Holiday concerts are typically long on tradition, short on innovation, prioritizing comforting familiarity at the expense of musical evolution that keeps traditions alive and adapting to current reality. That made Beaverton pianist and composer Dianne Davies’s 2019 Christmas show Soli Deo Gloria a refreshing update, an ideal combination of holiday tradition and Oregon originality.
An enthusiastic, all-ages audience at Beaverton’s Southminster Presbyterian Church seemed as taken by Davies’ Romantic Christmas Suite fusion of popular Christmas carols (“Silent Night,” “O Holy Night,” “I Wonder as I Wander” et al) with adeptly chosen Chopin Nocturnes as by the chestnuts.
Pianists chuckled in recognition of the five solos and a sixth violin and piano duet with ARCO-PDX violinist Mike Hsu, but you didn’t have to know the originals to be charmed by the combo. The concert also featured concert premieres of various vocal solos and choral pieces that Davies composed or arranged over the years, all snugly complementing the traditional tunes.
It’s a treat to see Davies, one Oregon’s most accomplished performing classical pianists, also turning to composing music as well as playing it. The highlight of the set, her three-song Reflection Set, written to “map my journey through and out of a depression pit in 2017,” displayed a genuine talent for transforming personal experience into honest musical catharsis.
Embracing influences from Ginastera to Rachmaninoff, it convincingly conveyed emotions from confusion to struggle to healing. The concert benefited from Davies’ easy rapport with the audience. An experienced performer and comedienne Link to my OAW profile, she smoothly managed well-prepared transitions between solo, ensemble, choral and even dance elements, often with spontaneous humor.
“And as always, her own playing appeared well-prepared and therefore exceptionally expressive, since she’s got the notes down cold. This delightful show proved that along with musical comedy and performing chops, Davies has plenty to say as a composer too. I hope it becomes a holiday perennial, and an example for others who want to make the holidays about today’s people as well as yesterday’s myths.”
—Brett Campbell, Oregon ArtsWatch
