OSU faculty to present free chamber recital

Friday, March 9, 2018

Faculty from the Oklahoma State University Music Department will present a free Faculty Chamber Music Recital, featuring classical compositions by Mendelssohn and Loeffler, on Tuesday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sheerar Museum auditorium. 

The recital, which is open to the public, will begin with Felix Mendelssohn’s Sonata in F Minor, Op. 4, with Laura Talbott-Clark on the violin and Pi-Ju Chiang on the piano.

“I wanted to put together a program that highlighted the move from darkness to light in music, in terms of mood and expression,” said Talbott-Clark, associate professor of  violin and viola at OSU and recital director. “The opening work by Mendelssohn, although composed by him when he was only 15, struggles to move out of a somber disposition, despite moments of hope.” 

The  Violin Sonata in F Minor is followed by “Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano” by Charles Loeffler, which provides a musical depiction of  two romantic poems by Maurice Rollinat. “The Pond” or in the French, “L’Étang,” suggests a murky pond, complete with skulking goblins and “consumptive frogs,” while “Le Cornemuse” or “The Pipes” makes musical references to a ghostly bagpiper.

“Despite the macabre subject matter, the works highlight the lyrical sonorities of the unique pairing of oboe and viola,” Talbott-Clark said. “Intermission will be followed by Mendelssohn’s Piano Sextet to round out the program. Also composed when Mendelssohn was only 15 years old, the sextet is all joy and light, featuring the pianist in a display of virtuosic elegance, accompanied by the unusual combination of a violin, two violas, cello and bass.”

Loffler’s rhapsodies will feature Melissa Bosma on the oboe, Talbott-Clark on the viola and Chiang on the piano. Mendelssohn’s sextet will be performed by Heather Lanners on the piano; Talbott-Clark, violin; Monet Royal, viola; Hunter Sanchez, viola; Meredith Blecha-Wells, cello and George Speed, bass.