Review:

Intimacy in the world of High Classicism

By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo along with the Goethe Institute in Colombo inaugurated an especially novel series of concerts last Saturday, March 10. Titled, Chamber Music Plus, this is probably the most informal you will ever encounter the elitist CMSC outside their personal music rooms.

The series, to quote the press release, states, the concert series has the potential of opening up new and experimental avenues of expressive content, when each concert will showcase the diverse symbiotic reactions between live chamber music and its impact on the poet, dramatist, filmmaker, artist and dancer.

The series will also encourage the discourse between the artiste and audience, where a question and answer session on all aspects of the performance experience will be held after each concert.The first of the series featured only chamber music in some of its most unblemished forms, the string quartet, piano trio and piano quartet. And the chosen composer was Franz Joseph Haydn, certainly one of the most distinguished writers of the genre.

The evening began with the London Trio No. 1 in C major. Hob. IV 1.Originally scored for Flute, violin and cello and this time played by two violins and cello. The first movements whimsical feel was keenly judged by the Society concertmasters Lakshman Joseph de Saram and Cynthia Fernando with principal cellist Shinichi Murata.

The warm and ideal acoustic of the Goethe Institute auditorium served the music perfectly, adding just the right amount of glow and ambiance to the overly transparent writing. The slow movement marked Andante was beautiful, a mature Haydn full of grace and simplicity. As was remarked by the artistes, this was music for aristocrats with a high level of civility.

No histrionics or overwrought codas here. The third movement marked vivace unfolded with plenty of spring and humour.

The rarely performed Concertini for keyboard and string trio was next, the indefatigable Eshantha Peiris on keyboard, here the writing centered squarely around the pianist, and Peiris was well up to the task in bringing out the light almost fortepiano-like sound and texture that the music demanded.

The string players had to be content with routine accompaniment roles, but their vaunted concert experience did add to the overall interpretation by blending expressively with the dominant piano part and throwing in the occasional subtlety in phrasing.

The extra-musical surprise of the evening was the String Quartet in F major (Op. 3 no. 5), “Hob. III:17”. Principal violist Avanti Perera joining the group. This was a work attributed to Haydn, but actually composed by Roman Hoffsetter, a classical composer and Benedictine monk who admired Joseph Haydn almost to the point of imitation.

To quote from his biography, "everything that flows from Haydn's pen seems to me so beautiful and remains so imprinted on my memory that I cannot prevent myself now and again from imitating something as well as I can.

It was only in 1965, that a musicologist named Alan Tyson published his finding that the entire set of six String Quartets, long-admired as Haydn's Op. 3, including the most famous Andante cantabile of No. 5 in F Major, better known as Haydn's Serenade, were actually by Roman Hoffseter. The playing was mostly pleasant with some uneasiness in intonation in the beginning.

The serenade, played by first violinist Cynthia Fernando was lyrical and restrained, and was dutifully partnered by her three colleagues with a piquant pizzicato backdrop. The finale had the musicians playing a musical cat and mouse game that was fun to behold.

Some interesting remarks were made by the musicians about how mundane some of the writing was, when compared to the great Haydn. Pointing out a few details of the cumbersome scoring of the vastly less superior Hoffseter.

The evening closed with the Trio no. 5 in G minor, Hob. XV: 1, for Piano, Violin and Cello. Cynthia Fernando (violin) Shinichi Murata (cello) and Eshantha Peiris (piano).

This was probably the most musically complicated work of the entire program, the violin and cello having more of a meaningful dialogue with the piano than in the previous pieces. Although this trio falls into Haydn's early period, it containedsome of his most inventive, daring and deeply lyrical music.

The playing was even throughout, and empathy was found aplenty between the musicians.

What was interesting too, was the fact that this was perhaps the first time in a concert that the founder artistic director, concertmaster and infamous micromanager, Lakshman Joseph de Saram, was a non-participant.

We can almost rest assured that his gently condescending elitism would have been pleasantly surprised, and pleased to know that life was indeed possible without his lightning rod-like presence always on stage.

In conclusion, the concert on the whole, free of charge no less, (sadly no buffet dinner with fruit juice and chance of having your photo in a magazine offered) was an unmitigated success. Elegant music presented with skill and finesse by true professionals. The audience too, barring a gentleman with a horribly distracting chough, was the usual highly disciplined CMSC concert mix of the arty and highbrow.

There is no doubt, that ever since the CMSC introduced itself into the small, mostly amateur driven classical music scene of Sri Lanka, there has been a noticeable all-round improvement in most of the purveyors of the genre, beginning with the most obvious department of presentation.

This change has been recognized and welcomed by the local concertgoer who in turn, is doing its part by patronising classical music concerts more than ever before. The full house was further testament to the Chamber Music Societys's glowing reputation and ever-imaginative high quality non-commercial initiatives. We salute too, the august Goethe Institute for presenting the platform to showcase their perennial gift to the world, that of some of the most exceptional music ever written. We await the next Chamber Music Plus concert with eager anticipation.

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Season Premiere by the Chamber Music Society of Colombo

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC) will present “Inspirations, Revelations and Celebrations”, a concert of music inspired by the Italian style, on March 22 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre at 7:30pm. The concert is sponsored by Dilmah Tea.

The program is a journey of musical exploration, from an early Concerto Grosso of Corelli (Op. 6 No. 4), which was an inspiration for Handel’s Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 1 (HWV 319). The revelation of the concert to most listeners would be the epitome of the Haydn’s Stürm und Drang (German:“Storm and Stress”) period, the 44th Symphony nicknamed “Trauer” (German:Mourning). The celebration is represented by Mozart’s very early 23rd Symphony, the earliest of his symphonies firmly in the standard repertoire, brimming with the teenager’s gift for melody, but also with some animated writing for trumpets.

The concert will start with the overture/intrada to the very early opera “Apollo and Hyacinth”, K38 – an inspired foretaste of the master opera composer to come.??

The Orchestra of the Chamber Music Society of Colombo under its artistic director Lakshman Joseph de Saram is the region's most vibrant platform for exciting and extravagant new interpretations of the classics, and most importantly, a champion for the politically and culturally explosive music of modern Sri Lanka and South Asia.

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