GREENSBORO – The final concert of this summer’s Caspian Music season was held on Sunday evening, August 24, at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro.
The thirty-piece Caspian Chamber Orchestra was skillfully conducted by Paul McShee, and two works featured soprano Andrea Nalywajko, an early Mendelssohn violin concerto was performed by Solomiya Ivakhiv, and the Italian symphony by the same composer completed the program.
Dmytro Bortianskyi (1751-1825) was born in Ukraine and was educated in St. Petersburg and Italy, eventually settling in the Russian capital at the tsar’s court chapel. Besides being a conductor, singer and educator, he was a prolific composer of numerous secular and sacred works that place him among the most significant early elites of classical music in Eastern Europe. The “Overture and Aria D’ Avetea” from his opera “Alcide”, written in 1778, was presented here for the first time in North America. With an exciting beginning at a fast tempo, the Overture developed a nice melody that suggested the ambience of the action that would follow. The aria ‘Tu vendrai che virtu non paventa”, subtitled “Echoes from the Enlightenment” was sung in Italian by Andrea Nalywajko with a fine, fine voice. The text evoked the hope that virtue will prevail over all adversaries.
In the second selection, she sang a short aria from the oratorio “Joshua,” by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), HWV 64, written in 1747, based on the Old Testament narrative of the battle of Jericho. “Oh! Had I Jubal’s Lyre” was an appeal by musicians and singers to be able to rejoice through music.
The “Concerto for Violin and Strings in D Minor,” MWV03, by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) illustrated the remarkable ability of a precocious development possible from a very young age to write music, compared to any other art. He composed this work when he was barely twelve to fourteen years old, albeit he (and his talented sister Fanny) grew up in an unusually encouraging family. Just a few years later, Mendelssohn wrote the initial, utterly delightful incident musical to Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The manuscript for this concerto was only rediscovered in the 1950s. The orchestra consisted solely of fourteen string players, without brass, woodwinds or percussion, and the piece contained three movements. The allegro developed the melody with an increasing temp and had some challenging sections of rapid bowing. The andante took a slower pace and showed Solomiya Ivakhiv’s sensitive musicality in the feeling of the playing. The allegro was a lively tune that was explored in the orchestra and in solo violin parts, with an almost folk dance quality to it. Her sympathetic performance of this piece won her prolonged applause from the grateful audience.
Following intermission, the full orchestra returned and gave a very dramatic interpretation of the “Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90” of Felix Mendelssohn, entitled the “Italian.” As conductor Paul McShee explained in comments before they commenced, this work, written in 1833 after a visit to Italy, had pragmatic elements underlying the music embodying a feeling for the country. Then it begins with the excitement of a young man discovering the beautiful landscape and ancient culture of Italy, then moved specifically to Naples with a funeral procession that transitions to a lighter mood, next to a military band with two dances, and lastly to a glorious finale.
The allegro vivace started with great enthusiasm so full of life, with all sections of the orchestra scored in a rich interplay of texture, with exquisite melodies having unstoppable momentum and particularly lovely passages for the oboes and flutes. The andante con moto had a more solemn tempo appropriate to a funeral cortege in another colorful melody, morphing into a brighter second theme that reaffirmed in the inescapable optimism of this symphony. The third movement had a melody of overwhelming beauty, continuously unfolding, used for many years by WQXR, the New York Times radio station, as a transitional theme between programs. The harmonic orchestration here among all the instruments was brilliant. The last part, scored Saltarello: Presto, continued the utterly engaging sweep of the music with complex rhythms and lyrical drama right through to the triumphant ending.
Paul McShee’s conducting was superb and the musicians played with penultimate coordination. The audience expressed its deep appreciation with an immediate standing ovation.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
