The Parcival Project

The Parcival Project
The Music Room – February 19 7:00 p.m.

This concert brought us artists from Montreal’s Parcival Project, an enthusiastic group of young players under the leadership of founder and director, violinist Emmanuel Vukovich, currently finishing his Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Two other Parcivilians are finishing studies at McGill, and the fourth and fifth have Maritime connections: cellist Julia MacLaine hails from beautiful downtown Rice Point, PEI, and clarinetist Dominic Desautels now makes Halifax his home as Principal Clarinet with Symphony Nova Scotia.

The program ranged from a Haydn String Quartet to some exuberant klezmer playing, and opened with Julia MacLaine’s arrangement of a piece noted as “Traditional,” Orovela, for the string players. It sounded reminiscent of Sephardic Jewish melodies, (although it is in fact Georgian in origin) and the players presented it with great sincerity and wonderfully contrasting dynamics. Julia MacLaine is a dynamic performer, and we hope she comes back to Halifax soon to give us more of her beautiful cello playing.

The two violinists in Parcival Project switched chairs throughout the concert, and it was Emmanuel Vukovich who gave us Bach’s solo Sonata No. 2 in A minor. While his playing was often very beautiful, the inclusion of this piece felt a little odd and perhaps contributed to the overall feeling of the program being slightly long. The Haydn String Quartet was well done, and the two violinists in the PP are well matched. I for one would love to hear even more of the beautiful viola playing of Marina Thibeault.

The real star of the evening was the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor. You felt the players were breathing as one entity here, often producing organ-like textures and chords in the first movement as if the sound was being produced by one individual and not five. Perhaps the Olympics were much on my mind this week, but I closed my eyes and kept picturing the seamless moves of Tessa and Scott on the ice! The players passed off phrases and harmonies to each other effortlessly, and one felt real (non-verbal) communication between them, with an especially lovely interplay between the clarinet and cello. The piece sometimes sounds so contemporary…or is it just so gorgeously familiar with all those exquisite melodies? Sigh…..

As for Dominic Desautels, what can I say? His clarinet growls, howls, soars and whispers – you get the feeling that he could actually blow the roof off the Music Room if he wanted to, his pianissimos matched by the quietness of the audience as we all collectively hold our breath, listening intently to how beautifully quiet he can make that clarinet! At times he seemed like a shepherd, leading both the melody and his colleagues. A great addition to our musical community in Halifax, Dominic apologetically noted at the concert’s end that he had played two weeks in a row now at the Music Room, “a mini clarinet festival.” “Make it three!” someone yelled from the balcony. Encore, I say!

This concert attracted a Who’s Who of Halifax’s musical community, including SNS Maestro Bernhard Gueller and Concertmaster Renaud LaPierre, as well as Julia’s former teacher, SNS Assistant Principal Cellist Shimon Walt, many other local players, The Music Room’s Chris Wilcox (clarinet lover extraordinaire), concert sponsors and music lovers. The Parcival Project didn’t seem to feel the pressure, and looked to be enjoying themselves on the start of a concert tour which will take them to PEI, Montreal and Toronto. This summer they will tour Argentina, Chile and Brazil.

On a snowy evening in this seemingly endless winter, it sure is wonderful to come in from the cold to our concert and dance performances; how fortunate we are to have this little jewel box of a hall in the Peggy Corkum Music Room! While it’s tempting to stay home and watch the Olympics on nights like this, it’s always worth it to venture out and hear some wonderful live music by a new group of players. Nice to meet you, Parcival Project! For more information, visit www.parcival.ca.

A.M.L.
(A Music Lover)