Puddingstone, named after the geologic amalgam of fused pebbles with glacial sediments and quartzes, presents a similar fusion of the arts as “immersive, thoughtfully curated experiences that intertwine classical music and jazz with dance, visual art, poetry, and drama—creating synergies and revelatory sparks that inspire, transform, and educate…in the spirit of 19th-century musical salons” in intimate and architecturally significant historic spaces, according to their Mission Statement. Thus for the conclusion of their second season they moved their Music Festival to the Newport Casino Theater; built in 1879 it’s regarded as one of the finest surviving examples of American ‘Gilded Age’ resort architecture in the heart of the historic Bellevue Avenue complex which also houses the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
The Music Festival opened June 21st with a Schubertiade followed two days later by Zaccai Curtis Cubop Lives. Last night (Thursday June 25th) the presenter offered “A Night of Suites” with works of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Manuel de Falla, Claude Debussy, and Arnold Schoenberg.
Andrea Segar and pianist Angela Kim opened with Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 3 by British violinist and composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1878-1912), who was praised in his early works for his intense lyricism, both as a performer and as a composer, establishing him as one of the most prominent musicians on the international scene at the turn of the century. In addition to the major works such as the Song of Hiawatha, a large-hearted oratorio, he wrote many smaller salon “character pieces” fashionable in the European salons of his day, infused with melodies and rhythms of his African roots. Opus 3’s four movements each bear a descriptive title: Pastorale, Cavatina, Barcarolle, Contemplation. Segar, who has garnered awards as both a performer and teacher and has made numerous appearances with A Far Cry and as first violinist with the Lydian String Quartet. From her very opening notes, she radiated a golden rich tone in a finely nuanced interpretation true to the style and conventions of the period, while avoiding over-sentimentality in favor of a more realistic depth of expression that was truly evocative of character referenced by each individual movement. Her confident and exquisite playing was matched by an equally expressive piano offered by Angela Kim, described as “a dynamic and versatile pianist recognized internationally for her vivid imagination, expressive depth, and technical brilliance.” Kim is also a Co-Chair of the Festival since 2025.
Manuel de Falla’s 7 Canciones populares españolas are indeed so popular that they are often performed as much by instrumentalists as they are by vocalists. The cello, with its wide range and expressive sound made a good medium for these pieces, each a folk song from a particular region of Spain that captures its essence and flavor through idiomatic rhythms, ornaments, and melodic conventions distinctly and uniquely Spanish. Cellist Bjorn Ranheim, with an impressive list of international credits, teamed up with Angela Kim to provide a moving and exhilarating reading of these evocative pieces. A feature of the cello version by Maurice Maréchal published in 1926 is that the movements are rearranged in a different order. This was not as listed in the program, nor was any explanation given regarding the change.
The final offering on the first half brought Puddingstone co-founder and Executive Director Clemens Teufel, prize-winning pianist from Frankfort, Germany to team up with Angela Kim for Debussy’s Petite Suite, a delightful set of four character pieces from 1899 loosely based on poetry of Paul Verlaine, in particular his Fêtes galantes of 1869, many of which were set as art songs by the composer. En Bateau, Cortège, Menuet, and Ballet, which avoid the more complex harmonies and intricate structural weavings of later works, came across gracefully and cleanly, with light impressionistic touches,
During the interval one had a chance to view some of the colorful art works of 2026 Festival Resident Artist Roseanne Williams on display in the auditorium, after which we heard Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) for String Sextet also from 1899. Teufel prefaced by reading the poem by Richard Dehmel’s lurid German poem of illicit love, confession and forgiveness on which the work is based. The booklet included a printed English translation.
This lush, post-romantic extravagance is more frequently heard in its fuller string orchestra version which the composer made in 1917 and later revised in 1943, and available also in Eduard Sterumann’s piano trio version which one hears from time to time. The original 1899 score (revised in 1905) for two violins, two violas, and two violoncelli offers a shimmering intimacy of a night transfigured by the light of the moon. In that regard, the collective string players of this year’s festival provided the ensemble, which after a slightly tenuous opening eagerly dug into the music with intensity and dynamic energy, gaining cohesion, confidence, and expressively weaving Schoenberg’s intricate chromatic counterpoints into a frenzy, then relaxing into the calm and peaceful magic of a “transfigured night.”
Something of an apotheosis of the post-romantic impulse, Schoenberg wrote it before developing his serial or 12-tone music of the Second Viennese School. His preference for the particular melodic configuration that figures the half-step followed by a third, in musical set theory defined as 0-1-4, which contains both the major and minor third in relation to the notes of the half-step is already apparent. It was precisely Schoenberg’s mastery of traditional harmony, (don’t forget his arrangement of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No.1 for full orchestra), which he taught at the university, that allowed him to stretch its limits and expand its possibilities in the new music he created in his later works.
Puddingstone Festival concludes with a family show by the Rubin Brothers on Friday afternoon and a Piano Extravaganza by the Lomazov-Hackers Duo on Saturday evening. Full details may be had HERE.