Revues'..what the papers say about Amici....

An exotic evening full of gems
KEN WINTERS
From Monday's Globe and Mail
May 28, 2007 at 4:52 AM EDT
Amici
Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano
Serouj Kradjian, pianist, arranger
At Glenn Gould Studio
In Toronto, Friday night
 

Amici - Friends - ended their season Friday night with a stunning concert of Armenian, Spanish and Spanish-influenced vocal and instrumental music in an arresting balance.

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and her pianist-composer-arranger-accompanist husband Serouj Kradjian were together in the spotlight. Core Amici members clarinetist (and artistic director) Joaquin Valdepenas and cellist David Hetherington were there in crucial supporting roles, as was violinist Benjamin Bowman. And for the last three numbers the cello section was quadrupled, as if by visiting Valkyries, when Winona Zelenka, Roberta Janzen and Rachel Mercer joined Hetherington and the others for lush accompaniments of songs by the Argentinian Carlos Guastavino, the Spaniard Xavier Montsalvatge and the Brazilian Jayme Ovalle.

The highlight of the richly exotic program, however, both in freshness and in worth, was a set of seven Armenian folk songs collected by Reverend Gomidas and arranged by Kradjian for soprano, piano, violin, clarinet and cello. The songs were having their Canadian premiere. Kradjian's arrangements were classy and strikingly effective, and Bayrakdarian's singing of them was ravishing.

On a single hearing I have no hesitation in asserting that this set of songs, in these arrangements, is as vivid and enticing as the famous Auvergne folk song arrangements of Joseph Canteloube. As for Bayrakdarian's performance, it had an authority reminiscent of the legendary Madeleine Grey's in the Auvergne songs or of the fabled Conchita Supervia's in Manuel de Falla's Seven Spanish Folksongs. I think the proper term is ownership: Bayrakdarian sings these songs as if she owns them. Her voice takes on a fullness and a subtle expressive flexibility it does not always bring to the classics, beautifully and intelligently though she sings these, too.

Another handsome set of songs that we too seldom hear - Seven Classic Spanish Songs, by Fernando Obradors - came after intermission. These were more in the formal recital mode, with just Bayrakdarian and Kradjian performing. The tough and touching El Vito is the third song, but every one is a gem and the team performed all of them superbly.

Two instrumental trios bookended the two song sets. The Armenian-born Soviet composer Aram Khachaturian's Trio for clarinet, violin and cello opened the concert, and the Armenian composer Arno Babadjanian's Trio for violin, cello and piano followed the Obradors.

The Khachaturian had that composer's typical difficulty in achieving real structural movement in his bass-line, but there was much interesting detail in the clarinet and violin writing, and in the piano, too, when it wasn't just striking and sustaining those long-held pedal points. Valdepenas, Bowman and Kradjian played the work superbly and shone especially in the lively rhythms of the finale.

The Babadjanian Trio was the other surprise of the evening: a major work for the classic piano trio which seems not yet to have found its niche in the repertoire, though it dates from 1952. Yes, it has echoes of Rachmaninoff in its discourse and even more of César Franck in its chromatic enharmony; but only the best of both other composers, and much of its own, distinctive and vigorous. Bowman, Hetherington and Kradjian played it magnificently, with Bowman particularly fine in the exquisite opening of the Andante, and all three absolutely on their mettle in the five-to-the-bar finale. This was a real discovery.

After it came the three songs with the Valkyrie reinforcements mentioned earlier, and with Bayrakdarian again in her glory. And then, the uproar of applause, and the encores. What a concert.

 "...Russell Braun performed Charles Loeffler's Songs for baritone, piano (Andrew Burashko), viola (Steven Dann) and clarinet (Joaquin Valdepeñas) and Songs in Time of Crises by Malcolm Forsyth for baritone, clarinet (Valdepeñas), cello (David Hetherington) and piano (Burashko) - in both cases superbly partnered by some of the city's finest instrumentalists".
William Littler, Toronto Star - January 2005
 

Easygoing with Amici.

"....these three distinguished Toronto musicians..... did not seem to be performing so much as making music.... a better example of chamber music-making would be hard to find to set before the next generation of musicians."

William Littler, Toronto Star - May 6, 2002

Amici Rises to Monumental Heights."Schubert's "monumental"

Octet in F..... the proof was in the performance..... the balance was ideal, with the lyricism of the one matching and complementing the elegance of the other..... a rousing and eminently satisfying account..... rich musicianship and quiet efficiency..... the ensemble was in fine fettle, performing with warmth and spirit."

Robert Crew, Toronto Star - January 27, 2002

CD Reviews - Pick of the Week

Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time

"It is a professional coup for Amici to release an album on a major international record label such as Naxos just as the ensemble is about to launch its 2001-2002 season..... this performance reaches an international standard and is nicely complemented by a disc-filling account by Scott St. John and Patricia Parr of Messiaen's youthfully lyrical, seldom-heard "Theme and Variations".

William Littler, Toronto Star - September 22, 2001