The Onyx now performs in both cities and elsewhere, including an annual series at Town Hall.
The group prefers exploring one composer in depth for these series. This season, the three Seattle concerts, the last of which is Sunday afternoon at Town Hall, have focused on Mozart's trios and quartets, including rarely played chamber music fragments from his sketchbook.
Sunday's fragment is an early "Menuetto" in G Major. "You never hear these, so they're of special interest," says White. "This one is probably the earliest. Mozart left it unfinished, and it was rather extravagantly completed by his friend Maximilian Stadler."
The Onyx aims at re-creating performances as they would have been in the composer's day. The musicians do diligent research to find performing editions true to the composer, and play as though they were coming forward from an earlier time, rather than looking back at the music from today's perspective.
They use historical performing techniques, though theirs are not period instruments. "We try to sweep away 20th-century heaviness and stuffiness, so the experience is more like sitting in a salon in Vienna with Mozart at the piano," says White.
"We play all the embellishments and cadenzas that Mozart used, but we almost never rehearse these," he goes on, commenting that spontaneous additions were typical of the day and keep a performance fresh. "For instance, maybe Cecilia ornaments a phrase and I pick up on it and repeat it."
Most of Onyx's performances include interaction with the audience, talking about the music, the performance practices the composer would have taken for granted, and trying to give a heightened awareness of how the music fit into the composer's life and times.
Besides the "Menuetto," Sunday's program includes the Piano Trios in B Flat and G, and the E Flat Piano Quartet, with guest violist J. Melvin Butler.
Darden Burns, classical pianist, folk guitarist and director of the First Sunday at the
Commons concert series. For more information about the series go to
www.firstsundaysconcerts.org
"I’ve been listening to music with keen interest all my life. But last
Sunday afternoon my musical experience reached a memorable highpoint as
I sat in the Bainbridge Commons listening to the music of Shostakovich."
"A year ago I attended a rehearsal of the Onyx Chamber Players, a trio
comprised of Cecilia Archuleta on violin, Meg Brennand on cello, and
David White on piano. I was particularly impressed with David, the
pianist, and thought the group played well together. And so I invited
the trio to perform on my series First Sundays at the Commons. I started
this concert series in January of 200 after acquiring a grand piano for
the space with the goal of presenting outstanding classical and jazz
programs featuring the most talented musicians of our region I could
engage. Although it has been a challenge to bring in a good sized
audience to each concert, the programs have been great and well
appreciated. I’m losing money but loving the project and hope that
eventually it will catch on with more people on the island."
"On their program last Sunday, the Onyx Chamber Players opened with a trio
by Mozart, which was beautifully played with all the grace and charm of
the classical style. The pianist’s playing was impeccable and the
movements flowed by. The second piece on the program was Shostakovich’s
Trio in e minor, which I had never heard before. Shostakovich, whose
life and works are being celebrated this year since it is the centennial
of his birth in 1906, is one of the giants on twentieth century
composition. I have to admit that personally my experience and
appreciation of his music is somewhat limited. There is a very likable
piano concerto that I learned in high school, and then a set of piano
preludes that I explored but never really liked enough to learn. About
ten years ago, when I was running a home concert series on the island,
the Seattle Chamber Players performed Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet,
which is written for two violins, viola, cello, and piano. I vaguely
remember that the music was intense and powerful, and slightly
overwhelming for the audience all closely stuffed in my living room.
I’ve also heard a few symphonies by Shostakovich, but I wasn’t
anticipating the effect that the trio would have on me last Sunday."
"The Shostakovich Trio begins with the cello playing very high in
harmonics, joined then by the violin and finally the piano in a
folk-like melody. The music was completely engaging and easy to follow
thematically. The three instruments were distinctive in their voices,
the string players employing some unusual tone qualities and the balance
and interplay between the three instruments was perfect. This was some
of the most compelling chamber music I have ever heard performed –
intensely emotional and perfectly constructed. I was from the start
completely riveted by the haunting themes, the rhythm, and the musical
story, which was filled with tension and despair, but finally reached a
place of profound peacefulness. At the end of the performance it was
entirely still for several moments. Then instinctively everyone stood up
with great applause and shouts of "Bravo!" I felt tears in my eyes and I
knew I wasn’t alone. All of us in that room had experienced something
special."
"After intermission, the trio played a trio by Brahms with much
confidence and warmth and then treated us with a short encore in the
style of a Spanish dance. I enjoyed the entire program, but it is the
performance of the Shostakovich Trio that I will always remember. I’ve
spent a lot of my life passionately involved with music-making, teaching
and listening to music, and it’s all been wonderful, but every once in a
while the wonderful transcends beyond the normal experience into the
realm of the sublime. It happens from time to time when I’m playing
music alone, and it happens when playing with others where the
communication becomes effortless, and sometimes it happens just sitting
there in the audience as I was last Sunday afternoon."
