Concert Review—

A Match Made In (Musical) Heaven

By Wendy Wipprecht

About six times a year, Newtown Friends of Music brings distinguished chamber performers to our town’s living room, Edmond Town Hall. The concert presented on Sunday, October 23, featured the cellist Carter Brey and the pianist Christopher O’Riley playing works of Schumann and Chopin.

Each artist has a distinguished career outside this duo: Mr Brey has been the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic since 1996, and Mr O’Riley is a soloist whose broad repertoire includes works by Renaissance to contemporary composers, and also includes transcriptions and arrangements he has made of others’ work.

The first half of the concert, which comprised three short works, began with Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in C Major, Op. 3.

Melody and accompaniment are continuously exchanged between the two instruments until the cello’s series of blazing descending runs begins to bring the piece to a dramatic finish.

Before the audience had finished applauding, the duo resumed their places for the Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70 by Robert Schumann, a work originally scored for French horn and piano (Schumann also provided versions for violin and piano, and for cello and piano). The Adagio provided a sharp contrast to the flash and fire of the Chopin, being a quiet, sustained, flowing, almost meditative section of great emotional depth.

Chopin reportedly attended a performance of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s wildly popular opera, Robert le diable, and was entranced. His friend Franchomme persuaded him to collaborate on a cello and piano version of themes from the opera, for which Chopin provided the general structure and the piano part, and Franchomme wrote the cello part. The result was the Grand Duo on Themes from “Robert le diable,” Op. 70, of 1831.

Chopin wrote the Introduction, which is unusually weighty, essentially for piano solo — the cello makes only the briefest of appearances — and then both instruments embark on the operatic themes. These, of course, feature many different types of music: there are dancelike sections, plaintive melodies, and more dramatic sections, each offering opportunities for technical display for each instrument and for the two together. Then the piece gathers force and comes to a showy, dramatic end.

So much happens at a fine classical concert that it’s often difficult to follow. Do you just close your eyes and listen, letting the music take you where it will? Do you listen with an analytic ear? Do you watch the performers, which may lessen your ability to hear?

With such an elegant pair of performers, one tries to listen hard, but I did notice Mr Brey and Mr O’Riley seemed to use no visible cues; I can only imagine that affinity, partnership, and musical telepathy were in play.

Their playing is very disciplined, but also very passionate — intense in every way — but between the pieces, they looked as relaxed as players at a pickup ball game, and smiled often.

The second half of the program began with Schumann’s Fantasiestucke, Op. 73, which Schumann wrote for clarinet and piano, and then arranged versions for violin or cello and piano.

The full house leaped to its feet to applaud these extraordinary musicians, and were rewarded with an exquisite encore: the second of Schumann’s Five Pieces in Folk-Song Style. It was one of those very simple, melodically perfect pieces that are easy to play but nearly impossible to play well, since nothing gets between the player’s artistry and the listener’s ear.

The program was elegantly planned, the playing superb. The phrases “near perfect” and “awe inspiring” are so overused as to have been emptied of force, and yet these are the perfect descriptions of the Brey-O’Riley duo.

(Please visit NewtownBee.com, where you can find an expanded version of this review under Features.)