The daily Astorian., June 20, 2019, Page 9, Image 9

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019 // 9
Without a light source, the quartet –
which is also comprised of violinist Greg-
ory Ewer, violist Charles Noble and cel-
list Marilyn de Oliveira – cannot see one
another or their sheet music. They also
are stationed away from each other on the
perimeter of the performance space, with
the audience members seated in the mid-
dle, where the musical dialogue travels
over, around, and between them.
In past years, they have performed the
piece inside the Oregon Museum of Sci-
ence and Industry’s planetarium, where
they can easily control the need for total
lack of light and received an enthusiastic
response.
Blessinger chalks it up to Hauss’ genius,
adding the novel idea of sensory depriva-
tion and playing in the dark could easily be
boring “in the hands of a lesser composer.”
Another unique aspect of the piece
is the musical score’s lack of traditional
notation.
For the 18 sections of the piece, Hauss
offers simple instructions, including a note
with a particular tone or sound to act as an
invitation. When one musician makes the
invitation, another musician will accept it,
and then the others join in.
“The invitations from those 18 episodes
are fl oating in the air, they’re waiting to be
accepted,” Blessinger said. “[Hauss] leaves
it up to us to how we set up the dialogue
with ourselves.”
The improvisatory characteristic inher-
ent in the piece can be challenging for clas-
sical musicians, but the result is a musical
performance that’s intense, “because it’s
always interesting and always tantalizing,”
he said.
As with most musical works, Blessinger
added, “there are moments of intensity and
moments of calm, and it organizes itself
beautifully.”
The value of live performance
The second concert of the weekend
brings three world-class soloists who per-
form together as the Hermitage Piano Trio:
Cellist Sergey Antonov, violinist Misha
Keylin, and Kazantsev.
The trio’s repertoire embodies Rus-
sian musical heritage while simultaneously
including contemporary American com-
missions and other European traditions.
Their performance will include Hora-
tio Parker’s Suite for Piano Trio; Antonin
Dvorak’s Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor; and
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Trio élégiaque”
No 2 in D minor.
All three are pieces included on the
group’s debut CD, which is dedicated to
Rachmaninoff.
Antonov, who has visited Astoria every
June for the past 12 years for the Astoria
Music Festival, described it as “one of my
favorite places ever to come to,” which is
why the trio collaborated on its own with
the Liberty.
“I couldn’t imagine not coming,”
Antonov said.
The musicians, who each have success-
ful solo careers, decided to commit sub-
stantial time to performing and recording
as a trio.
Antonov and Keylin have played in the
group together for eight years. Kazant-
sev – who also has an affi nity for contem-
porary music from American, Russian and
European composers – joined fi ve years
ago, although he and Antonov have been
friends since third-grade.
Antonov acknowledged the struggle to
keep classical music relevant.
“We take it as our personal responsibil-
ity to try to correct it and to attract more
audiences,” he said.
“We think that the world would not
exist without classical music.”
The group performs at schools and col-
leges to share their passion for classical
music with young people.
That’s also why they are doing a con-
cert as an alternative to a traditional release
party.
“We’re trying to tell people that the
best value in classical music is a live per-
formance,” Antonov said. “It’s being per-
formed in front of you and it’s never going
to be the same.” CW