Three J’s perform in Colorado Springs | Arts & Entertainment
There was a palpable sense of happy anticipation as the crowded lobby of classical music lovers filtered into Packard Hall at Colorado College Wednesday evening. We were there to hear the Three J’s, comprised of violinist Jennifer Frautschi, clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu, which in and of itself was cause for excitement.
But the bigger undercurrent was the significance of this Intermezzo concert, which every year means the Colorado College Summer Music Festival is a mere month away. The evening turned out to be a perfect precursor to the upcoming season, with the Three J’s exhibiting a beautiful ease with their instruments, each other and the eager audience.
I had the chance to speak with Nakamatsu and Manasse recently about their choice of programming — a compelling lineup of Debussy, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky and modern composer John Novacek.
“We think in terms of the audience and having something for everyone; something that anyone can appreciate,” Manasse said. “Not that everyone should like everything, but that there’s enough variety on the program, and possibly we can expose them to something new.”
It is evident to me the audience is front of mind for this trio, and not just in their selection of repertoire. Each member also took the time to casually address the crowd before each piece, creating an informance-like environment full of rich context and information.
The program began with the last major composition Debussy ever wrote, a sonata for violin and piano composed in 1917. He was dying of cancer and haunted by the ravages of World War I. Nonetheless, said Frautschi in her introduction, the piece is one of “violence and darkness, tempered by light and hope and beauty.”
Indeed, we were treated to passages of shimmering and ethereal beauty, but also urgent pizzicato sections on the violin, brief bursts of diabolically fast repeated notes on the keyboard, and an anxiety-producing accelerando to the final, climactic note.
Manasse took the stage next for another work by Debussy, this one the “Premiere Rhapsodie” for clarinet and piano, written in 1910. Manasse has been coming to the CC festival for 25 years now and is definitely an audience favorite for good reason. Eyes mostly closed, with a wide stance and no sheet music, he played with the soulfulness of a jazz musician, conversing with Nakamatsu in dynamic, conversational swells until a piercing crescendo brought the piece to a close.
Next, we were treated to an insanely virtuosic bit of Mendelssohn played solo by Van Cliburn gold medalist Nakamatsu. Managing to be both grounded and florid in turns, Nakamatsu was captivating.
The piece de resistance for the evening was an excerpt from Stravinsky’s “Soldier’s Tale,” a fiendishly difficult piece with approximately one million different time signatures in it. (You may think that’s hyperbolic, but Nakamatsu agreed with me after the concert.) Composed in 1918, this unusual work follows an essentially Faustian tale and in its original form is performed by three actors, a dancer and a septet of musicians. The version played by the Three J’s, however, was “pocket sized” in Frautschi’s words, a reduction to five shorter movements for the three instruments at hand.
As wonderful as that version was, I’m excited to hear the full rendition, as they will present it this summer at the festival. It will will be directed by CC Professor Emeritus Tom Lindblade and one of the actors involved is Jane Kaczmarek, who starred on the hit TV show “Malcolm in the Middle.”
Finally, the last two pieces were reserved for two rags by contemporary American pianist and composer (and another festival darling) John Novacek. The first, “4th Street Drag,” had the sweet, lazy insouciance of a walk down main street Mayberry. Just pure, schmaltzy delight. “Full Stride Ahead,” however, was a totally different beast, an explosion of jazzy glee, the three instrumentalists all playing in a burst of ebullient perfection.
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I asked Nakamatsu about the challenges of that particular piece.
“As a classically trained pianist, one of the hardest things is to make it sound like it’s not being played by a classically trained pianist,” he said. “Half of the things we’re doing are not in the score, so it’s about how you make it feel less classical to make it sound naturally fluid.”
And fluid it certainly was, an entire evening of seamless music making in the books.
The CC Summer Music Festival kicks off June 7 with dozens of concerts and events for all ages. Go online to coloradocollege.edu/other/summermusicfestival.
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