Dolce Suono's Debussy farewell

Two years ago I gave BSR readers an unequivocal recommendation: Attend any chamber concert that includes pianist Natalie Zhu on the roster. (Click here.) That was the safest bit of advice I've ever handed out, and Zhu proved it once again with her contributions to Dolce Suono's "Debussy as Painter of Song" program last weekend.

You could hear her distinctive voice in the harp-like piano notes that opened the program' first piece: Mimi Stillman's flute and piano arrangement of Debussy's song Nuit d'Etoiles ("Starry Night"). When a piece calls for it, Zhu can create streams that flow like the seamless notes of a flute or violin, rather than the detached hammer strokes of a piano. In the fast movement of Debussy's Arabesques for solo piano, she even proved she can bang with one hand while she maintains that liquid flow with the other.

This was the final concert in Dolce Suono's season-long focus on Debussy, and it ended the series with a flourish. All of the Debussy songs and instrumental works on the program were miniatures, but there was nothing small-scale about their impact. The only thing miniature about them was their length and the number of musicians required.

Curtis reunion

Stillman made an important statement about Debussy when she played six of her flute and piano arrangements of his songs. Many composers produce settings that express the emotions of a song but aren't very interesting musically. The vocal lines of Debussy's songs make good flute pieces because they're so melodious and musically interesting that they can stand by themselves, without the help of a text.

The concert had some of the air of a reunion. Twenty years ago, Stillman and Zhu were young classmates at Curtis— Stillman having entered at 12, Zhu at the advanced age of 15.

Their partner on the Field Hall stage, soprano Sarah Shafer, is still studying at Curtis, but she's another example of Stillman's ability to surround herself with first-class associates. Shafer can hit the big notes, like all the students in the Curtis opera department, but she's also developed the nuanced, less assertive style that art song requires.

Unpredictable composers

Shafer's main event was a group of six Debussy songs based on texts by Paul Verlaine. It had moments when it required a room-filling surge but Shafer kept everything in proportion. She moved gracefully between the big notes and the passages that called for a crooning, caressing style.

Dolce Suono's previous Debussy programs this year included entries that reflected Debussy's continuing influence on other composers. For this concert, Debussy's works were interleaved with the premieres of seven pieces by the winners of Dolce Suono's first Young Composers Competition.

These pieces added an unpredictable element to the program and created a lively variety show, offering something different every five minutes.

Exit laughing

The contest winners all adapted highly personal approaches, but their entries reflected Debussy's interest in imagery, tone color, Asian art and poetry that creates elusive images. Kai-Young Chan, for example, translated a Song Dynasty poem into textless instrumental music for piano and alto flute and evoked the mood of a desolate night. Michael McMillan's Images IV begins with a perfectly blended shivering for flute and piano and ends with the soprano singing alone as it creates a musical background for a subtly romantic five-line poem about things that tremble in their stillness.

The dazzler among the premieres was 23-year-old Viet Cuong's Lacquer and Grit, an exercise in "overblown harmonics"— the sounds that flutists produce when they overblow their instruments. The sounds can be brilliantly attractive (the lacquer on the surface) but they require exceptional control (the grit behind the shine). The result was an exciting virtuoso flute display for Mimi Stillman, combined with lively music that would have been enjoyable even if you didn't know the composer had placed the flutist on a high wire without a net.

The afternoon's grand finale was a piece by Hong-Da Chin, in which pianist, flutist, and soprano imitate birds. The flute is often used to imitate bird cries, but I wondered how a serious soprano like Sara Shafer felt about singing coo coo over and over.

Then the piece ended and all three performers immediately started laughing.

It was a fitting end to an afternoon in which the spirit of a great composer hovered over a stage inhabited by two young stars, a promising newcomer and seven of the composer's youngest successors.♦


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