Just as a particular scent triggers a flood of memories, certain styles of music are likely to awaken a host of feelings in the listener. Such is the evocative power of the Impressionist composers. It then seems appropriate for a string quartet that has assembled a selection of works by Debussy, Dutilleux and Faure, to call their program, “Masters of the Evocative.”
The Left Bank Quartet (the very name recalls a bohemian and edgy ambience) gathers Sunday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the University of Maryland campus. Their desire is a simple one; to unleash through the music a host of feelings as their audience travels on a sensory journey.
| Onstage |
| The Left Bank Quartet Concert Society |
| Where: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park |
| When: 4 p.m Sunday |
| Info: Free, 301-405-ARTS, claricesmithcenter.umd.edu |
David Salness, the university’s professor of violin and director of chamber music activities, is the co-artistic director, along with cellist Evelyn Elsing of the Left Bank Quartet, performing with violinist Sally McLain and Katherine Murdock on viola.
The group is joined this afternoon by guest pianist Larissa Dedova, who opens the program with Claude Debussy’s “Estampes, [Prints, Etchings] written for solo piano. In this delightful piece, Debussy creates, what he called “kinds of realities.” The work suggests images of exotic, faraway places and, through the tinkling of piano keys, recalls the playful romping of children in the rain.
“Henri Dutilleux’s ‘Ainsi la nuit’ [Thus the Night] is a remarkable work; the whole idea is about memory and foreshadowing,” explained Salness. “To me, writing anything about the night, by definition, is evocative, don’t you think?. It’s contemporary in sound, but it’s more about exploring a diverse range of colors, feelings and emotions.”
After the intermission, Gabriel Faure’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 115 brings the quartet and piano together with a combination of both modernistic and impressionistic devices.
“I think listeners coming to this concert are going to enjoy hearing the similarities and differences between how these three masterful composers went about using sound to evoke different emotions, moods and stories,” Salness said.
