Those who enjoy classical music have been known to drive from Vancouver or the Fraser Valley all the way to Madeira Park to hear the 12th annual Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival that took place Aug. 19 to 21. They come every year; they go away vowing to attend next year. Yes, it’s that good.
This year one of the highlights that sent the audience away twittering with delight was the concert Rising Tide on Friday afternoon. The festival has always offered one free concert, a gift from the musicians, and in the past years that concert has been a showcase for young musicians who have the opportunity to perform chamber music repertoire in a professional setting.
The Sunshine Coast’s Hanna Crudele opened the show with her solo violin and as MC Alex Tebbutt said, it was “passionate and achingly sweet.” Rae Gallimore was drawn to the viola in 2012, making the switch from violin. Her piece by Henri Vieuxtemps was specifically written for viola. Pianist Jenny Dou has already earned her PhD in piano performance, and she played a Chopin Barcarolle. Later Crudele and Dou performed Gypsy Airs by Pablo de Sarasate, a tricky piece with a fast ending, and they kept their cool throughout. Dou, Gallimore and Crudele gave the finale on a piece by Joseph Jongen – a tuneful feat, since the trio had never performed together prior to the concert.
The Friday evening concert, Strings of Summer Light, burst open on a light-hearted note with Bohuslav Martinu’s Duo for violin and viola, No.2. The concert gentled down to a performance from Couloir, the duo of Ariel Barnes, principal cellist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Heidi Krutzen on the golden concert harp in a piece by Jocelyn Morlock that brought the two together as a duo. Soothing pieces such as this were followed by a lively, fiery Dvorak Terzetto in C Major.
Simon Fryer on the cello played a unique piece by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, in which the cello made sounds like rain on a tin roof or swarming insects – not everyone’s favourite soundscape, but it speaks to the variety of this festival.
One of the best aspects of this festival is the constant discovery of lesser-known composers. For example, Paul Hindemith composed a fine piece, Sonata for viola and piano, Opus 11, No.4, that has a lovely first movement. Why do we not know this composer? In the 19th century, Friedrich Hermann composed the Capriccio No. 1 in D Minor for three violins; this was performed by Mark Fewer, David Gillham and Joyce Lai. All were dazzling.
Festival director Theresa Kishkan, also a celebrated author, opened Saturday’s concert with a poetic comment that explained how they had arrived at the title, In the Key of Blue. Astor Piazzolla’s lively Le Grand Tango was performed by Fryer and the festival’s artistic director Alexander Tselyakov at the piano.
Things got jazzier towards the end. Kye Marshall’s Interact: Four movements for string quartet, in which four musicians used their Pender Harbour Chamber Music pencils on the strings, created an interesting percussive sound. The concert closed with jazz icon Duke Ellington tunes and a little audience participation on It Don’t Mean a Thing, arranged by violinist Mark Fewer. Doo-ah, doo-ah …
Couloir opened Sunday’s concert with a composition from Canadian composer Caroline Lizotte entitled Close for Couloir, based on folk tradition. The festival closed with Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings in E-flat Major, Opus 20.
“Eight of the festival’s string players including the young Rising Tide artists gave a rousing performance that was nothing short of magnificent,” said Festival director Karen Strong. “The audience responded with an exuberant standing ovation that reflected the tone of the whole festival as exciting and inspiring.”
The Festival will be presenting another mid-winter weekend of music on Feb. 25 and 26 next year with guests Corey Cerovsek on violin, Adrian Brendel on cello and Michelle Mares on piano. See more at www.penderharbourmusic.ca. The next full festival will be Aug. 18 to 20, 2017.
