Concert Review—

Very Easy Listening By Walden Chamber Players

By Julie Stern

For their penultimate concert of the season, Newtown Friends of Music presented the Walden Chamber Players, offering a program of Mozart, Schumann and Devienne, music for flute, piano and string trio, on March 11.

The two works by Mozart — Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K 493 and Flute Quartet in A Major, K 298 — demonstrate decisively how amazing Mozart was. His music is so simple and pure that he made it look easy, and yet the themes, phrases and motifs are so tightly interwoven and modified that it is really a virtuoso achievement.

Beginning with a strong Allegro movement, the piano quartet moves into a light and delicate Larghetto, concluding with a delightful lyrical Allegretto.

According to the program notes, Mozart “had no sympathy for the flute as a featured instrument” and so composed only four flute quartets, doing so only because he was paid for them. On Sunday afternoon, however, listening to flautist Marianne Gedigian made that so hard to believe because the instrument had such a wonderful central role.

It was amusing that he divided it into three movements, Andante, Menuetto, and then… Allegretto grazioso, ma non troppro presto, pero non troppo adagio, cosi-cosi, con molto garbo ed espressione!  That is, a graceful allegretto, but not too fast, but not too slow either; so-so, with lots of elegance and expression.

The second piece on the program was Francois Devienne’s Duo III for Flute and Viola, Opus 5. Devienne was a contemporary of Mozart’s who did like the flute and definitely shows his preference for woodwinds here. Played as a set of variations on Allegro Molto Grazioso, it was sweet and sprightly, again allowing Gedigian to shine.

Robert Schumann’s Quartet for Strings and Piano in E-flat, Opus 47, was the final number. Schumann  wrote it specifically for his beloved wife, Clara, to cheer her up when she was going through a bad patch. It definitely provided ample opportunity for the pianist to take the lead. Jonathan Bass played that part with vigor and skill, beginning with the slow and solemn Sostenuto movement, leading into the melodic Scherzo, on to the elaborate Andante Cantabile, and finally the joyous Finale.

This was one of the most accessible concerts of the season. It lasted for nearly two hours and yet the time seemed to speed by because everything was so melodic and easy to listen to.