Two Satisfying Violin Styles at MAW's Chamber Concert

Tuesday night's chamber concert put on by Music Academy of the West presented a delightful contrast of two violin playing styles. MAW regular Kathleen Winkler joined fellow faculty members and the 19 year-old John Stoltz in Mozart's Quintet for Two Violin, Two Violas, and Cello in C Minor, and Takacs Quartet member Edward Dusinberre played Bach's Chaconne from Partita in D Minor for Solo Violin and a Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A Major with Margaret McDonald. While the pieces were from different musical eras and different combinations of instruments, the audience had the opportunity to hear two masterful violinists with different yet equally satisfying approaches to the music.

Ms. Winkler has a beautiful tone and seems to float a delicate line over a solid foundation of sound. Her playing is lyrical and has a clear direction without being square or stuffy. When one hears her play, there is a strong sense of movement in the piece. In contrast, Mr. Dusinberre plays with a relentless kind of technical mastery. He plays more within himself, but one has the distinct feeling that there is always some great energy barely held in check.

I truly enjoyed both approaches, and it is one of the delights of hearing an evening of chamber music with different players. One can achieve this at home by listening to different CDs, but there is nothing like comparing styles when one is listening live.

I wish I could find a decent image of Ms. Winkler, but the only one available doesn't look like her at all.

Taylor Wowed the Audience with Messiaen's Spiritual Ordeal

On Tuesday, July 9, pianist Christopher Taylor mesmerized the audience in Music Academy of the West's Hahn Hall. He played Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus, a demanding two plus hours of solo piano. Messiaen composed the work during 1943 and 1944 in occupied Paris, and it confronts the audience with a series of spiritual states that Taylor brought alive in a true artistic experience.

While almost every view uses some of a small collection of leitmotifs, they are quite insular and discrete in the spiritual experiences they present. The views move from atonal, rhythmic order to rapturous ugliness. The tempo is entirely foreign to the stately church music familiar to me. Instead, Messiaen really captures the fervent madness of religious exaltation, and Taylor made the most of them.

The small audience in this beautiful hall was with the performer the entire evening, and the four curtain calls were genuinely demanded. The newly renovated Hahn Hall is now my favorite venue in Santa Barbara. It is well designed and comfortable, and the architectural elements have a restrained grace that is ideal for the recitals and chamber music that will be performed here. The Met's HD broadcasts will also air here next season, and I look forward to going to this wonderful space as well as avoiding the trek down to Ventura.

Music Academy of the West Makes Our Summer

I attended my first Music Academy of the West chamber performance on Tuesday, July 1. The MAW provides our summer musical fare in Santa Barbara, and the chamber performances are particularly intimate since the performers are faculty members and many students are in the audience (http://www.musicacademy.org/festival).

Tuesday's performance included William Bolcom "Graceful Ghost Rag" (Kathleen Winkler violin, Jonathan Feldman piano), Messiaen "Le Loriot" (Jerome Lowenthal) and "Theme et Variations" (Jeff Thayer violin, Margaret McDonald piano) Ravel "Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in A Minor" (Winkler, Alan Stepansky cello, Feldman), Elliott Carter "Woodwind Quintet" (Timothy Day flute, David Weiss oboe, Richie Hawley clarinet, Dennis Michel bassoon, David Jolley horn), Bach "Trio Sonata for Flute, Violin and Continuo in G Major" (Day, Thayer, Nico Abondolo double bass, Natasha Kislenko harpsichord). Another Carter piece was scheduled, but the pianist, Jerome Lowenthal, substituted Ravel's "Toccata" much to the relief of a few in the audience.

Most memorable were Bolcom, Messiaen's "Theme et Variations," and the Bach. I am not a ragtime fan, but Bolcom gave the genre polish. This produced a light, lyrical, almost bittersweet piece. Winkler's tone was right on for this piece. The Messiaen piece sounded like strange musical lines looping back and across one another. This created a slightly exotic and pleasing atmosphere. I adore Bach, and it was a real treat to hear a chamber work that included a harpsichord.

The audience was warm and familiar with the players since they are, for the most part, regulars at MAW. During the interval, I bumped into a fellow audience member who explained that he wasn't being "forward" when he ran his hand over my thigh. He just wanted to find out if my loud trousers also had an interesting texture. To his credit, somehow he didn't come off as a creep. This may take the cake in terms of firsts for me at a classical music concert.