Rossetti Quartet co-founder, HENRY GRONNIER, follows a career path
apart from the group, as do the other members of the quartet. At left,
he is shown at the reception following a delightful performance at
the elegant Pompeian Room of the historic Doheny Mansion in Los Angeles
in May 2005 with co-founder THOMAS DIENER and flutist EUGENIA ZUKERMAN.
This concert, the last in the 2005 season series known as the Doheny
Soirées, was sponsored by the Da Camera Society which was
founded in 1973 at Mount St. Mary's College (where the Doheny Mansion
is located) to foster the return of chamber music to the salons
for which it was originally performed. Indeed the lavishly elegant,
intimate setting of the Pomepeian Room is reminiscent of salons
in turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna. Supported by corporate and individual
contributions, it is part of the Society's "Chamber Music in
Historic Sites" program.
The musical program was superb, the works (by an eclectic group
of composers made up of CPE Bach, Handel, Bruch, Reger, Delibes
and Beethoven) so well-chosen; and either Eugenia (in her soprano
voice) or Thomas (in his soothing baritone) introduced each piece
with an anecdote
about the music or the composer, setting the audience at ease and
adding to their enjoyment of the music.
In her opening remarks, Eugenia praised the Rossetti Quartet as
being among the finest chamber music ensembles in the country today,
and revealed that Henry was not only an excellent violinist but
a fine pianist as well, a fact which the audience had the pleasure
to hear for themselves that evening when Henry twice eschewed his
precious violin for the piano - in the trio's performance of Max
Bruch's "Three Selections from Op.83" and an arrangement
of Leo Delibes' "Flower Duet from Lakme."
The program, which opened with an arrangement of a "Duo in
G for Flute and Violin" by CPE Bach ( Johann Sebastian's second
son by his second wife Barbara) and ended with Beethoven's "Trio
in D, Op. 87" was characterized by spirited and impassioned
playing by musicians who are masters of their art and friends who
truly enjoy making music together. The spirit obviously rubbed off
on the audience who without a doubt went home that evening convinced
that chamber music - whether of classical or modern vintage (Serenade
in G, Op. 141a for flute, violin and viola by turn of the 20th century
composer Max Reger completed the program) - can indeed be a lot
of fun. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (also shown above), who performs
regularly with the Rossetti Quartet but was an audience member that
evening, would agree that the concert was pure DELIGHT!
Rina Dokshitsky 