WOLCOTT – Pianist David Feurzieg has an admirable goal: to play a concert in every town in Vermont (253 total) and generously donate the proceeds to local environmental organizations. Already he has visited 60 towns, and the contributions of the concert he gave on Saturday afternoon, July 20, in Wolcott, will go to benefit the Northern Rivers Land Trust.
The setting for this event could not have been more beautiful: Saint AIden’s Kirk, built over the past several years by Steven Young on his land close to Wolcott Pond, off the east Hill Road. This post and beam wooden chapel sits on a stone foundation on a low knoll in the forest, with a slate roof, the interior filled with light from exquisitely detailed windows and having excellent acoustics for music. It’s design was inspired by the ancient first millennium churches of Scotland and Norway. Saint Aiden was an early Celtic monk who helped spread Christianity in northern England and founded the famous priory of Lindisfarne on an island off the East coast of Scotland.
Feurzieg tied together some of the pieces in his well-chosen program with corresponding times in the history of Wolcott, such as the date of the chartering of the town and the arrival of the first settlers, the Hubbell family, both in the 1780s.
The initial work was the lively “Sonata No. 60 in G minor” by Domenico Scarlatti, that he played without using any of the foot pedals on the piano to hold the notes, thus keeping the separateness of the notes as they would originally been heard on the harpsichord.
Next was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s delightful “Twelve Variations on Ah! Vous dirais-je, Maman, K. 265,” that begins with the very familiar tune we know as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Mozart demonstrates his playful musical imagination, creating complex permutations by changes in tempos, keys, rhythms and ambiance. A second piece by Mozart was the “Little Gigue in G major, K. 574,” based on the English dance form, which was good fun.
Linda Young joined David Feurzieg to sing three songs, starting with the very moving “Hard TImes, Come Again No More” by Stephen Foster, a beautiful melody with meaningful lyrics of empathy for the poor and those who are suffering. Her voice had a fine, warm color to it combined with expressive phrasing. They continued with “Pennies From Heaven” by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnson and “On the Sunny Side of the Street” by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, two upbeat popular tunes. Feurzieg accompanied Young without any music before him and with fertile improvisations.
Eight selections from Edvard Grieg’s “Lyric Pieces, Book 1 (Op. 12)” were a sequence of engaging melodies that one never tires of hearing, many undoubtedly influenced by Norwegian folk music. They evoked a full range of emotions, touching the heart, and Feurzieg performed them with genuine sensitivity and feeling.
Stephen Young then read one of his poems from his collection “Autumn: Ice Trolls (from Two Frozen Lake Poems),” about the thin black ice on a November pond which began to speak in a base register, probably based on the nearby Wolcott Pond. Feurzieg then rounded out the concert with three very entertaining piano rags, “The Frog Legs Rag” by James Scott, the “Charleston Rag” by Eubie Blake, and the “Kitchen Rag: by Steve Sweeting, all of which had great drive and memorable themes, played entirely spontaneously with some impressive rapid hand coordination.
The Northern Rivers Land Trust was founded some 15-17 years ago, based on the model of the Vermont Land Trust, as a separate organization. To date it has conserved 562 acres in Wolcott, Hardwick, Craftsbury, Albany, Woodbury, Stannard, Glover and Lowell. Its vision is to “Protect the natural, scenic and working landscapes in the headwaters of the Winooski, Lamoille and Black Rivers” in order to reverse the increasingly devastating effects of climate change. For more information go to NorthernRiversTrust.org. To follow David Feurzieg’s concerts in his Play Every Town Project go online to playeverytown.com
David K. Rodgers
