Pianist turns to lighter side of classical music
It was time for a change. After two very successful concert series devoted to German masterpieces at Duquesne University, pianist David Allen Wehr wanted a totally different tonal palate.
The result is Musique on the Bluff, a two-year series devoted to French chamber music that starts Sunday afternoon at PNC Recital Hall in the university's School of Music.
"I love Beethoven and Brahms. But there are other things close to my heart, including many French pieces I love and want to play with special colleagues in Pittsburgh," Wehr says.
He points to "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens, which will bring Sunday's concert to a rousing conclusion. The piece includes the most popular music the composer wrote, "The Swan" for cello and piano. Wehr says he is looking forward to playing that with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra cellist Anne Martindale Williams.
The pianist says Saint-Saens' "Grand Zoological Fantasy" possesses "the lighter colors and textures of most of French music compared with Beethoven and Brahms. One can forget in appreciation of classical music, so much of which is very serious and emotionally charged, that it can also be humorous."
In one movement, Saint-Saens took Jacques Offenbach's famous Can-Can -- a fast dance considered risque because it showed off women's legs -- and slowed it way, way down to portray an elephant.
Wehr says the movement called "Wild Asses" pokes "fun at virtuoso pianists who, no matter what, play as fast as possible. They belong in zoos."
Although he emphasizes that the music makes sense without knowing the jokes, that point might be academic. Pittsburgh Symphony principal bass Jeff Turner will conduct the chamber ensemble and selected narration by musical comedian (and serious composer) Peter Schickele.
Planning for Musique on the Bluff began with writing down the pieces Wehr wanted to include. But when he began scheduling, with colleagues who all have busy performance schedules of their own, he found he had a complex puzzle that took months to put into shape.
Opening Sunday's concert with Cesar Franck's virtuoso Violin Sonata shows how well Wehr succeeded. He says its German influence makes a good transition from years devoted to Beethoven and Brahms, an influence that can be heard in the sonata's harmonies.
The program is completed by a rare performance of the original six-movement piano version of "Le Tombeau de Couperin" by Maurice Ravel, music more often heard in the composer's orchestration of four of its movements.
"It's a double memorial, first to Ravel's great predecessor Francois Couperin, one of the great French harpsichord composers. Also, each movement is dedicated to one of Ravel's friends who died in World War I. It was written in 1917, while the war was sill going on," Wehr says.
The other Musique on the Bluff 2008-09 concerts:
• Sept. 21: "Perfectly Franck," with music by Jacques Ibert and Ravel.
• Dec. 1: "The End of Time," music of Olivier Messiaen.
• Feb. 8, 2009: "Toot Suite," with trumpeter Sean Jones playing Claude Bolling's jazzy music and Wehr playing Claude Debussy's Preludes, Book I.
Additional Information:
'The Carnival of the Animals'
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Admission: $10 suggested donation
Where: PNC Recital Hall, School of Music, Duquesne University, Uptown
Details: 412-396-6083
