Concert Review—

Clearly Notable Talent, But Not Quite A Stellar Offering

By June April

Communication and sharing, both through music and words, is one of the hallmarks of Cavani String Quartet. The group is committed to nurturing music students via mentoring programs including an Apprentice Quartet Program, Intensive Quartet Seminars and the New Quartet Project (which is specifically created for students devoted to studying chamber music). The musicians of the quartet spent Monday, March 13, with music students at Reed Intermediate School.

A day earlier, before opening a March 12 performance at Edmond Town Hall, violinist Annie Fullard explained that the fugue was a common thread running through the three works that would be played that afternoon. Her definition of a fugue is a compositional device wherein instrumental voices are imitated. The American Heritage Dictionary states that a fugue is “a polyphonic composition in which one or more themes stated successively are developed contrapuntally (a contrasting but parallel theme).” That information offered the audience insights into how better to listen to the music.

Opening with Adagio and Fugue, K. 546 in C minor by Mozart provided a clear example of melody intertwined and developed. Ms Fullard pointed out that Mozart had studiously poured over Bach’s compositions to grasp this mode of composition.

With a laugh, she also added that Constanze (Mozart’s wife) suggested he stick to composing opera. This sharing and sense of humor peppered the Newtown concert.

Cellist Merry Peckham’s collaborative work, “Breakfast at The Ibis,” is based on a poem written by another Ohio-based talent, Mwatabu S. Okantah. It should be stated here that Cavani String Quartet has been the Quartet-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1988 and Mr Okantah is assistant professor and poet-in-residence in the Department of Pan-African Studies at Ohio’s Kent State University.

“Breakfast at the Ibis” is unique in that chopsticks (yes, those items used for eating Asian food) were used periodically instead of the bow during its performance. Ms Peckham, whose eyes do twinkle, explained that she decided to use the chopsticks because the effect was a cleaner sound rather than pizzicato (fingers plucking the strings).

It certainly was different. Not particularly melodic, but patterns were discernible.

The program concluded with a string quartet (B-flat Major, Opus 130) by Beethoven. It was not a work that this reviewer would have chosen.

Academic in nature, and written late in his life, the six movements had strong elements of exploration into musical progressions and contrasts. Yes, the second movement, “Presto,” was energizing and clearly demonstrated the skills that make Cavani String Quartet so popular. It also felt ponderous and verged on an almost taxing endeavor, however.

Overall this was a concert that was not particularly inspirational. This was not the case when Cavani String Quartet performed at Edmond Town Hall for the 2003-04 series of concerts sponsored by Newtown Friends of Music.

It was clear that some of the members were either not well (who is these days?) and that may have accounted for some of the lackluster energy.

For this reviewer, the higher octaves of the first violinist were often rather shrill, and not the sonorously pleasing warm tones of the middle register.