The String Musicians - Kevin Matheson, Bryan Matheson, Kayla Herrmann & Andrew Motten
By Susan Paynter
In the latest concert of the Chatham Concert Series, Emmanuel hosted The Saturn String Trio and a guest guitarist on Sunday afternoon, March 20.
Concert Series Artistic Director Kevin Matheson took the stage on violin, joined by his brother Bryan Matheson on viola and, rounding out the trio, Kayla Herrman on cello. The string trio became a quartet for this concert, as they were joined by classical guitarist Andrew Motten.
The delightful and varied program covered music from Bartok’s Romanian Dances to Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven.
The concert opened with Kayla Herrmann and Andrew Motten playing two Spanish songs by Manueal de Falla on cello and guitar. The Matheson brothers followed on violin and viola with a piece written especially for them by the composer Marci Craig of the Renaissance Music Academy of Virginia.
The Saturn String Trio sat down as a trio for a five-movement serenade by Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnanyi. Written in 1902, explained Kevin Matheson, the music had begun to show a modern sensitivity.
Herrmann and the two Mathesons played together so organically, it seemed their cello, violin and viola were the voice, heart and lungs of the same creature! Or… this writer heard in the third movement, the “Scherzo: Vivace,” a colony of honeybees, bringing their heavy loads of nectar and pollen from the flowering fields back to the busy hive. (Honestly!)
The audience was delighted with the closing number of the first half: Jay Ungar’s bittersweet Ashokan Farewell (brought to popular attention by Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary) for which all four musicians took up their instruments for the first time. They rendered it beautifully.
Immediately following intermission, young violinist Jacob Tisdale played a concerto by German Romantic Composer Fritz Seitz. Jacob, Bryan Matheson’s nine-year student from Martinsville, showed great composure and developing talent.
Hermann and Motten returned on cello and guitar with three Bela Bartok Hungarian Dances. Listening, it was easy to imagine swirling, colorfully-clad Hungarian folk dancers.
Music written by a military officer, Francois de Fossa, was next. The “compounded rondo” was originally written for four guitars then adapted for the guitar, violin, cello and viola. It was just the right piece to highlight the virtuosity of these four talented string musicians.
A “costume change” on Andrew Motten’s part ushered in the final song on the program. He took off his coat and loosened his tie (he called them “incongruent to rock ‘n roll”) before the quartet played Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven. Gosh! It was really beautiful: so familiar, yet so transformed in subtlety and grace.
Applause and “bravos” demanded an encore which led to another Motten costume change. He donned a straw hat for our very own American folk tune: Turkey in the Straw. The audience clapped time and, as they say, a good time was had by all.
All in all it seemed a fitting celebration of the vernal equinox, and a great way to hide from the yard work waiting back home.
The fourth and final concert of the series is scheduled for Friday, May 6. Mark your calendar now for an evening of Romantic Music for Clarinet and Strings: Brenda Wittwer playing the piano; Alex Jones, clarinet; and the Matheson brothers on violin and viola.