Dumbarton Concerts presents another world premiere

 

The Historic Dumbarton Church in Georgetown/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Last Saturday morning while I bustled with cleaning chores getting ready for a weekend visitor, I looked at the photograph of my mother posted on the refrigerator door and sighed:  "I wish I could talk to you."

She's been long in the grave (almost 18 years) and I wondered if this same thought occurs to me every day.

That night at the Dumbarton Concerts the Tiffany Consort sang Angelo Cicolani's poem, "My Mother's Shadow (after Bach)":

My daily world goes on and on,
Yet special moments bring her close,
When joy or trouble make me wish
That we could talk.

It was the world premiere of the piece Mr. Cicolani commissioned Nicholas White, Tiffany's founder and director, to write, the third White composition directed by Mr. Cicolani. 

The "Mother" selection came at the end of the evening's concert of an otherwise solemn presentation of mostly a cappella medieval and Renaissance music, most dedicated to the upcoming Holy Week.  If anyone forgot it was Lent, the first part of the program was a stark reminder.   

(For the concert, the darkened and historic (1850) Dumbarton United Methodist Church always makes a beautiful setting with window sills decked with lighted candles.)

Nicholas White

The program led with another White compositions,  "Kyrie (after Albinoni)":  "A Lament for those who left this life too young," a tribute to Cicolani's  college roommate which included "In the midst of life we are in death....deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death." 

Eloquently accompanying the vocalists on "Kyrie" was cellist Benjamin Wensel. (Saturday's consort was composed of Steven Combs, sopranos Emily Noel and Laura Choi Stuart, tenor Matthew Hill, countertenor Roger Isaacs, and Mr. White. Was a singer or two missing?)

Music for Maundy Thursday included  the somber "Lamentations of Jeremiah" (Part One) by Thomas Tallis (1505-1652) with these words:

[The city] weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks, among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her.

In case those words were too uplifting, ending the first half of the program was "Miserere mei" by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652), originally intended for Renaissance monastic matins (after midnight) at the Sistine Chapel for Holy Week and included:

...cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my faults;  and my sin is ever before me....Turn Thy face from my sins:  and put out all my misdeeds.  Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.

After intermission came the hymn, "Jesu, meine Freude" BWV 227 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), a motet which may have been written for a funeral.  I counted seven movements over its 20 minutes (and understand I missed four), but the appreciative audience seemed to like it best of all. 

Wensel followed with a much welcomed detour from verbal beatings with Bach's short solo "Sarabande" (Suite IV in E flat BWM 1010).

The best was saved for last.  Cicolani described his motivation for the commissioning of "My Mother's Shadow" in the program: " ... to express a wistful lament for the loss of our mothers....we often wish to summon her shadow to seek her thoughts, or to share something special in our lives....This commission is dedicated to all those mothers who have left too soon, and I hope will speak to the people they leave behind."

In the program notes Composer White wrote he could not escape the knowledge that the day of the concert was the 330th anniversary of Bach's birthday (O.S. March 21, 1685) which laid the foundation for the music.

More from the poem:

She left so long ago,
Mourning's done, our lives apart,
Waiting near my wistful heart,
To share our thoughts.

Thoughts of mother etched in my soul,
Yet sadness comes not anymore.
I miss her presence every day,
Her shadow lives by me evermore.

Based on the audience's warm response to each piece and the standing ovation at the finish, the Georgetown crowd, with a few music critics, thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

A happy surprise at Dumbarton Concerts is the "Concert Cafe" (in the wine cellar) with spirits and desserts to savor before the concert and during intermission, highlighted last week by an art show of color photographs of the region, some so splendidly reproduced they looked like oils on canvas. The artist, Rob Rudick, was on hand to talk and answer questions.

 With the lamentations behind us, it was time to walk the Georgetown streets and find joy among the people who, at that time of night, were celebratory and it is presumed, unmindful of self bashing.   

"Sizzle" is the name of the last concert at Dumbarton this season,
which suggests an entirely different kind of music, more in tune with spring's colorful array to contrast with the dark and sad, long-lasting winter.

Who:  Salome Chamber Orchestra

What:  "Sizzle" at Dumbarton Concerts


When:  8 p.m., Saturday, April 11, 2015

Where:  Historic Dumbarton Church, 3133 Dumbarton Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007

Admission:  $35 and $30, seniors

Free limited parking:  At Hyde Elementary School, 3219 O Street, NW a half block off Wisconsin Avenue where an attendant will direct you on the short walk to the concert hall.

For more information:  202-965-2000

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Hark! The angels sang at Dumbarton Concert

Dumbarton Church in Georgetown, one block off Wisconsin Avenue, is the home of Dumbarton Concerts/Photo by Patricia Leslie

For all the babies and children who have trouble going to sleep, for parents and caregivers, the ethereal 
"Good Night" by Anton Seidl (1850-1898) which the Washington National Cathedral Boy and Girl Choristers sang at the Dumbarton Concert Saturday evening is an answer to prayers for slumber.

