Concert Review: Look, No Hands!

New York Polyphony closes out the 92nd St Y season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Geoffrey Williams, Steven Caldicott Wilson, Christopher Dylan Herbert and Craig Philips: New York Polyphony.
Photo from the artists' website.

The 92nd St. Y ended its music programming for the current and rapidly fading season last Friday, with a concert featuring the men of New York Polyphony in what the singers: Geoffrey Williams, Steven Caldicott Wilson, Christopher Dylan Herbert and Craig Philips, referred to as a rare hometown show.

Concert Review: Of Intimacies and Mortal Thoughts

Mischa Maisky and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra open the 92nd St. Y season.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Mischa Maisky. Photo © Deutsche Grammophon/UMG.

Ask a music lover (like your humble narrator!) what hall has the "best" acoustics in New York, and the response might well be the Kaufman Auditorium. This wood-paneled, intimate hall is the centerpiece of the 92nd St. Y, that educational and cultural center that stands foremost among such institutions on Manhattan’s swanky Upper East Side. In addition to its lectures, social events and educational programs, the 'Y' offers top-flight lieder, chamber music and occasional orchestral concerts, all of which are among the finest New York offers in terms of musical quality. 

Concert Review: Beethoven for Conversation

Steven Isserlis and Robert Levin play the Cello Sonatas

by Paul Pelkonen

Beethoven at his fortepiano. Note the lack of pedals.

Within the vast catalogue of works written by Ludwig van Beethoven, the five Sonatas for Cello and Piano are relatively obscure: chamber pieces written for salon performances and various musicians and patrons the composer encountered in his career.

On Saturday night at the 92nd Street Y, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Robert Levin shone light on these lesser-known works. Contributing to the unique nature of these performances was Mr. Levin's choice to play fortepiano, an older style of keyboard instrumet with a shallower wooden frame and no pedals. The instrument, built by Paul McNulty, is modeled after an 1805 fortepiano, a spindly creation that looks more suited to a furniture museum than the concert stage.

The concert opened with a set of variations based on "Bei Mannern," the Act I duet from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. These were played with engaging warmth as the softer sounds of the fortepiano intersected perfectly with the cello's imitation of the human voice. The variations range from light and playful to slow and serious. Beethoven's interest in the humanist message of the text allowed him to alternate between the solemnity of a humanist message and the playful first interaction between Pamina and Papageno.