Yale at Carnegie for April Fool's Day
The De Profundis Program Became De Gaudeum
By: Susan Hall - Apr 02, 2012
Yale in New York
Frank Morelli, Bassoon
Scott Hartman, Trombone
Jerome Stover, Tuba
Ole Akahoshi, Arnold Choi, Ying Zhang, and Mihai Marica, Cello
Donald Palma, Double Bass
Ransom Wilson, Conductor
With alumni and students from the Yale School of Music
Weill Recital Hall
Carnegie Hall
New York
April 1, 2012
Photo credits: Sharon Eubanks
The Yale School of Music, faculty, students and alumni, gathered on the stage at an exquisite Carnegie Recital Hall and circumvented potential April Fool's pranks from all the Tigers and Crimsons who live around the city. World renowned faculty performers included Frank Morelli, bassoon; Scott Hartman, trombone; Donald Palma, double bass; Ole Akahoshi, cello; and Ransom Wilson, conductor.
Berkshire residents and summer guests will recognize the names from Norfolk Chamber Music, the summer home of Yale’s Music School.
The program opened with Mozart’s Duo for bassoon and cello in B-flat major, K. 292, with bassoonist Frank Morelli, as relatively tall as his instrument, and cellist Ole Akahoshi. The bright rendition quickly removed fears that De Profundis meant dark and dreary. This was about low instruments, strings and otherwise. Clearly the tone was going to be joyful.
The Serenata for three cellos by Krzysztof Penderecki was performed by the evening’s mix: faculty member Akahoshi with graduate Arnold Choi Sungchan and student David Chang. Hearing them play the same note simultaneously, it was clear that even the performers lowest on the ladder at Yale are of the highest caliber.
Penderiecki's Capriccio for solo tuba played by Jerome Stover, an alumnus, was a dialogue between low and high on one instrument. Stover played so the instrument seemed to talk to itself. This difficult piece in which the top continuously converses with the lower depths was a revelation in Stover’s hands.
Cursing under his breath (in the score) and charming too, Donald Palma took Jacob Druckman’s Valentine for solo double bass on an uproarious journey. Palma had fun with his instrument, impishly coaxing the music to work with him, speaking to it, and uttering all sorts of clucks, chirps and grunts. He succeeded in getting the bass to play with him too. When Palma put down his bow before the tone wanted to finish, he concluded it by humming. Here the dialogue was between man and instrument.
Composer Druckman was a member of the School of Music composition faculty from 1976 until his death and provided a wonderful sense of bowed and tweeted joy in Valentine.
Prokofiev had selected the bassoon to portray the grandfather in Peter and the Wolf. Morelli was positively avuncular joining his students in Prokofiev’s playful Scherzo for bassoon octet. Anyone who has labored over Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor on the organ would find the arrangement for the bassoon ensemble played this evening delightful. Not surprisingly, the group achieved an organ pipe tone, but curiously one more clear and charming than the organ on its own.
Fili mi, Absalon was composed by Schutz for sackbuts and bass voice. Bass-baritone Taylor Ward sang a sober solo in his unusually full voice. Its slicing tonal edge perfectly pierced the brass. Scott Hartman and members of the trombone studio accompanied on sackbuts. The distinctive instrumentation continued with a superb performance of Anton Bruckner’s Two Aequali for three trombones.
Yale Music has clearly planted itself in new music with Sofia Gubaidulina, awarded an honorary degree in 2009. Her Concerto for bassoon and low strings featured Frank Morelli as the soloist and was conducted by Ransom Wilson. The cellists were Yale graduates and students Arnold Choi, Sungchan David Chang, Alvin Wong and Mo Mo. The superb bassists students Mike Levin, Nahee Song,
As serious as the performances were, the evening had a delicious light touch that made you dream of bulldogs tooting on sackbuts. How many classical music performances can you attend where you LOL in the right places.
Members of the Yale Music School will be in New York for another series next season. Find them this summer in Norfolk.