By Eileen Wingard in La Jolla, California
“American Legacy,” the August 12 Summerfest concert, had only two of its four offerings by American composers, Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Shorter’s Terra Incognita.
However, the other two works, Prokofiev’s String Quartet in B Minor and Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, as well as Copland’s Appalachian Spring, were commissioned by the American philanthropist and chamber music lover, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. In that sense, they merited their place in this program, “American Legacy.”
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge did more to put chamber music on the map of the United States than anyone before or since. Herself, an accomplished pianist and composer, she began her philanthropic work after her father died in 1915, leaving her a sizable fortune.
By 1925, she established the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, built an auditorium at the Library of Congress, initiated a chamber music series there, and commissioned chamber music works from the greatest composers of the day: Stravinsky, Bartok, Britten, Ravel, Hindemith, Milhaud and the three programmed at this Summerfest concert. At her 80th birthday celebration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed, “No one has contributed more to the understanding of music in America, and no one has given greater encouragement to writers and performers of music in America than Mrs. Coolidge.”
The only piece on the program not commissioned by Coolidge was Wayne Shorter s Terra Incognito. It was commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society, the Library of Congress, Da Camera of Houston and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. It was premiered 20 years ago at Summerfest by the Imani Winds, the same ensemble that performed this night, albeit with different personnel except for the bassoonist.
This night, we heard Brandon Patrick George, flute; Mekhi Gladden, oboe; Mark Dover, clarinet; Kevin Newton, horn; and Monica Ellis, bassoon. The eight-minute work began with a two-note repeated figure in the horn followed by melancholic passages in the other instruments. Various episodes followed, some cacophonic, others, jazzy, with the horn offering transitional passages. The music represented the unexpected in life.
Three of the Imani Winds, flutist Mekhi Gladden, clarinetist Mark Dover and bassoonist Monica Ellis joined violinists Tessa Lark, Blake Pouliot, Elli Choi, Anthony Chan; violists Rebecca Albers, Ayano Nakamura; cellists Efe Baltacigil, Paul Wiancko; and bassist Anthony Manzo in an exuberant, energetic performance of Copland s Appalachian Spring.
Aaron Copland (name originally Caplan), born and raised in Brooklyn, an openly gay man, wrote music such as Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, A Lincoln Portrait and Fanfare for the Common Man that defined an American idiom, with large intervals, changing rhythms, unexpected accents and using American folk music, such as the glorious treatment of the Shaker hymn, Simple Gifts, near the end of Appalachian Spring.
The first half of the program began with Russian composer Sergei Prokoviev’s String Quartet in B minor, beautifully played by violinists Blake Pouliot and Arnaud Sussmann, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellist Paul Wiancko. It is unusual in the sequence of its three movements, ending with a slow movement. But there are plenty of virtuosic fireworks in the Vivace section of the second movement to display Prokofiev s special acerbic character.
This was followed by a gracefully rendered Sonata for Flute and Piano, by the French composer, Francis Poulenc, performed by flutist Emi Ferguson and pianist Zoltan Fejervari. A traditional three-movement sonata with theAllegro malincolico and Presto giocoso bookendingthe inner slow movement, Cantilena: Assez lent. This is considered one of Poulenc’s greatest works. It was written in memory of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge four years after her death.
This program is a reminder of how important philanthropy is to the Arts. The La Jolla Music Society, presenting programs such as this, deserves our continued support.
*
Eileen Wingard is a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony and a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.