Longy's Spring Festival

The Longy School began its second annual Spring Festival Monday night with magnificent performances of two novelties and a masterpiece.

The novelties were by two members of the fabulous Couperin family of French musicians. A suite of seven short pieces by Louis Couperin opened the program. I especially liked Tombeau de M. de Blancrocher, a threnody for harpsichord with modern sounding dissonances and a fascinating bass line. Melville Smith, who is Director of the Longy School, played with great sensitivity, but avoided the exaggerated sentiment that usually mars works of this nature.

Louis' nephew, Francois "Le Grand," was represented by one of his most talked about but least performed compositions. It is a miniature musical drama, depicting the deification of Couperin's idol, Jean Baptiste Lully. This is program music at its most imaginative. Each of the twelve sections has an elaborate title (such as Lully in the Elysian Fields, Concertizing with the Lyric Shades) and the musical portraits are nothing short of amazing. In Subterranean Commotion Made by the Contemporary Authors of Lully, the string of the chamber orchestra make rumbling noises by means of a quasi-tremulo. In a violin duet called Air Leger, one violinist is playing in French style to represent Lully, while the other plays in the Italian manner, representing Corelli.

The result of all this whimsicality was a surprisingly valid musical experience. This was due, first of all, to the music itself, which is good enough to stand on its own feet without benefit of program. And secondly, the performers, by coordination, insight, and sheer virtuosity, made the composition a vibrant work of art.

As if all this weren't enough, the ensemble then presented Schubert's Great Octet in F. Seldom are eight instrumentalists of sufficient calibre available at the same time, which explains why this monumental work receives so few performances. The Longy group, especially cellist George Finckel and bassoonist Theodore Schultz, played superlatively. Wisely ignoring many of the unnecessary repeat signs, the group gave a brisk, driving performance that left the audience breathless.

The function of these annual festivals is to raise money for the School's Sustaining and Scholarship Funds. The next program, on April 7, will feature soprano Olga Averino in songs of Moussorgsky, Stravinsky, and others. Worth going to, I'd say.