Eclipse: Schreker, Goodyear, Mendelssohn, Carreño

Concert
A Far Cry
Featuring Stewart Goodyear, piano
Jordan Hall
Symphony Hall area, Boston
May 9, 2025

In its usual top form, A Far Cry gave, as its final concert of the season, a combination of works that, in some sense, conform to the thematic notion of Eclipse. Three of the four featured works are by extremely capable but not famous composers. One is by the very famous Felix Mendelssohn, but it is a piece that was written when he was a young teenager. Though a truly formidable composition, and an astounding accomplishment for a boy of twelve, one might identify it as one of his less well-known works, eclipsed, as it were, by others that have gained ascendancy.

On hand for the Mendelssohn piano concerto was the exceptionally capable pianist Stewart Goodyear who, as well, composed and soloed in a piece of his own. That piece, the eponymous Eclipse for Piano and String Orchestra, bears some of the darker shadows of its name, but does so in a way that is appealing and penetrating. And Goodyear, as pianist, rose to the occasion of realizing it with felicity, grace and a palpably fluid sensibility.

The Mendelssohn, a shockingly competent and complex work by the very young Mendelssohn, has so many notes so beautifully strung together that one marvels at the boy who put them on the page. One also marvels at both the fabulous, limpid and crisp playing of Stewart Goodyear and of the Criers. Goodyear’s capacities as pianist in this piece were on vivid display and he carried it off with incredible virtuosity, his fingers flying, his demeanor cool. The Criers, as well, managed the complex landscape of very fast and abundant swaths of notes with remarkable precision. It was a top notch performance.

Two other works contributed to this wonderfully varied and innovative program. Opening the concert was Intermezzo and Scherzo by Franz Scherker, an Austrian composer who had to leave Nazi Europe. His piece is vivid, energetic and imaginative, but, again, eclipsed in the repertory, unjustly hidden, less well-known than it should be.

Concluding the concert was a wonderful work by Teresa Carreño who lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Serenade for Strings in E flat Major is a lush and passionate work, quite varied and challenging in its writing, and featuring the kind of nuanced interplays between string sections and multiple string soloists that makes for continually stimulating listening. Interestingly, but sadly, Carreño’s substantial piece was never performed during her lifetime, but survived its obscurity to be performed anon, and performed here, superbly well, by the Criers.

Indeed, the Criers manage to deliver top-notch, finely crafted, precisely delivered, performances while retaining and exhibiting a robust communal expressiveness. They convey that not only in shape and delicacy of musical phrasing, but in a distinctively lush tone. As always, A Far Cry operates without a standing music director or conductor, and maintains its wonderful democratic policy of rotating programming and guidance among the group’s members. If anything, that devotion to democratic process and governance leads to collective brilliance and vision. It’s not only a wonderful example of how to run a chamber orchestra, but how to run a society.

Kudos to A Far Cry for completing its eighteenth season, to its wonderful accomplishments and superb musicians. An, for this concert, many congratulations to Stewart Goodyear who demonstrated exemplary capacities as both a piano soloist and as a composer.

A few particular notes on the performance:

Franz Schreker
Intermezzo and Scherzo

Intermezzo
Luminous long lines. Lovely pastoral disposition. The cellos ease in with style. Beautiful playing, perfect ensemble. The glade turns into a romp and they perk it up. This is a romantic film score a la Korngold – charming, luminous, narrative-like. A lovely transitional section leads back to the initial theme, quiet and radiant. I love those cellos adding texture, like soft leaves underfoot. It ends sweetly with harmonic chords gracefully attained.

Scherzo
Off and running, this is a fox hunt, with large vistas of English countryside in the distance. A mid section love song, lyrical, then turns to a jig. Is that happening in the pub down the road? Big swaths of sound introduce more love music. The Criers are sharply attuned and delicately punctuated at every turn. A romp that sounds like Three Blind Mice on drugs, then re-emerge into grand estate land – beautiful vistas. It ends with a delicate – such a delicate – pluck! Well done Criers!

Stewart Goodyear
Eclipse for Piano and String Orchestra

Exploratory, with some atmosphere. Beautiful unison. I see butterflies and fireflies, the stars aflame. Lushness tries to emerge but is held in check by punctuated boundaries. An emergence begins – though punctuation prevails. There’s a bit of Alfred Newman’s How The West Was Won at this point. They’re buzzing and abounding together, amazingly! Violins so unified! Now they are in bright sun, with a tapestry of multiple fibers and rhythms. Wild syncopation, again with the How The West Was Won feel to it. A return of the initial, somewhat darker, exploratory theme. A long piano cadenza. It’s geological – many layers – like The Grand Canyon, broken finally by a few collective plucks. Wonderfully performed by composer Stewart Goodyear and the Criers – bravo!

Felix Mendelssohn
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra in A minor

Allegro
Very nuanced. Energetic. And can those violins scream along! Light and fluid. A Far Cry plays flawlessly. Piano – robust entry – exciting. Goodyear’s playing limpid and fluid, the recapitulation is as light and liquid as can be. A twelve year old wrote this???!!! Lovely solos by lead violinist Jesse Irons and cellist Francesca McNeeley. Piano is all over the place, with many elaborate arpeggio passages. It’s amazing how many notes there are in this! It comes finally to a grand conclusion.

Adagio
An earnestly slow and deliberate opening with grand sweeps by the piano. The solemn and direct theme continues to return – soothing, penetrating, with glorious illuminations by Goodyear’s piano.

Finale
Furious. Goodyear is fleet footed and agile, the Criers remarkably and wonderfully unified. Are you sure this was written by a twelve year old? Earnest and propulsive. Mendelssohn as a kid is out-Mozart-ing Mozart with furious note-packing, fluidity, complexity. Care and precision in writing and execution unmatched. Wow – Goodyear’s runs! More development followed by a ferocious ending – superb!

Teresa Carreño (1853-1917)
Serenade for Strings in E flat Major

Introduction. Andante
Elegant and colorful. Starts Romantic then takes on a Classical flavor before turning impressionistic again. A lush theme a la Rachmaninoff, or is that Maurice Jarre’s Dr. Zhivago? Breaks into unison pizzicato which returns the Romantic theme. A tender, tuneful ending.

Allegro Vivace
A light frolic, quite Mendelssohn-like. Nice solo by cellist Rafael Popper-Keizer followed by beautifully unified violas. Violins scramble down with intensity, and the whole orchestra traveling together up and down scales, daringly.

Recitativo
Lovely cello solo, again, by Popper-Keizer, penetrating, in poignant dialogue with orchestra. A solemn mash, tuneful. Lovely solo by lead violinist Jae Cosmos Lee, expansive and evocative. And then the solo cello again with verve. Speed picks up, then devolves into a more measured and reflective section. Now a beautiful duo of Popper-Keizer’s cello and Lee’s violin. A delicate traversal with pizzicato accompaniment, and a clarified ending, silent and pure, like ghee.

Tempo di marcia
Starts measured, then scrambles like crazy. Wonderful lyrical interplay between first two violins and the cello. A Far Cry plays earnestly and decisively, with drama. A wonderful race to the finish and accomplished with verve. Spot on!

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)