Concert Review—

Fine Artistry On A Cold

Sunday Afternoon Warms Audiences

By June S. April

It’s just a matter of time until one of two recording companies will have contracted with violist Nokuthua Ngwenyama to put out her first compact disc and she is excited about the immediacy of this project. In the meantime her schedule is filled with recitals around the United States. To hear her is to appreciate fine artistry.

A March 9 performance by Ms Ngwenyama at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown offered a program that ranged from Bach to Anton Rubinstein, with contrasting music of Mozart and Hindemith included. What was exemplified was both the technical mastery and passion for the music that this young woman was performing.

Her accompanist, Melvin Chen, is one of those extraordinarily multi-gifted people. With a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard, and a bachelor of science in physics and chemistry from Yale, the congenial and charming gentleman also holds a double masters for piano and violin, which he earned at the Julliard School of Music in New York. Dr Chen is a Visiting Professor at Bard College and works with its respected and innovative conductor, Leon Botstein.

Somewhere there is also time to teach piano as a faculty member of Yale. He began his piano studies at age 3 and violin studies at 5 years of age. There are credits beyond space allotted here.

A dynamic musical duo, the energy and balance between Ms Ngwenyama and Dr Chen were sensitive and introspective. The romantic music of Anton Rubinstein’s Sonata in F minor for Viola and Piano, Opus 49, is not as well known as his Meldodie in F (for piano) but this composition presents a challenge to any performer.

The complexity and lyricism necessitate an understanding so that the music is not too “schmaltzie.” All too rarely heard, Rubinstein’s compositions are prolific and varied. He wrote for opera, piano, chamber groups and orchestra and was known as a brilliant and very active performing pianist, with quite a reputation for being flamboyant performer.

   Opening the concert with the Sonata for Viol and Keyboard in D, BWV 1028 by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ms Ngwenyama and Dr Chen offered an intellectual execution of this masters’ work. The third movement, Andante, was particularly intriguing because of the contrast in the melodic patterns.

The scope – from Baroque to the atonal work of Paul Hindemith – may not have been enjoyed by members of the audience as much as the beautiful Duo for Violin and Viola in B-flat, K. 424 by Mozart, but even the children (about two dozen) in the audience were spellbound by the performing on stage. There were none of those extraneous noises, like coughing, rustling or whispering.

Once again, the Newtown Friends of Music – the concert’s sponsor – brought to Edmond Town Hall outstanding musicians whose talent is enjoyed throughout the world.