Had a host of angels descended upon the sanctuary of the historic Dumbarton United Methodist Church to enthrall the audience with beauty and harmonies never anticipated?  I believe all in the packed hall would have agreed.

More than 100 years have passed since the composition was last performed, according to musicologist Joseph Horowitz who discovered the score while conducting research for a book.

Anton Seidl, 1895/Arnie Dupont/U.S. Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons

The choristers, under the direction of Cannon Michael McCarthy, were the featured artists on the program entitled "Scenes From Childhood," presented to honor the centennial birthday of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and the bi-centennial birthday of Richard Wagner (1813-1892) whose written works for children were performed.  Mr. Seidl was a Wagner protege. 

Benjamin Britten, 1968/photo by Hans Wild/Wikimedia Commons

The evening's program began with "In Paradisum" from Requiem, Op. 48 by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) which the choir sang from the balcony where their heavenly sounds seemed to have better effect, filling the church of stained-glass windows and lighted candles more eloquently than from the main stage of the sanctuary, their destination where they walked while singing the first of 11 movements of Mr. Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 which only lasted 20 minutes. They sang in Middle English and Latin.

What words are there to adequately describe such music, chimes and reception?  Made more perfect by the accompaniment of the harp, played by Jacqueline Pollauf, who rewrote the piano composition of  "Good Night" for harp.

After intermission and "Good Night," the choristers presented  "Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlafe," a lullaby they sang with a lonely oboe's hymn.  It is part of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll which the PostClassical Ensemble performed as the night's last selection and the audience answered, to no one's surprise, with a standing ovation.

Wagner wrote Siegfried Idyll in 1870 for a special birthday gift for his wife, Cosima, to honor their son's birth in 1869. Several years later, Cosima was dismayed to learn her private birthday gift would remain private no more for her husband had to "go public" with it to satisfy creditors.  How would the couple ever know their anguish would become a gift for millions for more than a century? 

Fritz Luckhart (1843-1894) made this photograph of the Wagners on May 9, 1872 in Vienna/Wikimedia Commons

The PostClassical Ensemble's music director, Angel Gil-Ordonez, was the evening's conductor.  Mr. Horowitz is the ensemble's executive director.  Ensemble members are David Salness, concertmaster, Claudia Chudacoff, violin, Chris Shieh, viola; Evelyn Elsing, cello;  Ed Malaga, bass;  Beth Plunk, flute; Fatma Daglar, oboe;  David Jones and Chris Reardon, clarinets;  Erich Heckscher, bassoon;  Chandra Cervantes and Mark Hughes, horns; and Chris Gekker, trumpet.    

The 22 members of the Washington Cathedral Choristers are Elliott
Bamford, Caroline Blanton, Grace Brigham, Elizabeth Brogan, Landon Chin, Constantine Desjardins, Sophie Evans, Selin Everett, Doris Farje, Nathan Heath, Madeline Kushan, Maya Millward, Luke Mott, Nolan Musslewhite, Bronwyn Redvers-Lee, Annabel Ricks, Christian Schmidt, Lucie Shelley, Teresa Speranza, Rubii Tamen, Ben Vacher, and Logan Whittaker.

                    Good-night! And sweet be thy repose

                    Through all their shining way,

                    Till darkness goes, and bird and rose,

                    With rapture greet the day,--

                    Good-night!

From Edna Dean Proctor's poem which Mr. Seidl adopted for "Good Night"

The next and last Dumbarton Concert for the 2013-14 season is:

March 15: A quintet with the Linden String Quartet and pianist Michael Brown

Where: Historic Dumbarton Church, 3133 Dumbarton Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007

Tickets: $30 to $35

For more information: 202-965-2000

Free parking is available beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Hyde School, 3219 O Street on a first come, first served basis. Your ticket is necessary for the attendant.

Metro station:  Not in Georgetown

 

 

Mozart and Tchaikovsky on tap tonight at Dumbarton Concerts

A Far Cry/Yoon S. Byun

 

The Washington premier of Mason Bates's Icarian Rhapsody will debut tonight at Dumbarton Concerts'  last presentation of the season with a performance by A Far Cry, a 17-member string orchestra from Boston where it serves as the chamber orchestra for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Mason Bates, a native of Richmond, Virginia, is the composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Tonight's program at Georgetown's Historic Dumbarton Church includes Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht Music, Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C, and Piazzolla's Two Tangos.

Dumbarton Concerts, celebrating the conclusion of its 35th season, "is dedicated to assembling the most talented ensembles from around the world to create a concert season of the highest quality."

Tickets may be purchased online or at the door.  

Historic Dumbarton Church in Georgetown/Patricia Leslie

What:  A Far Cry at Dumbarton Concerts

When:  Tonight, April 6, 2013 at 8 p.m.

