MUSIC IN THE PARK OFFERS BRILLIANT YOUNG TALENT

 

For more than thirty years, Julie Himmelstrup, an accomplished pianist in her own right has managed, auditioned and booked varied musical talent from all over the world. With assistance from her husband and residents of a Saint Paul neighborhood called St, Anthony Park, Julie has expanded our musical understanding and appreciation over the years. She recently turned her series over to the venerable Schubert Club of Saint Paul. The Schubert Club, with Julie paying close attention, has continued the tradition and continues to raise the quality of the five annual Sunday afternoon concerts each year.

 

On Sunday, March 12, at 4 pm, in spite of huge snow banks and restricted parking, a nearly full house of patrons assembled at the neighborhood United Church of Christ to hear and appreciate a young violin and piano duo. Randall Goosby, on a 1735 Giuseppe Guarneri violin and Anna Han on piano, with an impressive background of pipe organ pipes, made their first of what is hoped to be many more successful concerts here in Saint Paul.

 

The well-balanced and very talented couple offered a program of pieces by Boulanger, Ravel, William Grant Still and the luscious Sonata No. 9 in A Major by Ludwig van Beethoven.

 

The hall is acoustically excellent, the performers equally talented and persuasive. The program was brilliant, subtle and illuminating. One often expects an imbalance between performers in these classical duos. The pianist is usually expected to offer important presence but secondary to the brilliance of the violinist. Not here. Anna Han raised her hands and made that grand piano provide every bit of musical content. Clearly the two performers recognized the variations in the score between them when the violin took the lead and they shared the stage as equal talents.

 

Randall Goosby played brilliantly throughout the concert, offering appropriate musicianship, great variation from sweet and smooth lyrical tone to highly polished blues; from pizzicato to carefully bowed andantes.

 

This concert, on a snowy afternoon, was uplifting, a fine display of the talents of the two performers and a great conclusion to a snowy afternoon.