Image: Francis Poulenc and Wanda Landowska | Public Domain
The Santa Barbara Music Club presents a program of classical music by J. S. Bach, Francis Poulenc and Madeleine Dring for flute, oboe and piano on Saturday, May 3, at 3:00 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 4575 Auhay Dr., Santa Barbara, performed by pianist Robert Else, flautist Jane Hahn, oboist Pam Johnston, and pianist Eric Valinsky. Admission is free.
Program Details
(1685-1750)
- I. Adagio, ma non tanto
- II. Allegro
- III. Siciliano
- IV. Allegro assai
(1899-1963)
- I. Elégie (Paisiblement, sans presser)
- II. Scherzo (Très animé)
- III. Déploration (Très calme)
- I. Allegretto malincolico
- II. Cantilena
- III. Presto giocoso
(1923-1977)
- I. Allegro con brio
- II. Andante semplice
- III. Allegro giocoso
Notes on the Program
The concert begins with Bach’s Sonata for Flute and Basso Continuo in E major, performed by Jane Hahn, flute, and Eric Valinsky, piano. It provides a strong contrast to the mid-twentieth century French character of the following works by Madeleine Dring and Francis Poulenc. The sonata is in four movements: Slow-Fast-Slow-Fast. Even with the slow first and third movements, the overall affect is cheerful.
Following are two works by Francis Poulenc, Sonata for oboe and piano, performed by oboist Pam Johnson and pianist Robert Else, and Sonata for flute and piano, performed by flutist Jane Hahn and pianist Eric Valinsky.
Composed in 1962 and dedicated to the memory of Sergei Prokofiev, Poulenc’s Sonata for oboe and piano is considered to be a core piece in the instrument’s repertoire. In tempi, the three movements of this sonata flip his usual procedure, following a Slow-Fast-Slow pattern. It was his last completed work.
The Sonata for flute and piano was commissioned by the American Library of Congress and is dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, a notable patron of the arts, particularly of chamber music. Poulenc, known for his affinity for woodwind instruments, premiered the sonata in June 1957 at the Strasbourg Music Festival, performing alongside flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal. The piece quickly gained popularity and became a staple of the twentieth-century flute repertoire, praised for its bittersweet grace, wit, irony, and sentiment, which were characteristic of Poulenc’s style.
Both sonatas exhibit Poulenc’s gift for melody, grace, rhythmic vitality, and expression.
The concert ends with Madeleine Dring’s Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano, performed by Jane Hahn, Pam Johnston, and Robert Else. Dring was an English actress, mime, cartoonist, violinist, pianist, singer, and composer. The Trio for flute, oboe, and piano was composed in 1968 for her husband, oboist Roger Lord, who played with the London Symphony Orchestra. The Trio is in three movements, Allegro con brio, Andante semplice, and Allegro giocoso, and is characteristized by lyrical colors of both melody and rhythm, showing the influence of Francis Poulenc, whose music she greatly admired.
The Performers
Jane Hahn, singer and flutist, grew up in Santa Barbara, and has studied and performed as a singer and a flutist her whole life. Her modest singing career includes several comprimario roles with Opera Santa Barbara, and she has been the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Santa Maria. Jane has directed the women’s vocal ensemble, LUX, as well as choirs at St. Michaels and Trinity Episcopal churches. Jane studied flute at the college level at UCSB, and continues to practice and perform as a freelance musician today, lately branching out into the Jazz genre. Jane is a retired Software Engineer and Project Manager. She and her husband are very proud of their two married sons and their precious grand-daughter. Her hobbies include yoga, pottery, and house-building with her husband.
Pam Johnston, oboe, is a recently retired senior executive with thirty-five years of global revenue and operating experience in executive leadership positions across a broad range of high tech industries. Pam has a MBA from Harvard Business School, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, which she attended on a full performance scholarship, while studying with oboists from the Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland Symphony Orchestras. Recently retired, she is now a freelance oboist, having resumed her playing during the 2020 Pandemic after a 40-year hiatus.
Pam is a member of the SBCC Symphony Orchestra and performs regularly with the Santa Barbara Chamber Players, UCSB Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony Academy. She also participates regularly in Chamber Music Workshops in Santa Barbara and Humboldt, California, and at Kinhaven in Vermont.
Robert Else, pianist, is active in both the classical and jazz worlds. He earned his BA Degree in Music from Cal Poly Humboldt and pursued graduate studies at USC, studying with Gwendolyn Koldofsky and Brooks Smith; he also received a BA in Jazz Piano from Berklee College of Music in Boston. His activities include solo piano, chamber music, jazz ensembles, singing tenor with the SB Noel Carolers, and composing tracks for film and TV, many of which can be heard at www.robertelse.com. A SBMC Advisory Board member, he also plays acoustic bass in various local Bluegrass and Americana bands.
A native Manhattanite, Eric Valinsky has, for more years than he would like to admit, maintained dual careers in computer systems architecture and music. He was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Illinois, finally achieving his DMA in music composition from Columbia University. He studied composition with Walter Aschaffenburg, Salvatore Martirano, Jack Beeson, and Darius Milhaud; piano with Sara Crawford Drogheo and Emil Danenberg; and conducting with Harold Farberman. While living in Los Angeles, he became music director and composer-in-residence for The Storie-Crawford Dance Theatre Ensemble. Returning to New York, he served in a similar capacity for Danny Buraczeski’s Jazzdance, Uris Bahr and Dancers, and The New American Ballet Ensemble as well as composer-in-residence for The Rachel Harms Dance Company, Opera Uptown, and the Dance Department at City College of New York. He is currently Music Director for the American Dance & Music Performance Group and moonlights as founder and partner of Inlineos LLC, a strategic Internet consulting company.
