Monday, October 3, 2016

The Cornell Daily Sun: Off the Chain: Sphinx Virtuosi at Bailey Hall [in collaboration with (and under leadership of) the Catalyst Quartet]


The Sphinx Virtuosi


On Friday night, the Sphinx Virtuosi — in collaboration with (and under leadership of) the Catalyst Quartet — presented their Latin Voyages: Viajes Latinos program. The result was one of the finest concerts I’ve seen at Cornell.
Coming up on its 20th anniversary, the Sphinx Organization places young Black and Latino classical soloists on the world’s most prestigious stages — not least Carnegie Hall, where since 2006 they have held annual residency. But while there is an activist charge to the group’s ideological foundations, it all comes down to the quality of performance, style and selection. In those regards the virtuosi transcended racial and cultural barriers, owning a space that would pass even the stodgiest inspection.
If anything was clear from a blindfold test, it was the group’s age, as these prodigious artists brought a youthful verve to every piece they touched. The strains of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla provided natural touchpoints in a journey that took the audience by turns to Mexico, Brazil, Spain and back to Argentina. Piazzolla’s Libertango, as arranged by Thomas Kalb, introduced the Sphinx Virtuosi as a force to be reckoned with. Not only did they imbue this familiar melody with premiere freshness, but also embodied it with the range of their abilities, combining a soaring overlay with a jagged underlay as if one depended on the other. This yin-and-yang approach served the musicians as they leapt into the Primera Suite Argentina of Alberto Williams, a four-movement suite based on folk motifs that vacillated between concert hall and open fields, and the urban sprawl of Javier Álvarez’s Metro Chabacano. The latter piece, named for a Mexico City transportation hub, was a highlight for its modern realism and logical resolutions of half-tone dissonances.
Violinist Hannah White, Sphinx Competition 2015 Junior Division 1st Place Laureate, rent the cloth of expectation with her incisive rendition of the Prélude Ibérique by lesser-known Spanish composer César Espejo, whose maze of sudden key changes and knuckle-busting double stops resolved into a linear path at White’s fingertips. The music itself — indebted to Paganini and, by extension, Bach — was a treat to hear live and proved a studied choice on the part of its performer. The Aria from Heitor Villa-Lobos’s popular Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 was the first of two loving arrangements by the Catalyst Quartet. This was the prettier of them, and gave each of the higher strings a spotlight as the theme grew viral. The fullness of its mosaic effect was heightened as the quartet blended into its take on Piazzolla’s La muerte del Ángel, which showcased an imaginative array of stomps, taps and even a shrill whistle hung from cellist Karlos Rodriguez’s neck that made this rhythmic puzzle all the more enjoyable to put together.

Comment by email:
Thank you so much, Bill! :) As always, your advocacy is very much appreciated!
Therese Goussy

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