Celebrating Stravinsky at Randolph Macon Setting: The concert was in the old church building thats on England Street

in Ashland that looks like it is straight out of the 1600s (mostly due to its Tudor architecture). The sanctuary could hold maybe 80 people, and there were probably 55-60 in attendance. So needless to say it was a small room. The acoustics werent phenomenal, but certainly better than the MLWGS Auditorium. There was a microphone over the piano, which was at the center of the stage/once-alter area. The Program: Only the first third of the concert was vocal, all of which was performed by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Eschen. The concert was composed of pieces from Stravinskys Russian and Neoclassical periods. The vocals were all Russian period. The first piece was Two Songs, Op. 6 (1908). Part one was Spring (The Cloister). I have not been exposed at all to the incredible amount of dissidence Stravinsky maintains throughout the piece. The piano chords clashed constantly in a way that was almost upsetting and it was very disagreeable. Eschen did a great job with phrasing and facial expression. She was as much actor as singer. Part One for her was better than Part Two mostly because she had nearly memorized Part One and was looking up most of the time. On Part Two she was constantly looking at her sheet music, which was on a music stand, and it really constricted her sound. Part Two was A Song of the Dew (Mystic Song of the Ancient Russian Flagellants). As I said, this was not as good, and was musically similar to Part One. Eschens final piece was Pastorale (1907) which was short and sweet. This piece was much better. It was easier to really grasp what Stavinsky was going for and it really set an image in the mind. Sheeps and cows and goats and grass. It was innocent and jovial. Eschen did a great job of keeping the Ahs light and heavenly, and managed to change how her voice really added to the piano accompaniment. Despite only singing one vowel, she never repeated it style-wise. The rest of the concert was instrumental, but it will be covered nonetheless. James Doering, the accompanist played the short song Valse pour les enfants (1917) which was part of Stravinskys Russian period. It was maybe a minute and a half long and had the same two chords underneath the melody the entire song. It was interesting how Stravinsky could completely change the tone of the song by only changing the melody line. After Doering departed, the Richmond Guitar Quartet came on. They performed Three Pieces for String Quartet (1914) and Tango (1940). On the whole, I did not like the guitar transformations of what was meant for strings, but it did have its moments. During the second section of Three Pieces (The three pieces were not named.) the word Death instantly sprang to mind. It sounded like death. Not in a horror movie sort of way, but in a philosophical way. That moment was special. There was also a short melody line that was repeated a couple of times in the composition that reminded me of the Left 4 Dead theme song (Its a zombie apocalypse game). The second piece, Tango, was more fun generally, but uninspiring. The last third of the concert was Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano (1932). This was a part of Stravinskys neoclassical period, and sounded much more familiar because of its semblance to Baroque music. This was by far the best portion of the concert. The cellist, Jason McComb, was masterful and he played with Doering in perfect tandem. At some points in the composition they were swaying and

bouncing at the same time with each other. This piece as a whole resonated much better in the space provided than the other sections for whatever reason. The Introduzione was exceptional, invigorating, and capturing. The Serenata instantly drew images of a Russian man trudging through snow, but then the sky cleared and the snow melted and the Sun and the Moon and the man rejoiced. But it was just a dream, and he continued marching on. The Aria sounded surprisingly like Copeland-esque Americana, which was amazing. The Tarantella completely changed the sweeping vistas of the Aria back to a Russian ballet. It was rhythmic, engaging, and increasingly dissident compared first three movements (I hope Im using proper terminology here). The Minuetto e Finale parodied a Baroque-style melody. Stravinsky captured the Baroque sound, but the chords underneath were all incredibly staccato and had random outlying, dissident notes added in just to remind the listener that these werent actually Baroque. All in all, the Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano was exceptional and exquisite. The concert as a whole did a great job of juxtapositioning the heavy, often melancholy Russian style with the lofty, traditional Baroque style.