Review: After a long silence, Art of Élan makes some joyful noise at San Diego Museum of Art
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We didn’t realize how much we needed live music until the pandemic took it away.
Streaming concerts into our homes was no substitute for the ritual where friends and strangers gather in a place full of music.
No matter how many viewers a program reached, musicians who only played for camera and sound staff missed the excitement that the listeners provide in a common space.
One by one, our ensembles and moderators have come back like the first flowers to appear after a long, cruel winter. On Tuesday evening, the Art of Élan blossomed in the lobby of the San Diego Museum of Art.
Its 15th season – aptly titled “Regeneration” – opened with a concert called “Nostalgia”. It was inspired by a simultaneous exhibition of paintings of magical realism by Marianela de la Hoz, highlighting the everyday difficulties encountered during the pandemic.
Viktor Ullmann’s String Quartet No. 3 and Grażyna Bacewicz’s “Violin Duets on Popular Themes” were both written during World War II in Nazi-occupied Europe. Bacewicz’s duets are harmoniously conservative for their time, but very well written for the violin. They premiered in a secret concert in Warsaw. Perhaps the basis of these short pieces on Polish folk music was an assertion of nationalism at a time when many Poles were killed on the spot or sent to concentration camps. Violinists Jing Yan Bowcott and Kate Hatmaker played it with confidence and charisma.
Ullmann, a Czech Jew, suffered a sadder fate. Although he was cultural guide and prolific composer in the Theresienstadt ghetto / camp for over two years, he was sent to Auschwitz and died two days later. String Quartet No. 3 was written in Theresienstadt. The opening part is reminiscent of the chromatic yet tonal music of Schönberg and Zemlinsky 40 years ago, followed by a dissonant Scherzo. It’s hard not to hear this as pleasant memories are torn away from the harsh reality of imprisonment.
It was played with passion and impeccable technique by the Artonic Quartet. This new local ensemble emerged from an impromptu concert at the Convention Center given by violinists Jing Yan Bowcott, Julia Pautz, violist Abraham Martin and cellist Nathan Walhout for immigrant inmates. Keep an eye on this wonderful group.
Bassist Jory Herman’s approach to the pandemic was to compose. “Wistfully Yours”, his Opus 1, was written for violin, cello, double bass and vibraphone and premiered by Pautz, Walhout, PJ Cinque and Fiona Digney, respectively. Written in the keys of E minor / G major and with simple rhythms, it was well received. Unfortunately, the vibraphone drowned out the strings during fast, loud passages.
Kaija Saariaho’s “Nocturne” for violin solo was the only modern work. Jing Yan studied gradual changes in timbre and was played with mystery.
Nico Muhly’s music is often referred to as “post-minimal”, but the hectic repetitions and musical interruptions of his 2012 track “Doublespeak” I would call “neo-minimal”. Neoclassical composers like Stravinsky drew on the forms and surfaces of baroque and classical music and brought them to life with rhythms and harmonies of the 20th century. In “Doublespeak”, Muhly uses 1970s minimalism (think Reich’s Octet or Glass’s “Music in 12 Parts”) as the material to cut it up and put it back together. Rose Lombardo performed it rousingly on the flute; Josh Rubin, clarinet; Kate Hatter, violin; Nathan Walhout, cello; Tina Chong, piano; and Fiona Digney, drums.
This rousing seamstress received a loud standing ovation – something musicians sorely missed in the barren months of the pandemic.
Hertzog is a freelance writer.
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