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Armenian Styles: Ani Kavafian in folk mode
Saturday, April 26
By Paul M. SomersNew Jersey Music Society. Ani Kavafian (violin), Sahan Arzruni (piano), Charles Neidich (clarinet), George Mgrdichian (oud), Michael Lawson (violin/viola); Jay Elfenbein (double bass), Rex Benincasa (percussion), Ben Metzger-Benoir (guitar). 'Armenia in New Jersey.' Montclair Art Museum Auditorium, Montclair.
The New Jersey Music Society's exploration of Armenian music was headlined by one of the two most famous Armenians in America's classical music world: violinist Ani Kavafian (the other being her sister Ida). The program included a wide range of music reaching from fully composed music by Khachaturian and Babajanian to music more generally Islamic and Moorish than specifically Armenian.
But those wanting true folk music were sent away thrilled by Shalakho, a folk dance which Ms. Kavafian has known since her childhood. She and *oud artist George Mgrdichian played this tune and subsequent variations and developments of it in a most authentic manner. Rather than some westernized setting with ³European² chords, this was true village music which was filled with *heterophony. The two instruments wound their way through *microtonal inflections often evoking the freedom of singers singing a text. While other music in the concert was equally exciting, perhaps even more visceral, in its unvarnished passion and raw appeal this was the heart of the concert. Ms. Kavafian, hardly a person the nation¹s concert-goers associate with improvisation, fit right into the folk mode as she worked embellishments and even full-blown solo excursions into her playing. Mr. Mgrdichian, on the other hand, is completely used to this improvisatory style of performance and eagerly and happily got down to the task of making great dance music. Together they made music so imbued with authentic Armenian spirit that even the most impressive works in the remainder of the program, written out or improvised, paled in comparison.
Mr. Mgrdichian drew the program away from Armenia by playing a rhapsodic piece he called Oud españa. He was joined by percussionist Rex Benincasa, who played a *frame drum rather in the manner of an Indian *tabla. The two were rhythmically in sync; even when they seemed to be quite divergent, they would suddenly be together at crucial points. As so often happens in folk music, the string player never left *first position. While this still left Mgrdichian with plenty of room to show his virtuosity and to gain his effects, it still kept the music earthbound.
The same reliance on improvisation and its place in certain folk musics was the basis for Michael Lawson's Flamencera in Persia, a work which seemed to mix Moorish influences with those of the Middle-East. In this piece the stage was filled with players, not the least of whom was Lawson himself. Not only is he the executive director of the New Jersey Music Society, but also a fine violinist/violist. In his classically trained hands the improvisation elements in the second movement took off into ranges above first position, and the result was a welcome expansion in interest. Quite simply, more happened that was interesting. The first movement included viola, oud, and guitar solos, but all were limited in scope.
In tandem with Lawson taking the second movement into a higher range, the piece became a *passacaglia or something close to it. The effect of this repetitive structure was to drive the piece relentlessly and excitingly along.
The concert included a Nocturne for clarinet and piano by Aram Khachaturian. It was a lovely work with a clear musical goal which Mr. Neidich made quite clear. The concert began with Khachaturian's Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano. The rarely performed piece proved to be quite *impressionistic. Filled with *modal writing and the *gap scales so common to folk musics as diverse as Scottish and Balinese, the effect was not quite as edgy as Bartók but still quite affecting. Most of the audience was familiar with both Ms. Kavafian and Mr. Neidich, so the great discovery was pianist Sahan Arzruni ('Sha-HAHN Ards-roo-NEE' the program notes were careful to tell us). His technical display was impressive for its musicality as well as for its flash.The concert concluded with a summing up. Arno Babajanian's Violin Sonata, played by Ms. Kavafian and Mr. Arzruni, proved to be filled with folk elements and with great compositional skill in the Western tradition. Surely the most exciting movement was the third with its oft-used ten-beat pattern of 3+3+2+2. But to my ears the most arresting was the central *Andante Sostenuto. Its ghostly prestissimo section with both violin and piano muted was astonishing in its conception and execution, virtuosity filled with mystery and magic.
In Memoriam Theodore Lettvin
______________Pianist Theodore Lettvin, former professor of piano at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, died on Sunday, August 24. At 12 he played the Mendelssohn G minor concerto with the Chicago Symphony, went on to study at Curtis with Horzovsky, and then on to a career which took him to the great orchestras. For years he was an honored faculty member whose commitment to chamber music is still remembered.
Aside from his musical legacy, which is quite worth remembering, he was a man with a great sense of humor and a raconteur of the old school. But beyond that, Ted was the only person I have ever known who made his own tonic water. In the midst of one of his patented lasting-forever bull-sessions in his kitchen, I sat amazed as he got out seltzer, then made a paper funnel through which he introduced quinine he had purchased at the drug store. He said he did it to avoid the sugar which is added to the commercial brands. His wife Joan chuckled and shook her head. 'He always does it this way, you know,' she assured me. It is worth noting that neither of us ever caught malaria thereafter.
Oh, yes, we'll all miss his music and his stories about musical events. But for me it was an added pleasure to know a man who mixed his drinks from scratch.
Memorial donations may be made to the Union Congregational Society, Lettvin Chamber Music Series, Bradford, New Hampshire 03221; or to the Great Lakes Performing Artist Association, Lettvin Fellowship, 1969 W. Stadium Blvd., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48103.