fantasy and vulnerability.
Gray and Kovach combined their talents to perform Private Games by Israeli composer
Shulamit Ran and Night Music by Parisian
Nicolas Bacri. The former is a brief, jagged work full of disjointed gestures
that somehow manages to convey a lyrical underpinning. The duo — both as an
entity and as individuals — tossed off the fiendishly difficult passages with
grace and ease. They convincingly
brought out the chill in Night Music,
a non-lyrical piece that glumly muses suggestions of inimical fate.
Richardson, Reighley and Kovach collaborated in a charming
performance of the Sonatine en Trio, Op.
85 by Florent Schmitt, the most important French composer you probably
never heard of, according to self-styled Schmitt expert Phillip Nones, who
offered his thoughts on the composer and the work.
Schmitt (1870-1958) had no affinity for atonality or
neo-classicism. Instead, he composed lushly lyrical music bursting with a
profusion of ideas. Nones noted that this particular work has also been scored
for flute, clarinet and piano as well as violin, cello and piano. But the
musicians noted, in a post-concert discussion, that the harpsichord gave the
work a lighter, brighter tone.
The flute and clarinet combined to produce another
interesting aural feature. At times they seemed to blend so thoroughly that resulting
sound was neither that of flute nor that of clarinet but a seemingly altogether
different instrument with a sound all its own.
Vittorio Rieti’s Variations
for Flute, Clarinet, Violin and Cello on When From My Love by John Bartlet was written in 1964 and dedicated
to the memory of composer Paul Hindemith. This was a charming performance of
this delightful little work consisting of nine variations and a code. It was an
apropos selection for a Mélomanie program, as it combined the baroque with the
contemporary.
The musicians of Mélomanie gave a nod to the Baroque with a
performance of Marin Marais’ Suite 6 n C
minor (from Pieces en Trio 1692)
which preceded the two halves of the program.
The ensemble’s final performance for the 2016-17 season will
be a special Mother’s Day Brunch and Concert on Sunday, May 14. Tickets are
available at www.melomanie.org.
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