Author: Caroline Osborn
During lunch on Thurs, April 2, students filled Bird Studio to hear The Mojave Trio, a musical group composed of Sara Parkins (violin), Maggie Parkins (cello), and Genevieve Feiwen Lee (piano). The three are frequent guests of Occidental College, and were hosted by the Music Department.
They performed two chamber pieces to the nearly full house. The first was a composition by Frank Martin entitled “Trio sur des melodies populaires irlandaises.” Written in 1925, it combines Irish folk songs with a neo-classical style. Martin was a Swiss composer who lived in the Netherlands, but he was commissioned to creatively incorporate Irish melodies into chamber music. Although the piece remains respected in chamber music canon, the person who commissioned it had a less positive reaction. He turned down the song and neglected to pay Martin for his work.
The students seemed to enjoy it; they applauded enthusiastically at the end of the piece, and sometimes between movements, even though it is standard concert procedure to wait until the end of the piece for applause. Interlacing a myriad of dynamic and tempo shifts, as well as interesting uses of meter, the song remained engaging throughout its sprawling length. Pianist Lee introduced the song as an imitation of pub life, a staple of Irish culture. The first movement, entitled “Allegro moderato,” mimics the multiple conversations and bustle of a crowded barroom with the jaunty but unhurried tempo implied by its name, which roughly translates to “moderately quick.” In the second movement, Lee envisioned a bard in a corner quieting the crowd by telling a somber “old yarn.” The second movement, aptly called “Adagio”, marked a slowing of the tempo and cast a shadow of sorrow on the once cheerful tune.
Maggie Parkins’ cello solo bled emotion, accented visually by her expressive face and trembling hand which conjured the vibrato. Lee said she sees the final movement, “Gigue: Allegro,” as the crowd returning to their activities after the old man’s story ends, and culminating in a brawl. “Gigue” is the French word for “jig,” and “allegro,” once again, translates as “quick.”
Sara Parkins’ upper body swiveled and dipped with the vigorous movement of her bow and the exuberant pace of the song. On the final note, both Sara and Maggie flourished their bows and pointed them at the ceiling, a visually dramatic ending to a sonically dramatic song.
The second piece was titled “Trio in F Minor, Op. 65.,” composed by Antonín Dvorák in 1883. Like the Martin piece, this trio incorporated folk songs into a classical style, but this time the folk songs originated in Czechoslovakia. Lee informed the audience that Dvorák’s feelings about his mother’s death, which occurred just before he composed the piece, inspired the moving pathos of the piece.
Lee characterized the song as “infused with wonderful melodies and Czech folk music.” The piece began with the violin and cello players see-sawing their bows back and forth in a staccato-like style. All three musicians’ fingers darted around their strings or keys in such a practiced and precise manner that one couldn’t help but admire their dexterity as well as the sounds the movements produced. At one point, Sara Parkins plucked a few notes on her violin for a more percussive sound.
The song demonstrated constant dynamic variance–always either building in volume, dropping off, loud, or very soft, sometimes abruptly changing between the latter two. The trio was skilled at maintaining a fast tempo throughout dynamic changes from loud to soft, keeping the song exciting and energized. Audience members could see the three musicians making eye contact with one another before a tempo change and before beginning a new movement in order to coordinate without a conductor to cue them.
After the final note reverberated through the hall, the audience burst into applause that did not stop until after The Mojave Trio came back on stage for an encore bow. The recital showcased incredible talent, and Oxy’s musically-inclined students clearly appreciated the free concert during their lunch break.
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