The Catskill Chronicle

Review by Barry Plaxen

PARKSVILLE, NY (May 14, 2013) – The second offering of the new Parskville USA Music Festival took place on May 5 at the Parksville United Methodist Church when The Minerva String Quartet presented a program for the “average” music lover, consisting of three melodic and deeply moving string quartets, played with dynamism, beauty, profundity and joy.

The first offering was, what the publisher believes to be, the Western Hemisphere premiere of Carl Nielsen’s String Quartet in d minor, composed when he was a student, and not one of his four quartets that are now standards in the quartet repertoire. In this quartet Nielsen had not yet found his own unique voice, but you can hear beginnings of it in the rhythms (perhaps a little less in the harmonies) in the first and fourth movements. Harmonically and stylistically, it is an outgrowth of his knowledge of Brahms’ and Greig’s music, and it could be considered a paean to Haydn and Mozart with its classical style and stress on melody. From the first note to the last, the audience was enrapt So much so that all protocol was thrown to the wind after the first movement when the audience broke tradition and applauded vociferously after the movement The work is a real “find” – and we heard it first, here in Sullivan County!

Beethoven’s Quartet in Bb Major, Op. 18, No. 6 is his sixth and the last of his “early” quartets. Containing five movements, it is still steeped in the classical style but wanders often into the deeper feelings he was to bring out in his mid and late periods. Coming from the period of the onset of his deafness, it is a perfect example of contrasting moods that reflect what was to come in his future music, being gloomy, joyous, furious, lively, tragic, calm and boisterous at the same time, so to speak.

Last on the program was Dvorak’s “American” Quartet, his Op. 96 in F Major, No. 12. For those who do not know, this is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in any genre, quartet or otherwise. Dvorak filled his four movements with music that is considered to be the first classical “American” sound. This masterpiece was composed in just three days while he was visiting a Czech community in Iowa. As this is my favorite string quartet, it is difficult to be objective about it. Suffice it to say that, for me, the four movements contain music that is a constant energetic drive from its beginning through its middle to its end: thirty or so minutes of complete satisfaction of the highest order during which I can totally lose myself.

The musicians of The Minerva Quartet are all members of the Bronx Opera and the Orchestra of the Bronx: Second violinist Garry Ianco (photo at top), violist Elise Frawley (photo second from top) and cellist Teresa Kubiak (photo above) are ensemble players of the first order: expressive, communicative and thoroughly satisfying in their phrasing and interplay with each other.

Being that the group played three highly melodic quartets, first violinst Claudia Schaer (photo right) had to be a “leader” while offering up most of the melodies. The others had to follow what she brought to the music, and having played together often, afforded the audience a wonderful example of four people performing as one entity.

Schauer is not just a leader. She is a superb musician. In the Nielsen and Beethoven quartets she somehow managed to find a myriad of ways to phrase with a plethora of dynamics that can be described as soulful expressions of beauty. She brought her great talent to these works and made them sound like masterpieces (which they could be). I marveled at the amount of dynamics she was inspired to express, and thought Nielsen and Beethoven would have, too. For Dvorak’s quartet; it seemed that she just played its melodies et al and let the work speak for itself. A superb artist, she was an inspiration to me and had me completely mesmerized.

It was a great afternoon, everything a concert, chamber music or otherwise, should be. Producer Tom Caltabellotta can be rightly proud of what he’s brought to Parksville.

The next concert in the series is on Sunday, June 2 at 3:00 p.m. The Lyric Quartet, a vocal trio and keyboardist, will sing opera and Broadway music inspired by Shakespeare’s words. For information: 845-747-4247.