The flute/guitar duet phenomenon continued at full speed Friday at the CSU Summer Arts festival at Fresno State. After two concerts, I'm starting to feel as if I'm getting an appreciation for 1) how tough both instruments are to play; and 2) how much different musicians can vary in mood, technique and tone.
(For those interested in the combo, there's one more chance to hear flute and guitar together: William Bennett and Jonathan Leathwood perform 8 p.m. Monday at the Concert Hall.)
At Friday's well-attended concert, Christina Jennings and Leathwood played the first half of the recital. In introducing a modern piece by George Rochberg, Jennings noted that she'd heard this composer even when in the womb. That's what comes from growing up in a chamber-music family. The musicians had a nice rapport, and their challenging selections really started to grow on me.
My favorites of the evening were Gary Schocker on flute and Jason Vieaux on guitar, who connected with each other on both an emotional and musical level. Schocker, a composer, has a beautiful tone, especially in the hard-to-nail upper registers, and his notes seemed as clear and smooth as a perfectly pealing bell. I'm no flute expert, but I'm intrigued by how difficult it must be to play the instrument fortissimo without getting a harsh, guttural tone. Schocker's whole body resonated when he played -- his knees bending, his spine swooping into difficult passages -- and as he stood in his stocking feet, he almost approached his performance as a dance. Vieaux, on guitar, added his own dynamic to the pairing -- a little more stand-offish and reserved, but producing notes that were just as piercing and pure.
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