The next free concert offered by members of the Santa Barbara Music Club takes place at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in the Faulkner Gallery at Santa Barbara Public Library main branch, 40 E. Anapamu St.
The concert opens with soprano Takako Wakita and pianist Betty Oberacker performing Melodies from Russia, a set including a medley of three Russian folk songs:
Sergei Rachmaninov‘s “Vocalise,” Pyotr Petrovich Bulakhov’s “Do Not Awaken My Memories” and Ivan Larionov’s “Kalinka” (1860).
Also performing will be Tracy Harris on flute and Svetlana Harris on piano, playing two pieces by Claude Debussy: the “Première Rhapsodie for Clarinet & Piano” (1909), transcribed for flute by C.A. Vater, and the song “Beau Soir” (1877-78).
Wilhelm Popp’s “Polonaise, Opus 219, No.3” and Theobald Boehm’s “Grand Polonaise for Flute & Piano, Opus 16” (ca 1842) are on the program as well.
The Bulakhov is almost a parody of lugubrious Russian melancholy, and it is thoroughly enjoyable.
“Kalinka,” also enjoyable, is one of those Russian stunt pieces, like “Flight of the Bumble Bee.” It gets faster every stanza.
Rachmaninov’s songs are less-widely appreciated than his piano or orchestral music. Russian is not an easy language to master, after all, but in Russia they are regarded as national treasures.
“Vocalise” is better known (and loved) than most of them, on account of its many instrumental arrangements.
Debussy wrote “Beau Soir” when he was 18, and it is an uncharacteristically straightforward romantic out pouring — quite ravishing.
Boehm (1794-1881), is a kind of divinity in the flute world, since he invented the modern flute and established the best way to play it. His compositions are very attractive, too.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.