Couleurs exotiques at DCMF

Carla Dirlikov, mezzo-soprano showed her love for the music of Maurice Ravel in Shéhérazade in the Delaware Chamber Music Festival’s second concert.

Barbara Govatos, violin had both delicate and forceful sounds and remarkable harmonics for Olivier Messaien’s Fantaisie pour violon et piano.

Clancy Newman’s fingers were a blur of motion in the Cello Sonata in D Minor by Claude Debussy.

With the Piano Quartet in G Minor by Gabriel Fauré, Marcantonio Barone played piano for each demanding piece in the first two programs of the series. His brilliant playing supported Barbara Govatos, violin, Pamela Fay, viola and Clancy Newman, cello.

The festival players and guests were more than happy to talk about their playing with the audience after the concert which made you realize that in Delaware, the world is small enough to mingle and yet the music is as good as you will find anywhere.

See www.dcmf.org.

Song Yet Sung: McBride's Novel Set to Life in Word & Song

~By guest blogger, Jessica Graae

On June 19, the second floor of Wilmington’s Ameritage Bistro burst alive with the words of James McBride’s Song Yet Sung and the beat of African drums and griot cries. In conjunction with the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and the celebration of Juneteenth, The Delaware Humanities Forum presented a dramatic reading of McBride’s historically influenced novel set in Dorchester County. The character, Liz Spocott, who has suffered a blow to her head rendering her prophetic, is loosely based on the life of Harriet Tubman.

TS Baynes, an actor with City Theater Company, performed Spocott’s monologue. Baynes’ performance was warm and thoughtful. She made clever use of her performance space, pulling the audience into the pre-Civil War town and its outlying swamps. The steady drumbeat provided by Kamau Ngom helped establish urgency to Spocott’s message of freedom and escape, carrying us back to her African roots at the same time.

In the second portion of the program, Ngom gave an informative performance and lecture on Underground Railroad songs and handmade musical instruments. The audience learned that “Wade in the Water” wasn’t just a song about baptism, but a song slaves would sing to warn others to get to water quickly to throw off the chase of nearby dogs. Ngom reminded us of the powerful influence this early African American music has had on the blues, jazz and popular music.

Hungarian Flavors from DCMF

From the gypsy lilt and rubato in the Jenö Hubay Hejre Kati to the Hungarian Dance #5 by Johannes Brahms, Music Director Barbara Govatos played the gamut of range and color of her 1619 Amati violin.

Igor Begelman, clarinet and Jeffrey Lang, horn were jazzy and unfettered in the Sextet in C major by Ernö Dohnányi. The contrast of winds and strings with Barbara Govatos, violin, Burchard Tang, viola and Clancy Newman, cello soared above Marcantonio Barone’s piano.

Kudos to Marcantonio Barone for his telepathic anticipation of each player. The Piano Quartet in G minor by Johannes Brahms was passionate, yet perfect.

See www.dcmf.org.