Concordia Chamber Players Peter Winograd, Carmit Zori,
Todd Palmer, Mark Kosower and Robert Rinehart
By Roy Ziegler
Photo by Brian Keyes
Imagine Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart face to face with this cyber-driven twenty-first century. Aaron Jay Kernis has done so in his homage to Mozart entitled Mozart en Route (A Little Traveling Music). The Pulitzer prize-winning, modern day composer creatively portrayed the eighteenth century genius borrowing heavily from a late Mozart String Trio. Instead of the derriere-grinding bumpy carriage rides of his era Mozart glides through post modern intercontinental travel combining snippets of twentieth century music with his classic creations.
Peter Winograd, first violinist with the American Sting Quartet joined Violist, Dan Panner, Principal violist with the New York City Opera and cellist, Mark Kosower, winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant awarded by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the whimsical, free-style portrayal of a long, rough carriage ride that Mozart described in a 1780 letter.
Clarinetist, Todd Palmer, introduced the Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major immediately linking it to the twenty-first century by noting that it was the first quintet ever written for the clarinet and nearly two and a half centuries later, it is still the best. Palmer quickly showed why he is in such great demand by chamber music groups around the world as he delivered delicate tones with deep feeling and obvious enjoyment. Joining him, violinists, Carmit Zori and Peter Winograd, introduced haunting and somber moods that were roused by Kosower’s driving cello perfectly engaged by Robert Rinehart’s viola. Palmer stirred them all before ending in a kind of rhythmic march. The power of Mozart’s music to stir the imagination and to thrill the senses seems limited only by the capacity of the listener. The Concordia audience’s reaction to his Quintet revealed a deep appreciation for the great composer’s work.
The concert concluded with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quintet in C major. The “Storm Quintet” opened with driving notes cascading from the violins of Zori and Winograd down to the audience like the uniqueness of the late January rain that was falling outside the theater. Zori’s expansive sound brought tranquility that was punctuated by the pizzicato playing of Winograd. Mark Kosower’s cello seemed to goad them out of an impending slumber before they all rose to cast open the windows admitting the fresh air and excitement of Beethoven’s non-traditional finale.
The Concordia Chamber Players’ season continues on March 26 at 3 PM with a performance of Mozart’s unique “Kegelstatt Trio”, Elgar’s Piano Quintet and Franz Joseph Hayden’s String Quartet, “The Lark”. Tickets are $20. Children under the age of 15 years are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult. Contact Concordia at 215.297-5972 or at webmaster@concordiaplayers.org.