Sweet Spring is Our Time

From the Musical Vault Dept.: Can it really be that the most compelling view of musical performances now is in the rear-view mirror? I’m feeling more poignantly charged than ever as I sift through my youthful opinions – not that that makes said juvenalia the more worthwhile. Let’s go back some 35 years . . .

                                                                                

WHILE MUCH OF THE AREA is just beginning the cultural summer shift, in Columbia County the Spencertown Academy Society already is well into a summer season which, like their seasons past, offers superior chamber music performances by superior artists, many of whom live in or around that beautiful area.

David Deveau

Saturday evening’s recital by pianist David Deveau certainly maintained those high standards. He chose a program which began with a sonata by Haydn (in F Major, H. XVI:23) which dutifully served its purpose: Deveau’s technique was demonstrated with an accessible piece of music.

The two most striking characteristics of his playing also came through in this sonata, those being a masterful ability to bring forth varying moods and shifts of color from the keyboard and, on the minus side, a tendency to rush the fast passages at the expense of a savory articulation of the notes. The second movement of the Haydn sonata was particularly notable in its very baroque, Bach-like flavor, and Deveau gave a lovely baroque voice to it.

In striking contrast to the Haydn were the Debussy selections that followed, three “Estampes,” two of which were written to ape foreign musical stylings. “Pagodes” is a Debussy tour of an Oriental scene, with an unmistakeable French flavor to the Eastern sonorities; “Soiree dans Grenade” sounded very Albeniz-like.

Concluding the first half was yet another musical style, as exemplified by the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 by Franz Liszt. It began, as is characteristic of so many of his rhapsodies, with the gypsy practically sobbing at your table, and then broke into a wild finale, well handled by the pianist.

A single work comprised the second half: Chopin’s Sonata in b minor. Op. 58. While the performance was terrifically accomplished, Deveau seemed handicapped – perhaps in spite of himself – by this tendency to favor speed over the metronomic accuracy needed in the many brisk passages. This may be a phenomenon resulting from the terrible state of musical instruction these days, which teaches the young artists that competitions must be won as early on as is possible, at the expense of the extended training and broader interdisciplinary study which would produce a more thoughtful, well-rounded performer.

The house at the Spencertown Academy certainly offered a full complement of folk to be musically wooed; they were wooed and won by Mr. Deveau, who returned after enthusiastic applause to play Liszt’s Consolation in Db as an encore.

The chamber music series continues Sunday, July 14, with a concert by The Mélisande Trio, featuring Boston Symphony first-chair violist Burton Fine, his wife, harpist Susan Miron, and flutist Fenwick Smith. On Sunday, August 14, cellist Jennifer Langham performs with pianist (and noted music personality photographer) Christian Steiner. The final concert, on Sunday, August 18, is a recital by Guarneri Quartet first violinist Arnold Steinhardt, with his brother, Victor Steinhardt, at the piano. All concerts begin at 8 PM; thee Academy is located on Route 203 in the little village of Spencertown. Call for information and reservations.

– Schenectady Gazette, 17 June 1985