It has been two long years since the La Cafamore trio was able to perform, in fact, they were set to stage their Tango King and The One Hit Wonder program when the pandemic hit.
“We were days from getting together,” said violinist Carolyn Cameron, a long time Rossland resident. “And then, we all know what happened. It is such a great program, with some of the most beautiful melodies in the classical music repertoire. The cello part in the Arensky piano trio #1 is to die for.”
Cellist Maria Wang has been looking forward to playing the piece since she and Cameron planned the concert three years ago.
“Right from the start, you hear a beautiful melodic line passed back and forth between the violin and cello,” said Wang.
“It’s wonderful. Then the third movement is Arensky’s tribute to Karl Davydov, a famous Russian cellist who had recently died.”
The piano part is as challenging as any romantic repertoire, keeping pianist Nina Horvath, a Rossland native, on her toes.
Rounding off the program is Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a collection of four tangos written originally as stand-alone pieces for violin, electric guitar, piano, double bass and bandoneon.
“Any time one hears The Four Seasons, a piece is going to be compared to Vivaldi’s iconic work. In this case, the title is where the similarity ends,” explains Cameron. “Although several arrangements have tried to combine the two pieces, I don’t think that Piazzolla’s intent was to base the music on Vivaldi’s. This particular arrangement does not attempt to merge the two works.”
Piazzolla’s four pieces are elaborations on Argentinian tangos and don’t have the programmatic story line that accompanies Vivaldi’s seasons.
Since this concert has been postponed by two years, does that mean that La Cafamore has had two years to work on the program?
“I suppose in theory, but it gets awfully lonely practicing trio music all by yourself,” laughed Cameron.
La Cafamore’s concerts have each artist working on the parts alone before getting together prior to the concerts to put it all together.
And while it’s pretty clear who the Tango King is in this mix, who is this “one hit wonder?”
“That would be Anton Arensky,” said Cameron. “And it’s really not true. Arensky was a famous Russian composer in his day. He even has a glacier in Antarctica named after him.”
In spite of this, he is largely unheard of aside from classical string players, hence the title for this concert.
La Cafamore will perfom in the communities of Kimberley, Golden, Fernie, Silverton and Trail.
La Cafamore’s concert at the Charles Bailey Theatre in Trail is on Sunday, March 27. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance online at thebailey.ca.
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