Oberlin

An impassioned performance of Maurice Ravel's Chansons Madécasses was the highlight of an Oberlin College concert that was otherwise rather short on excitement. This first event in the 2013-14 Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Nov. 5 was full of skillful playing throughout. But the other selections programmed for "Ravel: Intimate Masterpieces," while certainly intimate, were more divertissements than masterpieces. 

Soprano Ellie Dehn, flutist Alexa Still, cellist Daniel McDonough, and pianist Spencer Myer smoldered with tropical heat in Chansons Madécasses, three songs characterizing life in French-colonial Africa with texts from 1787 by the French poet Évariste de Parny. In the opening "Nahandove," Dehn and McDonough wove a slinky sonic duet, full of sensual anticipation. Myer joined as a quickening heartbeat, foretelling the arrival of the beloved, represented in Still's flute. Dehn's lush singing of encounter, embrace, ecstasy, and farewell was beautifully accentuated by the instrumental trio's playing. 

The mood shifted violently from sensual passion to political passion in "Aoua!" Dehn forcefully declaimed, "Do not trust the white men, you shore-dwellers," over Still's alarming flute trills and Myer's turbulent piano line. A call-to-arms to throw off the oppressors, Dehn intoned the catalogue of abuses over a drum-beat cadence of slowly increasing furor from the trio. The fury climaxed in the phrase "They are dead, and we live free," then subsided into an almost whispered repeat of the opening warning.

The concluding "Il est doux" returns to a more idyllic portrayal of colonial life. Still's flute opening wafted in on a tropical breeze with McDonough's high cello harmonics evoking the buzzing of jungle life. Dehn sang languidly of the satisfactions of a tropical evening, ending with a command to the servants to make dinner. Ravel's original intent was likely far more musical than political. But in retrospect, his ravishing song cycle stands as a startling and effective critique of the scourge of colonialism.

The balance of the program lacked the potent punch provided by Chansons Madécasses. In the other vocal work, Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, set to texts of Greek folk songs transcribed by poet Michel Dimitri Calcocoressi, Dehn and harpist Yolanda Kondonassis seemed effortless in weaving their lines together. The modal melodies Ravel adapted from the original songs are enticing, though they beg for more development and exploration.

McDonough and his Jupiter String Quartet colleagues displayed vigorous and focused playing in Ravel's early String Quartet in F Major, but the music itself is more intellectually interesting than it is satisfying.

To close the evening, Kondonassis, Still, and the Jupiter were joined by clarinetist Richard Hawkins for the Introduction et Allegro from 1905. In this feature work for the harp, Kondonassis played the knuckle-busting cadenza with stunning virtuosity. But overall, the work felt a bit contrived, perhaps owing to its origin as a commercial demonstration of Erard's pedal harp innovations.