Concert Report Bohemian

This concert, as part of the Eastman School of Music faculty recital program, featured Steven Doane as a cellist and Barry Snyder as a pianist, with a lineup of classical, romantic, and modern pieces. The combination of two well-known masters, Beethoven and Brahms, as well as the less known talents, Janáček and Martinů, yielded a wonderfuls performance by some of Rochester’s finest virtuosos. The first piece, 7 Variations on “Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen”, WoO 46, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is unlike any other piece I heard at a concert. It is a continuous movement, a flow of sound and harmonical transitions from variation to variation. The original melody is smooth, slow, a little bit funny, and varies in its tempo. The overall structure

Beethoven gives the cello a much more significant role that it is usually allocated in classical pieces -- it is a meaningful participant in the melody, and not just a “base-holder”. The variations take the listener through a full spectrum of musical variety: major and minor, fast and slow tempo, sad and joyful, leaving an almost magical impression. The piece to follow is Cello Sonata №2 in F Major, Op. 99 by Johannes Brahms in four movements. The first movement, Allegro vivace, continues the theme of the “7 variations” by using the cello in interesting and unorthodox ways -- which is typical for Brahms’s style -- including “col legno” bowing, plucking, and playing notes at the very top or even outside cello’s pitch, making it feel like a part for a different instrument. The majority of the movement is dedicated to a moderately fast crescendo, which abruptly ends, descending into quiet, grim notes, leaving the impression of impending doom. Adagio affettuoso, the second movement of the piece, resolves the “cliffhanger” left by the first movement: it starts out slowly, with only

The piece depicts three scenes from the tale, one per movement. The first one, Con moto, depicts a chase scene, by slowly, yet continuously increasing the tempo and speed of the piano through the whole movement. What adds detail and realism to the scene is a dark and repetitive melody, presumably representing the process of running away and the fear of getting caught, and short burst of speed on the cello, as last ditch efforts to escape. The second movement, Con motto, represents a walk through the forest -- and does so, to my surprise, rather convincingly. The melody is a smooth, harmonic flow of sound, with occasional sounds of birds, rustling of leaves, and cries of wild animals. The final movement, Allegro, is a depiction of the tale’s happy ending -- there is no particular plot references, but the joyful, celebratory, and triumphant nature of the movement translates the intended emotion with supreme accuracy. Cello and piano take turns leading the melody of the finale, which only contributes to the