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Czerny's "Fantasia" A Walk In The Park

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  • Czerny's "Fantasia" A Walk In The Park

    CZERNY'S "FANTASIA" A WALK IN THE PARK
    By Michael Zwiebach

    San Francisco Classical Voice
    February 20, 2010

    The Bay Area is blessed with a cornucopia of chamber music series,
    most of which seem to be invisible to all but the most serious
    classical fans. Avedis Chamber Music, now in its 15th year at the
    Florence Gould Auditorium in the San Francisco Legion of Honor,
    is one of those little-known treasures.

    Named after the late pianist Charles Avedis Hagopian, Avedis means
    good news in Armenian. And the good news here is that Avedis regulars
    constitute a set of first-rate musicians who perform a wide variety of
    music, all of it grateful to the ears of an average concertgoer. And
    the Saturday matinee timing is perfect for working people, as well
    as retirees.

    Avedis' artistic director, the flutist Alexandra Hawley, arranges
    programs that include her instrument in most pieces, which takes
    Avedis' repertory a little off the beaten path. She and cellist
    Stephen Harrison, of the Ives Quartet, are both on the music faculty
    at Stanford University, while pianist/violist Paul Hersh has been
    a longtime member of the piano department at the San Francisco
    Conservatory of Music. These teachers are probably getting a secret
    kick out of putting Carl Czerny's Fantasia Concertante on the first
    Avedis program this year, Feb. 20.

    Czerny (1791-1857) was a famous pedagogue who taught both Liszt
    and Liszt's rival Sigismund Thalberg, as well as a number of other
    eminent pianists of the period. Yet most, if not all, serious piano
    students know (and probably curse) his name because he was the author
    of the The Art of Finger Dexterity and The School of Velocity, two
    indispensible sets of etudes (studies) that earned their author a
    large part of his fortune.

    Czerny also gave the Vienna premiere of his friend Beethoven's
    "Emperor" Piano Concerto, though he hated performing and made his
    living from his teaching. Unfortunately, the composer Czerny suffered
    from the performer Czerny's reticence, and later generations have
    just assumed that, were his music worth anything, it would have
    gotten out there. Well, now we come to discover that old Carl did
    write some pretty fine music, though you won't hear it much in the
    big-prestige venues.

    Similarly, Albert Roussel (1868-1937) is a fine composer who is
    overshadowed by his greater, better-known contemporaries Debussy
    and Ravel. And Katherine Hoover (1937-), who is a flutist, is also
    a well-respected, but less-often-played, composer with a pleasingly
    eclectic style. And then there's this Haydn fellow who's reputed to
    be a pretty good composer, too.

    In sum, this is a nicely balanced program, with unusual but good music,
    played by some of the best musicians in the area. And you can probably
    grab a ticket at the door after having a nice walk through the Legion
    park. Who wouldn't take advantage of that?

    Michael Zwiebach holds a Ph.D. in music history from UC Berkeley.
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