Channeling the past: Red Cedar resurrects forgotten composer in ‘Kaspar the Friendly ...’

By Diana Nollen

Kaspar Kummer is on the tip of very few tongues - unless you're an early music flute aficionado like Jan Boland of Marion or Douglas Worthen of Salem, Mass.

Kummer's works also will be under the fingertips of Boland's husband, guitarist John Dowdall of Marion; violist David Miller of Lawrenceville, N.J.; and cellist Loretta O'Sullivan of Edgewater, N.J.

They are joining forces to resurrect the music of this mid-19th century German composer in Red Cedar Chamber Music concerts this week titled “Kaspar the Friendly ...”

Kummer is a bit of a ghost these days.

“He's a little known east German composer who lived in the time where flute and guitar were still popular,” Dowdall says. “He was born in 1795. Basically, the only information about him comes from a treatise by (flute historian Richard) Rockstro. ...

“He seems to have dropped out of sight, largely because he didn't travel around like the other musicians of his day. He was content to stay in his own area, so not too many people are aware of his music. He's highly regarded as a flute virtuoso.”

Boland and Worthen will play Kummer's music on the conical wooden flutes used in his day, made in Vienna around 1820 and owned by Boland, Red Cedar's co-founder and executive director.

“Jan is one of the few players in the world to be playing these antique flutes,” says Dowdall, 61. “To have one is unusual. To have two played together is extremely unusual.”

Dowdall also plays a period instrument, an 1830 French style gut-strung guitar.

“It's my favorite instrument of all the instruments I've ever owned,” he says. “It's in flawless condition after all these years.”

Whether playing as a flute and guitar duo, or with their featured guests, Boland and Dowdall are part of a small pool of musicians dedicated to playing chamber music with antique instruments.

“I like to say we're leading a movement that doesn't exist yet,” Dowdall says.

For the Kummer concert, the ensemble also will be playing from the original 19th century printed music, not a modern recreation.

“We're not going through a layer of someone editing and changing it,” he says. “We're dealing with what people in the 19th century were dealing with. That doesn't mean there aren't errors in it, but they're 19th century errors.”

Red Cedar is preparing to publish a facsimile edition of the music.

“Jan did a scan of each page and cleaned up the bad spots, to look like the original, but better,” Dowdall says. “She's also prepared an introduction to come out this summer.”

Boland and Dowdall first found Kummer's Opus 75 quintet at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in the late 1990s.

“When we get music like that, we try to find something that looks good on the surface, then we bring it home and (play) through it,” Dowdall says. They also look for music at libraries in Paris, London and Munich and write to other libraries to acquire pieces.

“The first thing that attracted us to (the Kummer quintet) was its uniqueness,” he says. “It is written for two flutes, viola, cello and guitar. I don't know of any other like that. The last movement of the quintet starts with a pizzicato (plucked sound). Each instrument enters at one time, until they're all together. It sounds like ‘If' by Bread - that major seventh chord progression sounds like ‘If.' I've never seen anything quite like it. It's well-crafted and uses all the instruments well. It's written well for guitar and every instrument gets to contribute significantly to the texture and to stand out at certain times.”

Red Cedar first performed that piece in 2000 and has been wanting to revisit the piece and add others for an all-Kummer concert. The additions include a trio for two flutes and guitar and two serenades for flute, viola and guitar.

Audiences will hear “a lot of delightful melodies,” Dowdall says, “with a very interesting combination of instruments. ... It's very singable, danceable classical music that would have basically been written for the enjoyment of the listener. It's entertainment music from the 19th century.”

The concert will be recorded in June at King Chapel at Cornell College in Mount Vernon.

“That's where most of our discs are recorded,” Dowdall says. “It's a fantastic acoustic space for chamber music. The wooden balcony rail picks up the sound of the flute and spins it very warm, very live. It becomes one of the players.”

The buzz among their colleagues and peers is one of curiosity, he says.

“One of the joys of doing something like this is that nobody's had the chance to hear this guy's music in the style and on the instruments of his day. ... People are curious to find out what the music is and how it sounds on period instruments.”

The CD will be released in August by Fleur De Son Classics - the same month the Red Cedar ensemble will performing the program for the opening evening concert of the British Flute Society's international convention in Manchester, England. So Kummer will be coming out of obscurity.

“That's why we love to do this,” Dowdall says. “We get a great education and get to delve into things we don't know a lot about. Sometimes the result is not worth the effort we put into it, but with this, it is.”

ARTS EXTRAVinton: 7 p.m. Friday, June 4, 2010, Wesley United Methodist Church, 516 Second Ave.; $10 in advance at (319) 472-5109

Who: Red Cedar Chamber Music

What: “Kaspar the Friendly ...” concert of works by the mid 19th-century German composer Kaspar Kummer

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 5, 2010

Where: First Presbyterian Church, 310 Fifth St., Cedar Rapids

Tickets: $15 in advance or $18 at the door; $10 ages 30 and under; to order, call (319) 377-8061

Information: (319) 377-8028 or www.redcedar.org/schedule.html

Rural Outreach Concerts

Marengo: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 2, 2010, First Presbyterian Church, 902 Marengo Ave.; free admission; (319) 741-3825

Fairfield: 8 p.m. Thursday, June 3, 2010, Sondheim Center, 200 N. Main St. Tickets: $15 adults, $12 students and seniors ages 65 and over, free ages 12 and under, in advance at (641) 472-7634