Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s (LCCE) season of virtual concerts continues with Sonic Luxury, featuring Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s joyous Clarinet Quintet and Clara Schumann’s velvety piano variations, along with Derek Bermel’s cross-cultural concerto for solo viola and string quintet and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s hauntingly mysterious Nachtlieder for clarinet and piano. The performance will be streamed free of charge; RSVP is required and donations are encouraged.
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s strings are joined by clarinetist Jerome Simas to bring the full spectrum of sonic luxury from Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s joyous Clarinet Quintet. Coleridge Taylor’s masterpiece was composed in 1895 as a result of a challenge set by his composition teacher Sir Charles Stanford who believed one could not create such a piece without the influence of Brahms. The resulting composition proved Stanford wrong, and demonstrated Coleridge Tayor’s talent as a master composer, not merely a student.
Sonic Luxury continues with Clara Schumann’s velvety piano variations, performed by Left Coast’s pianist Eric Zivian. Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 20 was presented by Clara to her husband Robert Schumann on his birthday in 1853. The rich variations range from slow and somber to grand and lively, and all throughout with a romantic sense of warmth.
The concert includes a special performance of Derek Bermel’s Soul Garden, a lush concerto for viola and string quintet. Described by the Boston Globe as “seductive, culture-crossing” Bermel combines African-American gospel, jazz, and blues, with modern Romantic influences, providing the perfect piece for Left Coast’s Kurt Rohde to shine as viola soloist.
“This is a gem of a piece,” said Rohde. “While on its surface the piece demonstrates strong allusions to and inspiration from African American music and the Romantic tradition, what I find to be its soul is the way the viola is centered from beginning to end. Derek’s piece immediately connects to those qualities of the viola that are inherently about the nature of its sound, its potential, its existence as an instrument, and generates a musical narrative that transcends allusion to something more. The piece is a garden of delights: to play, to listen to, to revel in and be carried away.”
The program is complemented with Esa-Pekka Salonen’s evocative Nachtlieder for clarinet and piano. Salonen is a Finnish composer and conductor in his first season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony. Nachtlieder will be performed by LCCE’s clarinetist Jerome Simas and pianist Eric Zivian.
“As a member of the SF Symphony, I have long admired and enjoyed performing the large symphonic works of our recently appointed Music Director, Esa-Pekka Salonen,” explained Simas. “His composition Nachtlieder, for clarinet and piano, is an incredibly haunting and mysterious work very much in the vein of Alban Berg’s Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5. There is delicate interplay between the undulating piano motifs and the melancholy clarinet melodies. I am very much looking forward to exploring this newer addition to the solo clarinet literature with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble pianist, Eric Zivian.”