On Thursday, Venti Cordi, which means winds and strings, performed its 11th concert of the season in Kennebunkport. This extraordinarily gifted group of musicians performs compositions written for diverse instruments of chamber music that is rarely (if ever) performed.
Composers (especially those who write noncommercial music commonly referred to as classical music) are people who do what they want to do as they want to do it. (In this aspect they are kin to those who paint, write poetry, sculpt and so on.) For the most part composers write music for like instruments such as music for strings, or music for wind instruments, or brass instruments. Starting in the late 18th century, but especially in the 19th century, composers who frequently were pianists also wrote music for piano with two or three string instruments. Music in this genre are for the most part staples of the literature and are frequently performed.
However, composers have also composed chamber music for diverse instruments, with or without piano and these compositions have not fared as well. It is in this area that Venti Cordi has done yeoman service.
The group is headed by Dean Stein and Kathleen McNerney who respectively play violin and oboe. (Forgive me please, this is akin to stating that Mookie Betts is simply a baseball player.) I state with confidence that whatever has been composed for violin or oboe, these two can play and play very well. I have heard them perform technically demanding music and playing these musically as well.
Both are on the faculty of Bates and Bowdoin Colleges, and Mr. Stein is also the first violinist of the Portland String Quartet. (One could fill the remainder of this column listing their accomplishments.)
Other than performing music rarely performed for diverse chamber combinations, this group also uses the talents of musicians in the New England area and also performs concerts in Maine all year round. Yes, I applaud various other chamber music “festivals” but these occur in the “summa” time and cater to visitors from “away.” This year, Venti has performed concerts in Kennebunkport, Kennebunk, South Portland, and Brunswick.
I was fortunate enough to attend their program on the eighth in the Port. On this program composers whose music was performed included works by Migot, Hindemith, Davis and Dubois. Stein and McNerney were joined by: Elisabeth Marshall, soprano; Michelle LaCourse, Viola; Asima Scripp, Cello and Bridget Convey, Piano. Ms. Marshall has a rich, full bodied voice. She has mastered the skill of singing music that has little or no relation to whatever other instruments happen to be playing and singing it with conviction. Ms. LaCorse and Ms. Scripp are both skilled professionals and were worthy colleagues of Stein and McNerney. As someone who doodles on the piano, words of praise are insufficient to acknowledge what Ms. Convey did on this program. As for Stein, on a hot, humid evening, where the difference in being accurate and playing out of tune can be measured in less than a 16th of an inch, his intonation was impeccable. McNerney’s timbre was the ideal of what an oboe is supposed to sound like, and she makes it seem so effortless.
The highlight of the program (for me) was the performance of the Quintet for Oboe, Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano by Theodore Dubois. Dubois is known mostly as a composer of music for the organ. What we heard was a major work by a minor composer. By being out of fashion when he wrote it, (and still is today) nevertheless, it will always be in fashion for people who love music that has melody, shows off each instrument and is well constructed to boot. The three earlier works on the program were more similar in character and would appeal more to students in a conservatory than a general audience I believe. The Dubois piece may have had “too many notes” but ah, how wonderful they were taken all together.
I look forward to the next Venti Cordi concert in the fall.
-Dr. Morton Gold is a composer/conductor, retired educator and arts reviewer for the Journal Tribune.
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