Love, Marriage and Music

Thaddeus Brys and Susan Poore Brys bring their love for cello, piano – and each other – to the 1860 House.

By: Aleen Crispino

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Thaddeus Brys and Susan Poore Brys will perform at the Montgomery Center for the Arts May 17.


   When cellist Thaddeus Brys and his wife, pianist Susan Poore Brys, give a concert May 17 at Montgomery Center for the Arts, the pastoral setting may remind them of another rural retreat where they conducted their courtship almost 50 years ago.
   Thaddeus Brys and Susan Poore Brys became acquainted in 1955 at Kneisel Hall, a summer music camp at Blue Hill, Maine. Like many young classical musicians who lived and studied in New York City, they migrated to New England that summer to escape the city’s heat and be coached by master teachers in an environment with others who shared their passion for music.

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   Mr. Brys was beginning his long and distinguished career as a cellist, with a New York Town Hall debut recital and many professional tours to his credit. Earlier, in 1951, at the age of 22, he had won a scholarship to attend the Casals Festival in Prades, France, and study with the renowned Spanish cellist Pablo Casals. Ms. Brys, now an accomplished pianist, was then a junior at Vassar College.
   "I kind of met him before at the home of one of my friends who already had been at Blue Hill and was also a cellist," says Ms. Brys from the couple’s home outside Baton Rouge, La. Her friend had borrowed his cello. She had pictures, which she showed her. Also, "I’d seen him on stage when (soprano) Phyllis Curtin made her debut at Town Hall," she recalls.
   So when they met in the summer, he was not a complete stranger to her.
   "I remember him in a torn sweatshirt patched by his mother, standing in the road," she says. "We were assigned to a trio together." Although the violinist was younger, she was not interested in him. "The cellist was the one who appealed to me," she said.
   Mr. Brys adds his reminiscences. "We were assigned to play a Brahms trio together, along with a violinist, and she was very pretty and I was intrigued. We started meeting that fall, before she left to go back to college, and whenever she came home for the weekend. Our early dates consisted of playing — sight-reading — cello and piano sonatas together, but before long I was taking her out to dinner.
   "We started giving concerts together about a year after we were married, but most of the out-of-state touring came much later, when our children were older," he says.
   By the time their daughter was 4 and their son was 2, Mr. Brys accepted a position teaching cello and chamber music at Louisiana State University.
   Ms. Brys, who studied piano and chamber music at Manhattan School of Music as well as at Vassar, and with the well-respected pianists Nadia Reisenberg and Artur Balsam, "never stopped playing." She served for years as keyboard player for the Baton Rouge Symphony and staff accompanist at Louisiana State University School of Music, also performing as a soloist with the Acadiana Symphony.
   Mr. Brys played for Pablo Casals in the master classes he led in Marlboro, Vt., in the 1960s. Mr. Casals, who by then was an old man, held "very decided opinions of how he wanted a phrase to be played," says Mr. Brys. "He was a powerful and incisive teacher, above all in matters of tone and phrasing; the dominant musical influence of my life, especially when you consider that he had taught my own teacher, Lieff Rosanoff, of the Mannes School." (The Mannes School is now the Mannes College of Music of the New School University.) Mr. Casals also gave advice on marriage between two musicians.
   "Casals used to warn against ‘cat-gut marriages’ — the marriage of two string players," says Mr. Brys. "When he married his last wife… she gave up the cello except for a little teaching."
   The couple has chosen three selections for Tuesday’s concert: "Sonata Nello Stile Antico Spagnuolo for Cello and Piano" by Gaspar Cassado; "Suite No. 2 for Cello Solo, Op. 131C" by Max Reger; and "Sonata for Cello and Piano" by Francis Poulenc.
   "All share one thing — that they are harmonic and melodic in nature," says Ms. Brys.
   Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966) was a cellist as well as a composer. His sonata is "Romantic Baroque, and it’s very charming," says Ms. Brys.
   Composer Max Reger (1873-1916) "was influenced by Brahms and he’s also known for his rich, chromatic harmony," says Ms. Brys. The dance movements of "Suite No. 2 for Cello Solo" are also influenced by Bach’s "Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello" she says.
   "Poulenc (1899-1963) wrote very fluidly for wind instruments and piano, and endless songs," says Ms. Brys. "He was not pleased with his violin sonata. He met (cellist) Pierre Fournier, his compatriot, and wrote it (Sonata for Piano and Cello) for him. It contains a tango — it’s so playable and beautiful."
   Now that their two children are grown and Mr. Brys is professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, husband and wife keep a busy concert schedule. When not touring, they can be found out walking their two big, black mixed-breed dogs. They cherish visits with their 16-year-old grandson, who "swears he didn’t pick out the cello," his grandmother reports, but has shown a natural aptitude.
   Though the boy lives in another state, Mr. Brys has given him some pointers. Ever the teacher, he says, "I wish I were right by him to watch his progress — you know, cheer him on and goad him a bit."
Thaddeus Brys and Susan Poore Brys will perform at Montgomery Center for the Arts’ 1860 House, 124 Montgomery Road, Montgomery, May 17, 8 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (609) 921-3272. On the Web: www.montgomerycenterforthearts.com