Review: HIGH OCTANE OCTET at Carnegie Hall-Weill Recital Hall

Imagine you are living with your family at your mother-in-law’s house. Imagine you don’t really “work” for a living because you are a composer. But you are very bored.  You mother-in-law takes in boarders, and one day you distinctly hear the sound of two violins playing a duet! Your ennui disappears and you go to your desk to compose a piece for two violins and viola, which just happens to be your instrument. As soon as you’re done you grab your viola, rush out of your room, run down the hall, and burst in on the violinists. “Let’s have some fun!” you cry, and the three of you immediately start to play the four short pieces you’ve come up with, and you are rarely bored again.

Well, all right. It didn’t happen exactly like this little scenario, but Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) was indeed living with his mother-in-law, at least temporarily. He did want to be productive at this time, and seizing the chance to compose he got right to work. He decided to use the “Miniature” format, a series of short pieces forming a kind of suite. The pieces do not follow a theme. The performers made the deceptively simple sound more difficult than it already was, and the difficult passages sparkled. The first movement in particular was dance-like and  sprightly. For a moment it looked as though some audience members were about to get up and dance in the aisles!

The second half of the concert featured Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847)  Octet in E flat major Op.20.  Written as a birthday gift for his violin teacher, Mendelssohn’s orchestration for three violins, two violas and two celli made the music crackle with energy. At the age of sixteen he already had a complete grasp of the capabilities of each instrument. The Octet has a lush, rich, and joyous sound, which was further aided by the Weill Recital Hall, an acoustically wonderful room. Some of the performers had brief solos.  The first violin had a particularly virtuoso part, which Krista Bennion Feeney performed with perfect articulation and panache. All played with brilliance and brio.