“FROM THE INSIDE, OUT”

December 5th, 2020

CONCERT REVIEW

by Richard Steen, YSM ‘72 MMA ‘78 DMA

Recently, I was privileged to view a thoughtfully planned and executed program of interwoven poems and music, recorded in performers’ homes and streamed virtually into audience living rooms.  Produced by Florrie Marshall founder of The Sound Bridges International, the concept of the program entitled “From the Inside, Out,” was to pair groups of spoken poems with matched musical selections.  Performed in point and counterpoint format by Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, pianist, and Natalie Vargas Nedvetsky, poet and orator, the identities of authors, composers and titles were revealed only after each work had been performed, an innovation enabled by control over content which helped listeners remain curious, all the while pondering the aesthetic rationale for the pairings. 

These young, engaging, and remarkably mature artists collaborated in selecting a cohesive sequence of poetry and music, spanning multiple cultures and periods. Ranging in temperament from the intimate, tender, grand, confident, wailful, resigned and mystical, the poems and music conveyed a collage of life experiences and values. The one-hour curated video was followed by an on-line “Zoom” reception inviting questions and feedback.

Program Architecture

The first two literary groupings were poems by Dr. Hollis Pruitt and Professor J. Regina Blackwell, college educators, and early influencers for Ms. Marshall.  Pruitt’s poem “Ethics” opened the program, with Ms. Nedvetsky declaiming “I have no race, but human, I am a man” followed by two poems on “Empathy “and “Love.” Pruitt’s poems were paired with Listz’s transcription for piano of Robert Schumann’s Lied, “Widmung” (Dedication), played by Mr. Sanches-Werner.  Drawing parallels with Romantic period love and humanity, Schumann’s setting of Rückert is an unabashed expression of love for his soon to be bride, Clara Weich.

The “A” section of Listz’ faithful transcription for piano, concludes with a left-hand embedded melody ending quietly on a slow rolling chord.  The surprising beginning to section “B” with an unrelated Major key and triplet-chordal accompaniment highlights Schumann’s genius and is a pianist’s interpretive delight. Merely halfway through this middle section intensity builds with hand-crossing arpeggios.  From the return of “A” to the end, Listz’s expansive arpeggios and fortissimo chords predominate. The challenge in balancing these transitions from reflective to exuberant, showcased Sanchez-Werner’s nuanced musicality, and technical control.

The next section, with poetry by J. Regina Blackwell, first a poem from an end-of-life perspective, and the second about a “Spider,” patiently rebuilding a carelessly destroyed web.  These were paired with “Come Sunday,” with slow, wistful harmonies of bi-tonal ambiguity, recalling a period when Duke Ellington flirted with the classical music sensibilities of his era.

The most dramatic readings followed as Ms. Nedvetsky recited the intense, diary-like observations from Anna Akmatova’s Requiem, expressing the angst and hopelessness experienced as an oppressed minority through Stalin’s reign of terror from the late 1930s to early 1950s, where all lived in constant fear of annihilation and “where the talk was of death.” 

Here, as later with renderings of her own poetry, Ms. Nedvetsky’s voice and facial expressions convey, “from the inside, out”, a willingness to evoke genuine feelings of vulnerability and empathy. The spoken words are well phrased with skillfully inflected dynamics, tone, rhythmic pulses, emphasis, pauses and, in places, sustained (legato) syllables.  The spoken word adds an interpretive dimension and immediacy, much akin to the performance of a musical score. 

Respecting Akmatova’s profound account in Requiem, Mr. Sanchez-Werner turned to the moving and enduring second movement (Arietta) from Beethoven’s final piano sonata, No. 32.  A sophisticated theme with five variations, Sanchez-Werner played the slow opening theme and first variation with expressive phrasing and dynamic sensitivity.  He visibly appeared to enjoy the physicality of the third variation’s jaunting, jazz-like syncopation, in contrast to the beginning of the 4th variation with subtle, syncopated “sighs” in the treble.  The triplet-based roulades and arpeggios, and widely separated bass and treble passages of the final variations 4 and 5 were played with great dexterity and tonal clarity, especially challenging given the rich tonal resonance of the modern concert grand.

The third section shifted to contemporary poets, starting with a poem by Ms. Marshall ‘There is a Hope” (2011), which sums up the struggles, evolution and intertwined nature of a significant relationship as a “beautiful perplexity,” constantly challenged, yet harmonically resonant, resolute, and strong enough for hope to prevail.

In another highlight of the program, Ms. Nedvetsky presented readings from two groups of poems, “Witherings” and Love” from her newly published first book of poems, I Quiet the World (Amalia Rinehart, 2020).  The “Witherings” section poems were paired with Sanchez-Werner’s playing the beautiful, modal, introspective “Summerland” (1936) by black American composer William Grant Still, while the “Love” selected poems were followed by the melodic and romantic “Hoja de Álbum” (1920) by Mexican composer, Carlos Chaves.

Of ten “Witherings” section poems recited, it is remarkable that an artist of Ms. Nedvetsky’s youth has accumulated the wisdom and perception to write poems describing one’s late-in-life yearnings, such as in “Decades collapsed to grains of sand” and “And years ate her purpose down to its original seed.” In light of the pandemic, “Breath passes through me like a ghost” seemed quite prescient, and “A torturous bulge of blue sky” was, for me, a notable standout. 

From the six “Love” section poems, two of the more expansive poems “In the beginning God’s stars were alone,” and “No one asks how the redwood stands” were especially rewarding for their thoughtful expression.  Ms. Nedvetsky ended her recitation eloquently with the poem “The symphony of streetlights goes to sleep,” with the line “I will move softly into this big life.”

The production values for the concert were very professional, including transitions, sound levels, and graphics.  Mr. Sanchez-Werner’s concert hall (for the Beethoven) and home studio settings were very attractive and varied, though it sounded to me that his piano was a bit out of tune, particularly in the treble. Ms. Nedvetsky’s close-up camera worked well for recitation.

Artists

The concert was organized and produced by Florrie Marshall, Founder and Artistic Director of Sound Bridges International Company. One of this non-profit’s objectives is to provide a versatile, virtual venue to facilitate the creation of ‘out of the box’ concepts in performance art, disseminated as “one to many” streamed programming.  Florrie Marshall is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Yale School of Music.

Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, pianist, holds from the Juilliard School, Master and Bachelor of Music degrees and a Yale School of Music, Artist Diploma.  Acclaimed across North America, Europe and the Middle East, he is also recognized for his dedication to social action through music.

Pianist and poet Natalie Vargas Nedvetsky has a Juilliard School bachelor’s degree and is currently completing a Master of Music degree at John’s Hopkins Peabody Institute.  She is Founder and Artistic Director of the Literary Music Series of weekly streamed performances, which champion the intertwining of music and words.

PROGRAM

MUSIC

BEETHOVEN

CARLOS CHAVEZ

FLORENCE PRICE

SCHUMANN-LISZT

DUKE ELLINGTON

WILLIAM GRANT STILL