The Muses’ Delight | Neo/Classical Serenades
21 November, 2022, Tempo Rubato
Even on an uncharacteristically blustery, wet November day, the doors of Brunswick’s Tempo Rubato were flung welcomingly open. Chatter accompanied by clinking glassware drifted into the street – Tempo Rubato’s theme song.
The huge Stuart & Sons piano, the resident giant, filled most of the stage and lent itself as a silent backdrop for the concert. A heater had been hoisted up beside it, evidence of a chilly Spring evening.
After the Acknowledgement of Country and introduction, Meredith Beardmore kicked off the program with Francis Poulenc’s Un Joueur De Flute Berce Les Ruines (A flute player plays lullabies to the ruins). Written in 1942, this piece had the air of an ancient gathering song when played on Traverso flute. The woody, earthy tone, harking back to the recorder, gave an unfiltered, sincere rendering. This set the mood for the evening’s play list.
Beardmore explained that the curation of the program was experimental. Did composers of Neoclassical works imagine their pieces on period instruments? Does it enhance or detract from the works? The audience was invited to make their own assessment. This is a wonderful example of how today’s performers can interrogate heritage works and expose something new about them.
The next piece, Duo for Violin and Viola in B-Flat, K424 by W.A. Mozart set, in Beardmore’s words, the “classical sound world” for the audience. Violinist, Meg Cohen, played as though she was singing and both she and Katie Yap on viola, demonstrated superb phrasing. Beardmore had mentioned the song theme running through the program so this vocal treatment seemed apt.
This was followed by Bohuslav Martinů’s Serenata No. 2 H. 216. Composed in 1932, here was another 20th century piece played on period instruments. This gorgeous work leans heavily towards classicism and this textured performance had an additional dimension. If it was a wine, one might say it had a pleasing mouth-feel. Beardmore had described this program as ‘delicious’, so perhaps this is appropriate. It was played with skill and charm.
Following Interval there was more Martinů, 3 Madrigals, H313, composed 15 years after the previous piece. It seemed more dancelike than songlike to begin with, but then echoes of “Hey Nonny Nonny” appeared in its fabric. It was played with beauty and a Hoedown exuberance that was a pleasure to experience. Cohen explained that both she and Yap had a “classical set up”, a modern instrument body with gut strings. The tuning was an education for the audience. Describing them as ‘frenemies’, Yap explained that the tuning of gut strings drops in this climate while the gut-core strings tended sharp. The necessity for the heater on stage became clear.
The final work on the “menu” was Ludwig van Beethoven’s Serenade in D Major Op 25, and the period instruments fell comfortably to it. It had been mentioned that this was a program of “old friends and new friends” and perhaps this was the former. It was exquisitely performed. The sizzle of the gut strings added heft to the sound which was rounded out by the full bodied flute. Beardmore’s dynamic control was exceptional. This was a concert of considerable loveliness which, if it didn’t delight the Muses, certainly thrilled the mortals!
