Intermezzo Chamber series ends on high Middle Eastern note

INTERMEZZO CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES, Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Westminster College, Aug. 9

To close out its season, the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series traveled to the Middle East to find inspiration.

In a decidedly exotic vein, the series featured the ensemble AVA, which played a set of traditional Persian music — a first for Intermezzo or any other music series in Salt Lake City.

To evoke the mood visually, the stage of Vieve Gore Concert Hall had Persian rugs as well as a colorful sofa, chair and ottomans spread around. In the middle of all this were the six members of AVA.

The five pieces they played were hypnotic. To Western ears, the intervals and chords seemed strange, yet they inexplicably sounded right and natural. The sounds they produced were intricate — delicate, but also vibrant.

Persian music is based on literature and sounds descriptive, even if one doesn't know the texts. There is emotional power in this music, and it resonates with the listener. The richness is mesmerizing. While it might seem muted to a Western audience, it still resonates with passion and intense expressions. And AVA's playing was wonderful. It struck a chord not only with the sizable number of Iranian-Americans in the audience, but also quite obviously with everybody else.

Before AVA came on stage, there was a piece for violin and piano by the Iranian-American composer Karim Al-Zand. "Imaginary Scenes," played by violinist Stephanie Larsen Cathcart and pianist Heather Conner, is quite melodic and tonal. Based on several literary pieces, it's descriptive and nicely visual. The duo gave a lyrical reading that captured its expressiveness wonderfully.

The concert opened and closed with music by Maurice Ravel.

Conner started things off by playing two movements from "Miroirs." Her reading was vibrant and impassioned; she brought out the wondrous subtleties of the score with her attention to detail and finely crafted phrasings.

The evening came to an end with the Quartet in F major, Ravel's only venture into the string quartet medium and an undisputed masterpiece. It was played by violinists Bryan Luch-Hernandez and Emily Day-Shumway; violist Julie Edwards; and cellist Kevin Shumway. The quartet isn't an easy piece to pull off, but the four managed to capture the character of the work. Their account was a bit unpolished, but they made up for it with their passionate and vibrant playing.

e-mail: ereichel@desnews.com