Bravado, largesse and a little snobbery

Reviewed by Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

Over the last few years, the elite musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC) have been ruffling a few feathers. They have searched the archives and have brought to the concert stage, music long overlooked "annoying some listeners who merely want to hear something common and nostalgic." Bravo! What is incomprehensible for some is enlightenment for others. One of the most gratifying attributes about being musically sensitive is that you appreciate the unique gifts that imaginative and searching musicians bring to you. It all adds to discovering more about great music that is all too easily taken for granted.

Versatile memembers of the CMSC live in performance

The musicians of the CMSC find new perspectives and inject an incredible positivism into the art of classical music in Sri Lanka. The Ensemble's invigorating and enormously exciting style of performing, the Society's generous out-reach program of 250 free tickets to music students, the hard-edged professional approach, challenging programs, all contribute to a steadily growing cult-like following of serious music lovers across the country.

However, their concerts are not just about bravado, largesse and musical snobbery, of which they seem to have copious amounts of. What the Ensemble does on stage, is the natural consequence of a deep intuitive bond with the music." The music always takes precedence. This bond is vividly evident in the way the musicians play together. It is evident that they enjoy being together, collectively working as a single well-oiled unit, demonstrating the pride they take in sharing the immense responsibility of bringing to wondrous life the little dots and dashes that litter the pages in front of them. There is a spirit of live music making that is irresistible.

The Dilmah Tea sponsored "Troubled Seas and Forest Paths" concert opened with Mozart's Overture to 'Re Pastore. It began with three splendid chords that initiated a mighty crescendo in the String section, aided by Brass and Woodwinds. This led to a climax of the whole orchestra. Typical of Mozart, the torrid opening was tempered by a beautifully melodic second theme. An overture's purpose is to the audience. This propelling piece was perfectly suited thus the opening of this concert.

Following the Mozart was 'Eight Pieces for String Orchestra' by the German composer Paul Hindemith. Written in the 1920's, the short pieces could be described as Neo-Renaissance or Neo-Baroque, with angular, very contrapuntal, clean melodic lines that painted a picture of deceptive complexity. The short pieces were cautiously played, making the best out of unusual sounding modal harmonies, but it was abundantly clear that the Ensemble was not marauding in its favourite feeding grounds of Baroque, Classical and Neo-Sri Lankan music. Nevertheless, we valued the experience for the breadth of exposure.

Vivaldi's 'Concerto Grosso in D minor' for Two Violins, Cello and Strings opened with an astonishing dialogue between the two solo Violins, played by Concertmaster Lakshman Joseph de Saram and Principal Violinist Othman Hassan Majid. A vigorous interplay, beginning and ending on the open D string, provided a brilliant 'Question and Answer' between First and Second solo Violins. The solo Cello, played by the Principal Dushy Perera, followed with intricate fast moving passagework. A 'canon' of sort started to develop with the solo Cello, followed by Violas and Violins.

In the slow lyrical middle movement, the First Violin solo was sensitively spun accompanied by the upper Strings. The third movement began with another fugue-like motive initiated by the solo Second Violin. It bounced throughout the String Ensemble in classic Italian baroque style. It was a fascinating work with many memorable melodic phrases, and Vivaldi's typical freshness. First impressions of the voice of Sri Lanka's most well known soprano Mary Anne David, after a self imposed hiatus of over eight years, were that it was imbued with maturity, refinement and a gentle glow, not the juvenile, untutored over blown voices that tend to be the order of the day.

A conglomerate of talents in assembly

Her sensitive singing was ravishing in this demanding new work. Stephen Allen, the composer-in-residence of the Society, orchestrated his four contemplative songs with a precise ear for string timbre, and while it may have been hard-pressed to hear an unrepentant avant-guard voice in the sound-mix, there were some engaging pointers to 20th century harmonic writing. But on the whole, these songs were firmly rooted in the luxuriant tonal world of Mahler, Wolf and Barber. The last song especially, yielding great dividends in musical gratification. Handel's Overture to Alexander was a bit of a surprise. The composer treated the grandiose but troubled character of the great Greek Emperor with amazing clarity. Although capably played by the string section of the orchestra, it did not quite sit comfortably with the rest of the immaculately thought out program.

The concert concluded with Haydn's 39th Symphony in G minor. As stated in the program notes, this was one of Haydn's first Sturm und Drang [storm and stress] symphonies that set the stage for J.C. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Vanhal, and others. This turbulent music is characterized by dynamic contrast, rapid ascending and descending runs for violins, accompanied by exciting tremolos in the lower strings. The inner voices were significant and carefully worked out by the composer. One is always impressed by how well Haydn writes for each instrument. The outer movements were exciting and full of anxiety. They enclosed the more classical, less angst ridden Andante and Minuet and Trio.

After the tremendously exciting coda, the proud and fatigued Ensemble of the Chamber Music Society of Colombo basked in a chorus of bravos and clearly appreciated the spontaneous standing ovation from the packed audience. The positive energy was palpable. The renaissance of serious music in a new unified Sri Lanka is well on its way. Same concert was performed at the Galle Literary Festival and will be held at Veerasingam Hall in Jaffna on March 27 free of charge.