Juilliard Faculty Recital: Caroline Stinson

Yesterday evening's recital at Paul Hall featured faculty member Caroline Stinson, cello, accompanied by pianist Molly Morkoski, Associate Professor at Lehman College.  The one hour program consisted of one Baroque chamber piece followed by the works of three contemporary composers.

The recital opened with Sonata No. 1 for Viola da Gamba in G, BWV 1027 by J.S. Bach.  In place of the viola da gamba Ms. Stinson played a modern cello and Ms. Morkoski provided accompaniment on the piano rather than the harpsichord, a substitution that gave the work a  much more modern sound. When writing the piece, Bach had given the harpsichord a more prominent role than is commonly displayed in Baroque compositions and the change in instruments served to make that emphasis even clearer to the listener.  I had posted earlier this week on a Baroque chamber recital at Holy Trinity Church in which both violas da gamba and harpsichords were used by Juilliard students.  While listening to yesterday evening's performance, it was interesting to imagine how the music might have sounded if played on the original instruments instead of on their modern counterparts.

The Bach was followed by Joan Tower's reflective Très Lent for Cello and Piano (1994) and Andrew Waggoner's Livre for Cello and Piano (2001), written for Caroline Stinson.  The program closed with Astor Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango for Cello and Piano.