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Symphony
MYSTICAL PLANETS AND LIVELY GERSHWIN ORTIZ AT FINAL SRS CONCERT
by Peter Lert
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Symphony
VSO'S CONCERT MUSIC OF TIME, MUSIC OF PLACE
by Peter Lert
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Choral and Vocal
VOCAL ELEGANCE AND FIRE AT THE 222'S RECITAL APRIL 26
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Saturday, April 26, 2025
CANTIAMO SONOMA SINGS AN INSPIRED GOOD FRIDAY MOZART REQUIEM CONCERT
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Friday, April 18, 2025
DRAMATIC SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY CLOSES PHILHARMONIC'S 25TH SEASON
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, April 13, 2025
LARGE COLLEGE OF MARIN AUDIENCE GREETS STOPHER ARTISTRY
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Chamber
FRISSON DELIVERS SHIVERS OF DELIGHT
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, March 30, 2025
OLD AND MOSTLY NEW IN SRS MARCH CONCERT IN WEILL
by Peter Lert
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Symphony
TWO FORMIDABLE SYMPHONIES AND PURPLE MOUNTAINS AT SRS CONCERT
by Peter Lert
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Chamber
THE PARKER CAPTURES DEMANDING ADES QUARTET AT RAC SEBASTOPOL CONCERT
by Peter Lert
Saturday, February 15, 2025
REVIEW

MTA RECITAL IS FAR FROM PARIS

by Terry McNeill
Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sonoma County has a long and cordial history of music in private homes, the most prominent examples being the many events in Corrick and Norma Brown’s living room, and the monthly jazz concerts in Ernie Shelton’s Sebastopol home. Now the local chapter of the Music Teacher’s Association of California has inaugurated a fund-raising house concert series, which launched on Jan. 18 in a recital by pianist Peggy Nance in a Santa Rosa home.

Nance, a specialist in French music, programmed three composers far from Paris – Bartok, Dohnanyi and Janacek. The arrondissement salon gave way to Slavic spice, and the result for an audience of 25 was provocative music making. Coming first were five pieces from the ten-segment “The Overgrown Path” of Janacek, which Nance played “sui generis,” with a misty ambiance and just the right overlay of 19th-century character pieces. Bartok’s often raucous “Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs” followed. The work is a connected cycle of short folk tunes, simply harmonized, with several as short as 20 bars. Nance caught all the piquant rhythm and energy of the works, making the quick tempo changes and quirky articulations convincing.

The concert closed with more melodic fare, albeit still Slavic, Dohnanyi’s “Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song,” Op. 29. The simple theme, surrounded by resounding sforzandos and complicated counterpoint, confirmed that Dohnanyi was a significant virtuoso in an era of great pianists. Nance gave each variation far more pedal than the two previous works, demonstrating how well Dohnanyi took parts of Brahms and crafted his individual and romantic voice.