by: Bogumil Pacak-Gamalski

These words often came to mind, seriously and in a playful mode, during my last Saturday visit to venerable Music Conservatory in Halifax.

First of all – finally something different than baroque music that seem to be in a bloodstream of Maritime musicians (or Cecilia Concerts –   most popular,  almost singularly exclusive organizer of  musical performances). Who doesn’t love Vivaldi and Bach? We all do! No, not so much. Not all and not all the time, anyway. Specially in my case. The same canons and styles repeated thousand times with slightly different arrangement and these funny rococo dresses, white powder and astonishing wigs  – could make you bit nauseating  … .

No this time, no. That was the music at its most glorious times. The times of Beethoven and Brahms. An ornamental intermezzo with less known (for a good reason) English composer Frank Bridge separated the German giants of great music. Immortal music. 

Whenever I am in Berlin and walk through the Tiergarten (Berlin’s Hyde Park), I like to go and sit on bench near the monuments of German’s giants of music: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. Only a short distance further is monument of Wagner. Never saw any of Brahms in Berlin. His famous and wonderful monument is in Vienna and modern, symbolic style sculpture in his native Hamburg –  that one I have seen many times as it is located just a stone throw away from my favored walking park in Hamburg – Planten un Blumen.  But enough of cities, monuments and parks I like to walk in. Back to music. In Halifax, not in Germany.

Let’s start with absolutely wonderful and musically very mature Gryphon Trio of Annalee Patipatanakoon (violin), Roman Borys (cello), Jamie Parker (piano). With addition of equally talented and very energetic  Ryan Davis (viola) it made brilliant quartet.

It is such an immense pleasure to listen to musicians, who effortlessly play with such unison and harmony! Each could be and indeed is a soloist in her/his right. But as member of an musical ensemble they become one. All the strings combined sounded like they were played by one soul with many hands. No unnecessary showmanship but unity in sound, tempo and tone.

Pianist Jamie Parker and his style of playing was very familiar to me. By no accident, of course. Parker studied in Vancouver under the tutelage of no one other than Lee Kum Sing. I recalled many long chats with Lee Kum Sing about his method of preparing young pianists to stage career. And the many traps and very insidious mannerism that lurks for musicians hungry of applause.  In early middle and conservatory level musical schools, teachers tend to tech how to play an instrument. But are very oblivious to the teachings of public expressions and stage unforgivable atmosphere. It is only in later years, if they are lucky enough, that they might found someone, who would teach them that. Someone, who has a stage/soloist experience. Typical music teacher in a conservatory or even an university is good theorist, good musician – but failed or couldn’t even begin a soloist career. It takes stamina, courage, perseverance and clear vision to become one.

In Halifax Conservatory the  hall was full. I was pleasantly surprise that a large section of the audience was below the typical here custom of silvery hair covering age of substantial life experience.  Not that there is nothing wrong with it. Especially if that composure still hides an eternal youth! No, it simply saddens me often that so many young people avoid such experience of good music. Chances are that if you don’t get that shot early in your life – you will never discover the beauty of so called classical music (I despise the term myself – music has only two genres: good and bad, period). And it is, for most part, a good music. Music that expands your horizons, your emotionality.

Anyhow – my luck this evening resulted in choosing my seat – between two empty seats. Alas, empty not for long. Just before the music started playing – two very young men sat on both sides of me, LOL. Probably below the age of twenty. 

Music. How to begin? A good suggestion would be: play most likely the absolute god of all music. The incomparable Ludwig van Beethoven.  And why not a composition, when The Great One was founding his totally unique, own musical style. The Piano Trio No.5 in D major, opus 70.

That composition (also known simply as a “Ghost’ – often combined with Macbethian origin) is superb on many levels. And is has been many years since I heard it full in a concert hall.

They began. The strings play the Allegro vivace wonderfully. Every note is essential, not replaceable.  The cello seems to lead dancing guests, the tempo and direction of the troupe. You can see the dancing group of guests in some forest, some meadow.  Very diminutive, quite sound of piano is somewhere, far away, only in moments yet it seems so constant. The sound of air around.

Then comes the Largo. Totally different in every aspect from I and 2 part. Ghostly indeed. My mind for split second jumps to memory of Ravel’s ‘Gaspar the la Nuit’.  Naturally, my comparison would have been absolutely alien to Beethoven as he died many years before Ravel composed ‘Gaspar’.   But the atmosphere is there. Specially in the piano parts. The piano plays here the leading part, the strings follow.

Presto returns to the happy  yet,  majestically vibrant procession like in Allegro, albeit in different melody and  more robust tempo.

After that trio I was sold fully. Uncanny-funny  side note: large city surroundings offer sometime surprises even for much more solid stages. It did during this concert in a perfect moment – during Largo. Distant noise of flying nearby helicopter.  I noticed some listeners were petrified. I found it very amusing and … interesting. In Largo, that distant monotonous sound was like a military drums of funeral march.  It fit the music very well.

After a short intermezzo the stage is taken by our pianist and the youngest but not lacking in talent, viola soloist, Ryan Davis. They both played a two short pieces of British composer from the turn of XIX and XX century, Frank Bridge. Bridge was , at his time and place, very well-known player of viola. These two compositions (Pensiero and Allegro Appossionato) are a good testament of his knowledge of the instrument. I see it mostly as an ornamental music, what we would call today: popular music. And I am sure it was popular in London’s salons of that time. It certainly allowed Davies to shine as an exceptionally musical viola player. In Allegro he was brilliant.

In music, the term pensiero  would be closer to largo in character and meaning. It represents  a heavy, uneasy thought, longing. The most brilliant representation of it would be, of course, no other than the music of Verdi in his unforgettable choir in Nabucco – Va , pensiero, sull’ali dorate . Frank Bridge composition definetly is not sull’ali dorate (… on golden wings). But it is pleasant to listen to.  

Last but by any means not least, comes Johannes Brahms complicated Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor. Brahms was so absorbed in his own prestige, in his almost neurasthenic fear of not living up to the greatest of greats in music, that he worked on his pieces over and over for years at a time. Changing note here, tempo there or even scale. The end was mostly brilliant composition but, at times (I think) it lacks soul. Music must be a story. A story of epic proportions, human story of struggle: in grief and in joy, despair and happiness.  It is very original construction of musical subjects unfinished, un-ended. As sentence ending many times without a period. Sentence beautiful, nonetheless.

I think that it must pose a challenge for musicians to play it, to find the right pace and continuity. I thought that the Gryphon Trio with Ryan Davies played it splendidly.

You truly start to like it, to have sort of understanding of the music, in the middle of part two (Intermezzo – Allegro) and 3^rd part (Andante con moto) brings some continuity and lyrical story to follow, to imagine.

Finally comes Rondo alla Zingarese. One of the most intense finale of the entire period in music. Let me use more precise, elegant terminology:  it is insane, it is crazy. And it is wonderful.  How does it end? It doesn’t! When you are sure that a powerful finale stopped playing and you are just about to jump to your feet with applause – the musicians play another finale, almost identical but not exactly. And again, and again … .

Even if you are not the greatest fun of the serious music – please go once to a concert of Johannes Brahms Piano Quartet N.1 in G-major, op. 25. And if you absolutely can’t stand this type of music – stay away for the first 3 parts – but, for Heaven’s sake, come back to listen to Rondo alla Zingarese.  It will change your opinion of so called ‘classical music’! I guarantee it. You might even scream at the end:  encore une fois, s’il vous plaît !

The Gryphon Trio with Ryan Davis concert in Halifax, April 29, 2023