Copeland String Quartet at Church of the Holy City

The Mozart String Quartet in A Major, K 464 is a clean composition with variations and cerebral contrapuntal structure which cellist Mark Ward told the audience was a favorite of Beethoven. Beethoven wrote his Opus 18, Nr. 5 quartet as a reaction to this fascination.

No surprise that the complex nature of this work would intrigue the younger composer. The variations of the Andante movement were a great vehicle for hearing the individual voices as well as the cohesive playing of the group. The low hum of the variation led by Mark Ward’s cello was my favorite. The quartet not only kept the general tone fairly quiet, but their ability to match the classical style of sudden piano and forte made the rendition a palate-clearing starter preceding the Brahms dessert.

And a rich, romantic lush Brahms dessert it was. Eliezer Gutman and Tom Jackson, violins, kept their thirds together quietly and beautifully. Charly Salinger’s smooth clarinet tone resonated in the church and the strings matched his dynamics with ease. Salinger’s ability to change register with no strain makes it thrilling to hear the high tones scoop down to low tones. Nina Cottman played strong middle voices with a strong verve. All five players were able to arc phrases as one and managed to pull their volume down one more infinitesimal dynamic as they ended the last movement.

You can now buy Copeland’s new CD and hear them play the Beethoven Opus 18, Nr. 5 live on April 18.

See www.copelandstringquartet.com.

Museum Day at the DCCA

The DCCA was up, running and full of small children and their families on the second annual open house day for the Brandywine Museums and Gardens Alliance. The children’s comments inspired me as I stood in the Hatch Gallery looking at a joint exhibit by two DCCA studio artists called Fields of Glory/Arenas of Conflict.

Ken Mabrey is a modern impressionist. His oil on linen Till the cows come home captures the light of strong sun – the brightest light that flows through the large farmhouse and makes the dust motes dance. That same sun hits the red roof – glinting just like the real thing. In the corner is the Delaware flag. He includes the state butterfly, the state bird, the state flower and even the state bug. A biplane flies overhead, showing that Delaware once had a big airfield. Mabrey tries to fit the world into his paintings, just as he feels the world invading Delaware.

Greg Barkley’s paintings contrast Mabrey’s. Mabrey uses muted pastel, Barkley wields harsh reds and black.. The painting that wouldn’t let me go was He couldn’t stand on two feet while he lectured about morality. He inserts so many symbols: roosters, Barbie doll girls, snarling dogs. Eerie.

But there was so much more to see! Andrew Wapinski, another DCCA studio artist, was given a solo show of his Wasteland - gold works covered with shiny epoxy – a big stylistic change from the weather-driven pastels in his last show there.

There are five more exhibits in the downstairs galleries. Particularly interesting is an exhibit of sculptured steel and stone: Journey through Time by Hong-Wen Lin. The exhibit’s presence is due to a coordinated effort with the Council for Cultural Affairs of Taiwan and the Taipei Cultural Center of New York.

See http://www.thedcca.org/.

Delaware by Hand

The Delaware Art Museum sponsored the first juried show by Delaware by Hand, an association of artists all over Delaware. The jurors and curators, Dr. Susan Isaacs of Towson University and Dr. Jacqueline Atkins of the Allentown Art Museum picked fifteen works, all of which were beautifully executed and a delight for the winter weary museum visitor.

The exhibit has a catalog. The photograph of the exquisite quilt by Virginia Abrams entitled Reflections 2 gives a one-dimensional impression of water, but seeing the piece in person shows how the watery reflection appears only as you back away.

Although the recent exhibit had a preponderance of New Castle County artists, the association has artists from all over the state. I went to their web site and picked one from each county.

New Castle County: Paula Camenzind. Camendzind’s work over the past decades and see a maturity of concept and development that stops me in my tracks. Her bulbous vase has a moon crater surface out of which a purple glazed neck peaks out as if the work were a natural geode.

Kent County: William Henry Smallwood. Smallwood’s woodwork began when he wanted to make models for his paintings and the models themselves became a passion for him. Pictured is a stark, simple duck.

Sussex County: Barbara Warden. Warden’s brilliant colored fiber quilts are more portraits than cloth. Her designs have wild colors which she melds into coherent design.

Bravi to the staff of the Delaware Art Museum and Dr. Mary F. Holahan for promoting local artists through their Outlooks program.

See http://www.delawarebyhand.org/.
See http://www.delart.org/.