A sixth-year anniversary concert by the duo of Ronald Lantz, violin, and Laura Kargul, piano, took place at the Sanford-Springvale Historical Museum on Feb. 21. This concert was the fourth appearance by this pair at the museum and, like the others, demonstrated again the highest order of music making by this talented pair.

Lantz is a founding member of the Portland String Quartet and Kargul is head of the piano department of the University of Maine at Gorham.

The difference between reviewing a concert and a play, for example, is that in most cases, the concert will not be repeated, while a play will normally have other performances. In the latter case, the reviewer can either be objective or simply write a column that simply encourages others to see the show. It is a PR kind of free publicity. Unless the reviewer has a reputation for “calling them as he sees them,” rarely will he/she find anything to criticize.

Most of the review will either concern the plot with minimum references to those who play various characters. Copious praise will be given to as many folks as possible, starting with the director on down.

The best reviews, however, will center on the merits of the various performers in the show. The same may be said about a musical event. Unless the reviewer is unable or unwilling to do this, he/she may devote precious space to discussing the lives of the composers, the styles or approaches to composition during various eras, the mannerisms of the conductor (if an orchestral concert) and so on.

Well, we have none of these distractions at this particular musical event. Very briefly, the composers from the first half of the program were active during the late 19th century, and hailed respectively from Finland and Norway (Sibelius, Sinding and Grieg). To cut to the chase (namely my evaluation of the performance of their music by Lantz and Kargul), Lantz has a full-bodied, rich and lustrous tone, even in quality and intensity in every register of his Vuillaume l850s violin. Kargul was more of a colleague than mere accompanist in this venture, displaying a commanding touch and an unerring accuracy in performance. Each listened to the other, sometimes leading and other times following.

Of the three works performed in the first half, the “Sonata” by Grieg was the most challenging. Grieg was a pianist, and there were times when the violin part seemed almost an afterthought, even though it took a seasoned virtuoso like Lantz to realize its great beauty. Of the several pieces in the second half, I must commend Lantz for the sensuous beauty he brought to Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of the melody by Gluck from the latter’s opera “Orfeo and Eurydice.”

A work by 20th-century French composer Joseph Canteloube followed. This man was noted during his lifetime for collecting French folk music and writing many works for soprano and orchestra. His identification would make a splendid question on any doctoral examination! Again, the piano part was as significant as the violin part, and the music had many changes of key to nearly related tonalities. Two works on Jamaican folk tunes written by Peter Ashborune followed, and these delightful works were given meritorious musical renditions by both.

Two pieces by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla completed the program. Again, passionate and musical performances were brought to bear. Aside from the musical delight in listening to works that are not frequently (if ever) heard, one was stunned at the joining at the hip of two gifted musicians.

It was another superb program at the museum, and the audience gave a standing ovation to the pair.

— Morton Gold is a composer/conductor, retired educator and an arts reviewer of the Journal Tribune.