Classical Convert

Lesley Robertson is Pretty Hot

I couldn’t decide whether to title this post that what’s up there, or something about the St. Lawrence String Quartet and a review. I think the one I chose is more eye catching. Anyway, they gave a performance at Cornell’s charming old Bailey hall this evening, to which I and my even hotter than Ms. Robertson girlfriend went. The program was:

• Chausson - Chanson perpétuelle, op. 37
• Shostakovich - String quartet No. 8, op. 110
• Debussy - String quartet, L. 85
• Sierra - Songs from the Diaspora

The first was pretty standard romantic French fare, pleasant enough, but nothing to write home about. The second… well, that deserves a whole post devoted to it. They did Dimitri proud. The aching tension in some of the phrases was fantastic, and hell, it’s just a great piece played by a group who have a good sense of Shostakovich. The first violinist, wassisname, Geoff Nuttall, gave a good introductory spiel for people not familiar with the piece. I really like it when performers give a bit of an explanation before a piece.

The Debussy was surprisingly very good. I’m not usually a big fan of that post-romantic, pre-modern kinda era with all of it’s overblown sultry melodies and harmonies and what have yous. This piece was surprisingly fresh sounding, not laboring in those huge romantic cadences like my arch nemesis Rachmaninov. The second hyper-pizzicato movement was particularly good.

The last piece was also engaging, but not quite varied enough to keep me completely in it’s sights. It was reminiscent to me of Shostakovich’s 2nd piano trio with it’s Jewish melodies. The piece is by our hometown boy Roberto Sierra, so it gets bonus points for that. He was really sweet at the end of it when the soprano, Heidi Grant Murphy, dragged him up on stage. He refused to be applauded, instead directing it all at the performers.

Meeting My Expectations

I’m starting to wish that I hadn’t started putting images in my blog posts. Yes, it’s only three of them but it’s a continuous run of three and now I’m probably gonna be bucking that trend. It makes it seem like such a much bigger deal to write stuff down when the looming idea of hunting down some kind of apropos (love that word) picture hovers around in the back of one’s mind.

Now for a paragraph about music instead of useless musing ramblings. Currently my musical situation is slack and in limbo. I wonder, do others get the same phases? For a weeks at a time I’ll be shoving music down my earholes every day, every hour (well no not anything like every hour but you get the over-exaggerated point) and lapping it up like a cat that’s been lost in the desert without any milk. Now, though, it’s an off time. It’s like it almost takes too much effort to listen. My ears get all self righteous and want to listen to the outdoor sounds when walking into work, not Beethoven. Bastards!

Tomorrow we have a concert, anyway. It’s the something something quartet… okay, okay, the St. Lawrence String Quartet playing, amongst other things, the oh so awesome Shostakovich 8th String Quartet (Op 110). If that doesn’t perk up my interest I dunno what will.