Where:  Historic Dumbarton Church, 3133 Dumbarton Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007

How much:  $33, general admission, or $29, seniors and students

Parking:  Limited free parking is available at Anthony Hyde Elementary School at 3210 O Street, N.W. beginning at 6:30 p.m. until 30 minutes after the show's conclusion, or arrive in Georgetown early and drive the blocks until you find a spot. (You will.)  This is Georgetown, after all, where Metro rail is prohibited, however, buses may pass.

An hors d'oeuvre bar with beer and wine is available.

For more information:  202-965-2000

patricialesli@gmail.com

The music premiere of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven'

Gustave Dore, The Raven, 1884. "And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor/Shall be lifted--nevermore!" Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress

It was all we expected and much more.

That being the world premiere of a cantata for Edgar Allan Poe's (1809-1849) poem, The Raven, created by Nicholas White (b. 1967) and commissioned by Angelo G. Cicolani, a board member and chairman emeritus of Dumbarton Concerts where Mr. White conducted four vocalists and a string quartet Saturday night and played the piano.

All this magnificence took place at the Historic Dumbarton Church in Georgetown which, enthusiasts will know, takes some dedication via private car, given the rarity of parking spots in Georgetown. However, it did not deter the determined.

'Bravo!' the packed house shouted repeatedly while standing at the show's conclusion.

Historic Dumbarton Church on the night of Nicholas White's premiere, The Raven/Patricia Leslie

 
Accompanied by two violins, a viola, and a cello, the vocalists flawlessly sang the words to one of the world's favorite poems:

T     Then into the church turning, all my soul within me burning,

S      Soon I heard again the music somewhat louder than before.

Beginning with a few mournful bars from the piano which became the ticking of a clock, the piece quickly accelerated with baritone Steven Combs's entry, which was, initially at least, almost overcome by the strings (June Huang and Christof Richter, violins, Marta Soderberg Howard, viola, and Benjamin Wensel, cello).

Soon, the voices of Emily Noel, soprano, Roger Isaacs, countertenor, and Matthew Loyal Smith, tenor, joined the production, adding depth to the composition which Followed fast and followed faster.

Each of the voices was exquisite in its own delivery, but it was stunning sound put forth by Mr. Isaacs, reaching unbelievably high notes, that the music became, like the poem, almost surreal, matching the content of the night and providing a splendid choir to hear.
 
Most spectacular were his solos, and the harmonies of the memorable combinations of duets, trios, and quartets.

 Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore.

T      The work complemented the poem in elegant fashion and came visually to life by closing eyes and spying the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned in my mind...Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore.

The performance Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

        So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I

        sat repeating

'Tis beautiful music I am hearing, coming from the stage room floor.

We shall remember upon the morrow the sounds of the rapping, tapping upon our minds and the sorrow for the lost Lenore.

We were visitors entreating entrance upon the church's chamber doors. That we were and nothing more. Mr. White opened wide the door.

We sat there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming could the music be more than more? The silence at last was broken and soon we heard the notes take soar.

But the music still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling

While we sat in cushioned seats and heard lamenting for the lost Lenore.

To endure for ever more.

 The first part of the program featured the music of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) in Stabat Mater which Mr. Isaacs and Ms. Noel sang in solos and duets, a selection which enriched anticipation of the coming attraction.

The Saturday performance coincided with the 35th anniversary of Dumbarton Concerts and concluded with a presentation of an appreciation plaque to Mr. Cicolani, who was called up on stage to receive recognition and thanks from the adoring audience. 

Mr. White, a Grammy nominee, is director of chapel music and organist at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. Ten years ago he founded Tiffany Consort, an ensemble of eight singers whose first production, O Magnum Mysterium, earned a Grammy nomination.  Mr. White has earned many commissions, including presentations for Martin Luther King Day at the Kennedy Center, and for the National Cathedral.

For those familiar with Gustave Dore's eerie and unforgettable drawings of The Raven which Poe never saw and which were published the year after Dore died in 1883, four original Dore drawings may be seen in the new exhibition, Color, Light, Line: French Drawings, Watercolors and Pastels from Delacroix to Signac in the West Building at the National Gallery of Art through May 13.

Some years ago, for my sister at the closed (but soon to re-open?) Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore, I purchased the Dore book of Raven illustrations, but I was never able to part with it, and there it sits still upon my table ever more.

Future Dumbarton Concerts are:

February 23: This Man is Magic! Ken Peplowski & Chuck Redd Trio

March 16: Beyond Beethoven Carpe Diem String Quartet

April 6: The Criers and A Far Cry

Where: Historic Dumbarton Church, 3133 Dumbarton Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007

For more information: 202-965-2000

Free parking at The Hyde School, 3219 O Street

Metro station:  Are you kidding?  This is Georgetown.

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