Bolcom and Brahms At Dewey Hall

We’ve heard folk music at Dewey Hall in Sheffield, MA, but this weekend brings a change of pace with a classical concert featuring the violin-piano duo American Double, that is Philip Ficsor on violin and Constantine Finehouse on piano. The pair has had a long fascination and association with the music of American original William Bolcom, and frequently collaborates with the composer. Ficsor and Finehouse recorded Bolcom’s music in 2007 in a CD titled “The Bolcom Project,” and have toured nationally to promote his music. Bolcom, who turns 75 next year and has won numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, has a wide-ranging, eclectic style. He has written everything from ragtime and jazz to chamber works and operas. His music is expressive and full of contrasts and surprises. A representative sample (available on YouTube), a movement from his sprawling work for Chorus and Orchestra, “Songs of Innocence and Experience,” begins with fortissimo, shimmering chords — a tsunami of sound — before settling into a funky riff for electric bass and a catchy solo voice line. For American Double’s concert at Sheffield’s Dewey Memorial Hall, Bolcom’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano will appear alongside two sonatas from the standard repertoire, the Beethoven C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2; and the Brahms Op. 78 Sonata in G Major. The program will also include the Brahms Op. 39 Waltzes for piano four-hands; concert producer Charles Olegar will join Finehouse on piano. Olegar, entering his 10th year as music director of St. James Episcopal Church in Great Barrington, MA, may be familiar to area audiences through his organ recital series Bach & Beyond, which ran for five years while the congregation was housed in its former building. The concert takes place Saturday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 pm. in Sheffield’s Dewey Memorial Hall. Donations are accepted to help cover the costs. For information, go to www.deweyhall.org.