Review: Seven Strings a Secret

“One string sorrow, two stings joy … ” Cellist Shimon Walt and friends drew on local folklore and their favourite repertoire for the March 13 Cecelia Concert.

Gotta love Cecilia Concerts. Their tagline “Great Music, Warm Hospitality” says it all – classical music in a welcoming environment with friendly volunteers who work hard to present the finest local artists (including their annual Musician in Residence program), emerging Canadian artists and more. Cecilia Concerts originally began as St. Cecilia Concerts twenty-seven years ago, and the organization has developed many community partnerships over the years, including with Alliance Francaise, The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts and others. The Board of Directors works hard to keep the music coming, and there is always a cordial reception and opportunity to chat with the musicians following the performance. A new GM has recently joined them – D’Arcy Morris-Poultney – and as usual, their many friends and supporters were in evidence at this all-strings concert, conceived by a former Musician in Residence, Shimon Walt.

The concert used a building block approach to take us from this year’s Musician in Residence (Philippe Djokic) solo Adagio from Bach’s Sonata No. 1 to a seven-string blow out of Tchaikovsky’s Finale from the Serenade for Strings in C major. Each subsequent piece added another string instrument as in “One Crow, Sorrow; Two Crows, Joy.” You get the idea.

Taking a busman’s holiday from their day jobs with Symphony Nova Scotia, the players included some of Atlantic Canada’s finest, with Jennifer Jones joining Djokic on violin, Susan Sayle on Viola, cellists Ben Marmen and Shimon Walt, and Max Kasper joining for the final work on bass. Fournier did double duty by playing viola for the Mozart and Brahms and then violin for the last work, which featured all seven string players.

The increasing tonal colours (and volume) as each new string instrument was added piece by piece was impressive, in a program that ranged from the opening Bach to a charming Schubert String Trio, the opening movement of Johannes Brahms’ Second String Sextet and an impressive Passacaglia by Johan Halvorsen on a theme by Handel, passionately executed by Philippe Djokic and violist Susan Sayle. Walt, Djokic and Sayle were joined by Jennifer Jones for the Lento movement of Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet, and then Isabelle Fournier picked up the viola for the opening movement of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor.

The “secret” of the concert’s title was revealed in the last piece, when SNS cellist Ben Marmen pulled out a violin in order to complete the necessary instrumentation for the Serenade for Strings. Bravo, Ben! And now that the secret is out, look to see Ben subbing in for violinists around town.

It was apparent that the audience loved this concert, and then we got to hang out with the musicians and enjoy some warm hospitality, proving that Cecilia Concerts lives up to its tagline and that it’s more fun to count string players than crows any day.