An Evening of Musical Desserts

Neilson Hays Library. Bangkok, Thailand. February 10, 2011. Violinist Jonathon Glonek and pianist Eri Nakagawa treated us to an evening of delightful musical desserts, the type of short, breezy pieces that are usually reserved for encores following a heavy course of long sonatas, fantasias, fugues, etc. Many arrangements by Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz predominated. The mood swung from the sentimental (e.g., Heifetz’s arrangement of Stephen Foster’s “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”) to the exciting (Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of De Falla’s “Danse Espagnole”). The setting in Bangkok’s historic Neilson Hays Library, which had been cleared of some book shelves to make room for the piano and the audience, was atmospheric. Glonek and Nakagawa, both resident in Thailand, played expertly and beautifully. I hope that they enjoyed themselves playing as much as the very appreciative capacity audience did listening.