Concertante performance shows work to be palatable, uncomplicated

Sunday, February 02, 2003

Fun and uncomplicated are two words rarely associated with contemporary classical music, yet they apply perfectly to "Six," a string sextet by Justine Chen premiered by Concertante last night in Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts.

Chen, a New York-based composer, has written an imaginative work that is pleasant to listen to and more than once evokes a smile.

It's hard to resist a piece whose eight movements, played continuously, have humorous titles like "Meanwhile at Cafe Ironique," "Splat!" and "... The Morning After." Those would indicate a plot, but what the plot might be seems to be for the listener to decide.

Musically, "Six" is readily palatable. A puckish little theme in the violin opens the piece, then reappears in various guises. Other melodic fragments surface only to dissolve into squeaks, slides and tremors at unexpected moments.

Uncomplicated is not the same as simplistic, of course. Chen has structured the work in four groups of two so that solos and ensemble portions alternate. The movements are related in subtle ways, but to the ear, they progress and overlap naturally.

Concertante immersed themselves deeply in the emotional language of Shostakovich's G Minor Piano Quintet last night. Much of it was bleak, an icy cold kind of beauty.

Long stretches of dark, molten music, all dramatically shaped, were punctuated by an absolutely rousing scherzo. Pianist Yael Weiss proved to be a smart and sensitive collaborator able to delineate ideas with clear force.

Listening to Concertante play Mozart's String Quintet in D Major last night, one got the impression that every phrase had been discussed at length, with an eye to a genuine overall interpretation.

This was a Mozart full of internal contrasts. The Concertante players never failed to endow passages with strong rhetorical character. There were wide vacillations in dynamics. Articulation was scrupulous.

The final allegro stood out as the curiosity it is, a rondo and a fugue in one. What's more, textures shifted relentlessly. Violists Danielle Farina and Ara Gregorian emerged as strong voices and the balances struck by the group were often nothing short of gorgeous.

ZACHARY LEWIS: 255-8266 or zlewis@patriot-news.com