ACJW Ensemble Performs Mazzoli, Poulenc and Brahms

This article was originally published on February 19, 2013

Before last evening's performance by the ACJW Ensemble at Weill Recital Hall, I had never heard Francis Poulenc's Sextet for Piano and Winds. Listening to the opening bars, I was startled by how "modern" the music sounded. In fact, the first movement vaguely recalled the sound of NYC traffic and evoked, to my mind at least, the music of George Gerswhin. When I returned home, I searched the names of the two composers online and discovered that they each actually had been aware of the other's music and had expressed admiration for it. An excerpt from George Gershwin: His Life and Work by Howard Pollack states the following:

"Meanwhile, An American in Paris more explicitly appropriated Poulenc's Mouvements perpetuels, a copy of which the French composer inscribed to Gershwin in 1928... Perhaps Gershwin absorbed something as well from Poulenc's Promenades, also found among his possessions. Poulenc, in turn, cited An American in Paris as one of his favorite works of the century."

The concert opened with a short but enjoyable piece, Set That On Fire, by Missy Mazzoli that served as a perfect introduction to the Poulenc. In the second half, the Ensemble performed Brahms' Trio in E-flat Major for Violin, Horn and Piano, Op. 40. In the latter piece, Laura Weiner's performance on horn was outstanding. The program notes indicated that Brahms had specifically composed the trio for the even then archaic waldhorn .

The ACJW Ensemble is fast becoming one of NYC's greatest cultural assets, not only for their uniformly excellent performances, but also for what they give back to the city in their role as teachers. According to the program notes, Ms. Weiner, for example, teaches at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens.

I would also like to express personal thanks to John Stulz, a violist in the Ensemble who did not perform at last evening's concert. I had a short conversation with him before the program began; and when I had explained to him the difficulty I had obtaining tickets to the Ensemble's concerts at the extremely small Paul Hall at Juilliard, he was kind enough to offer me his own comp ticket.