Mezzo-soprano Jazimina MacNeil.
Maintaining top-flight artistic standards, the Willy Street Chamber Players opened their fourth annual season of Friday evening concerts on July 6.
The concert at Immanuel Lutheran Church featured a new addition: guest vocalist Jazimina MacNeil, who has a warm and lovely mezzo-soprano voice and a charming presence. She brought three works for voice and string ensemble, all by young American composers. The first was Cant voi l’aube, setting an Old French text by a 12th-century trouvère poet, a dawn song, as recreated by Caroline Shaw (born 1982). The second was an ironic narrative of an episode in a coffee shop, For Sixty Cents, by Colin Jacobsen (born 1978). I found the vocal writing in both not very engaging — and the placement of the singer behind the ensemble hampered diction. But the pieces did have interesting parts for the string quartet.
For the third piece, MacNeil wisely moved in front of the ensemble, presenting Five Animal Stories by Michael Kelley. Delving into medieval Armenian literature, he created five pieces for string sextet, each preceded by a spoken introductory narrative (in English); the last piece ends with the singing of a folk song in Armenian. The instrumental writing is full of clever touches, and its incorporation of traditional Armenian musical styles reminded me of the work of Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), the Armenian American composer whose own tradition-based synthesis enjoyed considerable admiration some decades back.
For the final work the Willys delved into the string chamber music of Johannes Brahms. This time the work was the String Quintet No. 2 in G, Op. 111, a late and sumptuous affair. The five players addressed it with their usual precision and exuberance. Particularly fascinating in this performance was the way Brahms pitted the brilliant sopranos of the two violins against the two dusky altos of the violas, with the cello providing a firm foundation. The two thoughtful middle movements also took on a lovely eloquence.
What wonderful artists these gifted young players are. And there are more Friday concerts to come. On July 20, the players will offer Quartet in A, Op. 39 by Glazunov with six arias from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as arranged by Les Thimmig. The last concert, on July 27, will feature music by Boccherini, Prokofiev, Andrew Norman and Johann Strauss II, with guests Alicia Lee (violin), Timothy Hagen (flute) and Thomas Kasdorf (piano).
