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SAMPLER: First summer festival a success
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Published: August 28, 2008
Updated: 08/28/2008 03:05 am
There are three things in life that seldom fail to please: wine, music and food.
There was a good bit of each last night as patrons of the Carolina Summer Music Festival took in a "Festival Sampler" concert in a very crowded Zevely House. The night began with wine and hors d'oeuvres and ended with dinner. Along the way, there was a good bit of music, played by trios drawn from the Carolina Chamber Symphony Players, who are among the best performers of chamber music in the area. The whole thing, taxes included, cost $58 a person -- a pretty reasonable price to pay for the convenience of everything under one roof.
I have covered many music festivals over the years, but none of them, as last night's presentation did, featured a sampling of music from the festival's other concerts. I found the concept good and useful because it featured something from an earlier performance I did not attend along with parts of a work from a future festival program.
The music from the earlier concert was Johann Baptist Wendling's Sonata No. 3 in F Major, a thoroughly delightful work for flute (Elizabeth Ransom), violin (Jacqui Carrasco) and cello (Jennifer Alexandra Johnston). This was heard during last Sunday's "Music in Revolutionary Salem" concert.
Ransom, Carrasco and violist Scott Rawls performed excerpts from Beethoven's Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola, which will be performed in its entirety on Sunday, along with the composer's more famous Septet in E-Flat Major.
The Wendling piece exemplified the Classical era at its best. It abounded in catchy, bubbly melodies -- and even, as Ransom pointed out -- a nice dose of cadenza writing, something usually reserved for concertos.
We tend to think of serenades as appropriately light entertainment for informal settings. This description befitted the Beethoven -- but only to a point, underscored by many challenging licks that the trio executed with aplomb.
The first Carolina Summer Music Festival will wind up Sunday. It has been a success, having filled the otherwise-quiet month of August with beautiful music.
The musical execution has been first-rate, illustrating the depth of talent in the area. Audiences have packed venues to the point that there is a talk of presenting the same program more than once, in future summers.
My one hope is that the festival will find a way to include more new or contemporary music in the future.
■ The Carolina Summer Music Festival will run through Sunday. See
www.carolinasummermusicfestival.org or call 682-8524.
■ Ken Keuffel can be reached at 727-7337 or at kkeuffel@wsjournal.com.
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