The Sphinx Virtuosi
By Tyran Grillo
October 2, 2016
On Friday night, the Sphinx Virtuosi — in collaboration with (and under leadership of) the Catalyst Quartet — presented their Latin Voyages: Viajes Latinos program. The result was one of the finest concerts I’ve seen at Cornell.
Coming up on its 20th anniversary, the Sphinx Organization places
young Black and Latino classical soloists on the world’s most
prestigious stages — not least Carnegie Hall, where since 2006 they have
held annual residency. But while there is an activist charge to the
group’s ideological foundations, it all comes down to the quality of
performance, style and selection. In those regards the virtuosi
transcended racial and cultural barriers, owning a space that would pass
even the stodgiest inspection.
If anything was clear from a blindfold test, it was the group’s age,
as these prodigious artists brought a youthful verve to every piece they
touched. The strains of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla provided
natural touchpoints in a journey that took the audience by turns to
Mexico, Brazil, Spain and back to Argentina. Piazzolla’s Libertango,
as arranged by Thomas Kalb, introduced the Sphinx Virtuosi as a force
to be reckoned with. Not only did they imbue this familiar melody with
premiere freshness, but also embodied it with the range of their
abilities, combining a soaring overlay with a jagged underlay as if one
depended on the other. This yin-and-yang approach served the musicians as they leapt into the Primera Suite Argentina
of Alberto Williams, a four-movement suite based on folk motifs that
vacillated between concert hall and open fields, and the urban sprawl of
Javier Álvarez’s Metro Chabacano. The latter piece, named for a
Mexico City transportation hub, was a highlight for its modern realism
and logical resolutions of half-tone dissonances.
Violinist Hannah White, Sphinx Competition 2015 Junior Division 1st
Place Laureate, rent the cloth of expectation with her incisive
rendition of the Prélude Ibérique by lesser-known Spanish
composer César Espejo, whose maze of sudden key changes and
knuckle-busting double stops resolved into a linear path at White’s
fingertips. The music itself — indebted to Paganini and, by extension,
Bach — was a treat to hear live and proved a studied choice on the part
of its performer. The Aria from Heitor Villa-Lobos’s popular Bachianas Brasileiras
No. 5 was the first of two loving arrangements by the Catalyst Quartet.
This was the prettier of them, and gave each of the higher strings a
spotlight as the theme grew viral. The fullness of its mosaic effect was
heightened as the quartet blended into its take on Piazzolla’s La muerte del Ángel, which
showcased an imaginative array of stomps, taps and even a shrill
whistle hung from cellist Karlos Rodriguez’s neck that made this
rhythmic puzzle all the more enjoyable to put together.
Comment by email:
Thank you so much, Bill! :) As always, your advocacy is very much appreciated!
Therese Goussy
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