Author Archives: Music Notes

Encore!

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Music Director Caroline Mousset with pianist Andrius Zlabys (Photograph by Casey Fox Smith)

Pianist Andrius Zlabys gave a fantastic recital on May 22 at the Phillips.  Most notably, Bach’s “Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830″ was clear, strong, musical, and profoundly heartfelt. Chopin’s “Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20″ and Prokofiev’s “Piano Sonata No. 7 in Bb Major, Op. 83″ were also close to stellar – not flawless, but very much alive with the burdens of their origins. However, the part that stuck with me and many others in the audience the most was the simple, breathtakingly beautiful encore – ”Für Alina” by Arvo Pärt.

Below is the recording of Zlabys’s encore along with some of the other great encores from this season of Sunday Concerts.

Click below to listen to Zlabys performing “Für Alina.”

Harpist Bridget Kibbey performing her own arrangement of “Tis’ So Sweet.”

Anna Bulkina playing Frédéric Chopin’s “Étude Op. 10, No.1 in C Major.”

Pianist Sara Daneshpour performing “5 Pieces for Piano” by the Israeli composer, Paul Ben-Haim.

-Casey Fox Smith, Music Program Intern

Formosa Quartet

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The Formosa Quartet (Stefan Milenkovich, Ru-Pei Yeh, Jasmine Lin, Che-Yen Chen)

An excerpt from the Formosa Quartet’s May 1 performance in the Music Room:

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No.3 ‘Razumovsky’ (1806)

Introduzione: Andante con moto – Allegro vivace


Andante con moto quasi allegretto


Menuetto: Grazioso


Allegro molto


-Casey Fox Smith, Music Program Intern

WarnerNuzova Brings Beethoven to the Phillips

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WarnerNuzova performing in the Music Room (Photo by Benjamin Resine)

(Photo by Benjamin Resine)

Cellist Wendy Warner and pianist Irina Nuzova of the duo WarnerNuzova performed the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas and Variations over two consecutive Sundays in April.  The concerts were a rare chance to experience impeccably refined artists giving respect to the breadth of Beethoven’s development as a composer from 1796 through 1815.  The juxtaposition of these works for one medium in such an intimate setting made me feel like I could understand Beethoven better as a human, not just a powerful music icon.  The struggle of his intellectual growth both musically and politically along with his steps toward more personal expression and then reflection was palpable.

Click below to listen to an excerpt of the Allegro from Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Op. 5, No. 1″ (1796)

Click below to listen to the Allegro: Allegro fugato from “Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2″ (1815)

Casey Fox Smith, Music Program Intern