By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Harpist Ina Zdorovetchi performed in “Rhapsody, Dances, and Fantasy,” the Needham Concert Society’s (NCS) eagerly anticipated third concert of their 2022-2023 season. The Sunday, April 23rd concert was held before a large audience at the Carter Memorial United Methodist Church in Needham, after being postponed on February 12 due to COVID-19.
Ina Zdorovetchi has appeared as a soloist with many major orchestras and at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center as well. The delighted Needham audience had the pleasure of hearing her gorgeous music and seeing her exuberant, emotional performance at close range.
Other artists playing with Zdorovetchi in several pieces included Ryan Yure, clarinet, Zenas Hsu and Christine Vitale, violin, Ronald Lowry, cello, Ann Bobo, flute, Andra Voldins Dix, viola, and Paul Glenn, bass. These distinguished artists perform regularly with local organizations such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Lyric Opera, and many others.
Zdorovetchi began the concert with a solo, Rhapsody for Harp, Op. 10, by Marcel Grandjany, which is based on a solemn chant. The second piece, Quintet for Flute, String Trio, and Harp by Jean Françaix, featured a shining flute solo and varying tempos.
The third piece, Triad for a Spry Clarinet, Weeping Cello, and Ruminating Harp by Gilad Cohen, cleverly combined Jewish klezmer, folk music, and rock, with Zdorovetchi clapping her hand on the harp case for rhythm and Lowry literally strumming the cello at times.
The fourth piece, Danses Sacrée et Profane by Claude Debussy, featured a range of tones and styles from the harp, string, and wind instruments. The fifth piece, Sonata for Harp by Paul Hindemith, included a spoken poem by Ludwig Christoph Heinrigh Hölty before the third movement. The poem referenced themes of death and immortality through music.
The sixth piece, Quintet for Harp and Strings, GP 214, by Sir Arnold Bax, included impressive harp solos and glissandos.
The final piece, Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet by Maurice Ravel, showed the depth of textures and ranges of the string and wind instruments, along with the technical prowess of Zdorovetchi on the harp.
The Needham Concert Society has been producing quality music programs since 1976. Needham Concert Society programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Find out more at NeedhamConcertSociety.org.
