Dolce Suono’s 18th-Century entertainment

At Dolce Suono’s first outing of the season, pianist Charles Abramovic described this trio as a piece of 18th-Century “entertainment music”— by which he meant that the audience should forget all the “Don’t do thats” thrown at modern concertgoers. The trio’s third movement, Abramovic pointed out, is a set of variations with riffs for all three musicians, and the audience should feel free to applaud each musician’s turn to show his stuff.

“Show your friends you have a superior knowledge of 18th-Century performance practice,” Abramovic urged.

When the third movement rolled around, bassoonist Harrison Hollingsworth produced a marvelous imitation of an aristocrat displaying his musical prowess; Abramovic and flutist Mimi Stillman proved they could show off just as well as Hollingsworth could; and the audience responded with appropriate appreciative noises. That interlude summed up the overall mood of one of Dolce Suono’s most enjoyable concerts.

No hidden agenda

The program opened, unannounced, with Stillman, Hollingsworth and oboist Geoffrey Deemer advancing up the aisle as they played a Mozart divertimento— a piece that might well have been performed outdoors.

Mozart composed the trio for three basset horns (a type of clarinet), and the three musicians played their own arrangement of a version for flute, bassoon and clarinet. Some of the instrumental blends sounded odd, but they captured the overall spirit of a piece that, like the Beethoven, exists to be enjoyed, without any philosophical, moral or political message.

Also on the program were a sonata for oboe and piano by Hindemith and two pieces by Poulenc. All were major works that displayed the mastery of the three wind players, but these pieces too contained their share of the playfulness that ran through the Mozart and the Beethoven.

Expectation fulfilled

The Hindemith opens with a cheerful first movement in a pulsing forward drive, then switches to a second movement that begins elegiacally and moves into something more complex and unpredictable. Poulenc’s trio for oboe, bassoon and piano is a dialogue between the two winds that ends in a rollicking rondo with a touch of the mock pompous.

The flute sonata is a late work that Poulenc wrote for the great French flutist Jean Pierre Rampal. The singing middle movement places big demands on the flutist’s skill and expressiveness, and Mimi Stillman gave it a performance that should have evoked some approving nods from the composer and the original performer.

As I noted in my preview for this season (click here), Dolce Suono and the Lyric Fest song series consistently produce satisfying programs, even when the premise underlying a particular program may not look promising. I attended this concert because it was a Dolce Suono event, without any expectations based on the program, and my confidence in Mimi Stillman and her colleagues received its just reward.