Arioso and Eleva: Excellence in Vermont chamber music
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Arioso – from left, violinist Malone, soprano Marjorie Drysdale, mezzo-soprano Linda Radtke, cellist Robert Blais, pianist Alison Cerutti and violist Elizabeth Reid – will perform in Montpelier on Nov. 7 and Randolph on Nov. 8. KYLE MARTEL/TIMES ARGUS |
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By Jim Lowe Times Argus Staff - Published: October 30, 2009
Classical music is big in central Vermont, for players as well as audiences. But, until recent years, the local ensembles have been community affairs, including three orchestras. Over the past three years, though, two chamber ensembles of local professional musicians have formed – and both are presenting concerts on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7 and 8.
The Eleva Chamber Players, a three-year-old professional chamber orchestra, will present "Brilliant! An Inspiring Evening of English String Music" in Waterbury on Nov. 7 and in Barre on Nov. 8. The year-old Arioso, a group of instrumentalists and singers, will perform a diverse program including the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, on Nov. 7 in Montpelier and Nov. 8 in Randolph.
Arioso follows the model of New York's Chamber Music of Lincoln Center, where a group of top instrumentalists and singers mix and match to perform diverse works from the vast chamber music repertoire. The difference is that Arioso is made up of local players, not quite as famous as their New York brethren, but very good, as attested to by concerts last spring.
The group is unofficially led by Stowe violinist Raymond Karl Malone, who goes simply by Malone. He started his career as a New York freelance player before moving to Vermont. In addition to teaching and performing recitals in the area, Malone has been both concertmaster and soloist with the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra.
It was Malone's idea to perform Tchaikovsky's A Minor Trio, one of the most flamboyant and virtuosic works in the repertoire, full of Tchaikovsky's glorious melodies and rich harmonic and rhythmic language. The pianist is Alison Cerutti, a Northfield native who became the protégée of the late Louis Moyse. The cellist is Robert Blais, a longtime Montpelier resident who is as well-known as a teacher as a performer. He also leads the Green Mountain Youth Symphony.
Brahms' tender songs for alto, viola and piano will be performed by mezzo-soprano Linda Radtke, violist Elizabeth Reid and Cerutti. Radtke, who lives in Montpelier, is known not only as a soloist and a member of Counterpoint, but for her commentary on WCVT-FM. Reid, a Canadian now living in Northfield, plays both violin and viola with various professional ensembles and orchestras in Vermont.
Reid arranged several pieces for voices and strings, including "Herbstlied" by Mendelssohn, a lament for the end of fall and the beginning of winter, and the final duet from Monteverdi's 1642 opera, "The Coronation of Poppea." Also on the program is her transcription of Handel's joyous and playful love duet from his opera "Rinaldo."
Randolph soprano Marjorie Drysdale, a well-known soloist in the area, will perform an aria from Mozart's "Il Rey Pastore," featuring violin obbligato with Malone, and the sublimely comforting "Komm in Mein Henzenshaus (Come into my heart's house)" from Bach's Cantata No. 80.
Arioso features a Vermont contemporary composer in each concert. This program will include "Gosport Harbor," a work for cello and viola, by Braintree composer Kathy Wonson Eddy.
The Eleva Chamber Players were founded in April of 2006 in Waterbury by two violinists, Willi Docto of Duxbury, and Malone, who later left the ensemble. The mission was to "elevate the human spirit through music." The string orchestra, which performs without conductor, is composed of professionals from throughout the Northeast, all of whom perform regularly in Vermont.
John Lindsey, the concertmaster and once concertmaster of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, has performed in many chamber music ensembles in the region, as has cellist Linda Galvan of Hanover, N.H. Lou Kosma, music director of the Vermont Philharmonic, is assistant principal bass with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Scott Woolweaver, a well-known Boston violist, leads the popular "Messiah" sing-along each year in Woodstock.
The program includes Edward Elgar's Serenade, a piece that Elgar himself conducted and recorded in 1933, making him the first composer to leave a recorded interpretation of his own music. Gustav Holst's "St. Paul's Suite" was written in gratitude to the girls' school in London that built him a soundproof studio with two pianos and central heating. Peter Warlock's "Capriol Suite," written in 1926 and one of Warlock's most popular works, is a set of dances based on Renaissance tunes.
Also on the program is music by the Victorian Hubert Parry and John Rutter, better known for his choral music.
As each ensemble is performing their program twice, it is possible – even advisable – to enjoy both.