Finally, a totally beautiful evening, weather-wise. And music-wise. The Naumburg Orchestral Concerts presented ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra) in its Naumburg debut.
Four on the Floor (2006) – Judd Greenstein (1979–)
Battalia à 10 in D Major, C. 61 (1673) I. Sonata; II. Die liederliche Gesellschaft von allerley Humor; III. Presto; IV. Der Mars; V. Presto; VI. Aria; VII. Die Schlacht; VIII. Adagio. Lamento der Verwundten Musquetirer – Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704)
“La Follia” Variations for String Orchestra – Francesco Geminiani/
Michi Wiancko (1687–1762)/(1976–)
Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48 (1880) I. Pezzo in forma di Sonatina: Andante non troppo – Allegro moderato – Andante non troppo; II. Waltz: Moderato; III. Elégie: Larghetto elegiac; IV. Finale: (Théma russe): Andante – Allegro con spirito – Molto meno mosso – Allegro con spirito – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
All four of the pieces on the program were for string orchestra (18 players), though the first was originally written for string quartet. The composer was in the audience and spoke briefly after the performance, quipping that maybe it should have been renamed 18 on the Floor on Tuesday night. Described as “18 players rock out,” the piece had driving rhythms, almost like an updating of the way Telemann or Vivaldi created forward energy with string writing. I also got echoes of Stravinsky’s rhythmic phrasing. That said, it was just an OK curtain raiser, as far as I was concerned.
Fortunately, the evening’s host, Naomi Lewin from WQXR, gave us a little background info on Biber’s Battalia—without it I would have had no idea what was going on in the second movement (eight different folk tunes in eight different keys and time signatures, to portray drunken soldiers). The eight movements of the piece mostly flowed with minimal breaks between them. I. Bright, crisp, including the musicians tapping their instruments and stamping on the floor; II. See eight tunes, eight keys, eight time signatures, above; III. Brief and pleasant; IV. Indeed, martial, with a piece of paper used by the double basses to imitate the sound of a snare drum; V. Dance-like and pleasant [ringing phone in the audience!]; VI. Gentle, calm song form with even phrases and a pretty tune; VII. Brusque, with more percussive playing, including plucked strings to imitate cannons; and VIII. Calmer, with sweet tunes—even slightly syrupy but not overdone. All in all, a very interesting piece, very well played.
The La Follia Variations were Ms. Wiancko’s arrangement after Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso No. 12 in D minor. It had a dark, severe opening with very rich, full scoring that then expanded some of the original phrases, adding rhythmic fillips and shifting dynamics—sort of mini variations throughout. A second section had one of the violinists using what seemed to be claves (those wooden bars you played with in elementary school music class), giving a slightly Moorish or Northern African flavor to the section, heightened by a violist adding light tambourine accents. A third section tied it all together into a neat little package.
And now, the Tchaikovsky Serenade. This is one of my favorite pieces, dating back to when I danced a ballet set to the score (with some judicious cuts). I’m not an all-caps kind of guy, but during the third movement I wrote “THEY KNOW THIS WORK!” in my notes. Yeah, it was that good.
The first movement started out lush and formidable, full of heart, and then swept forward with more rich harmonies and a pickup in tempo. As a side note, it was lovely to see the sky darkening to that l’heure bleu shade while listening to this, al fresco. A return to the opening theme rounded the movement out quite nicely. Next we had that gentle waltz bubbling along with a slight touch of a Viennese pause once in a while, with the secondary theme adding a bit of Russian drama, all combined with nicely nuanced phrasing. The third movement was somber but not depressingly so. The full, deep sound of the secondary theme had a light pizzicato accompaniment. As in the waltz, each iteration of a theme had interesting touches added one by one. With a quiet theme as an introduction, the fourth movement lulls you and then really takes off. New idea upon new idea is added until the orchestra is going full throttle. After a slight pull back, it winds up again, leading to the opening theme from the first movement—ending with a brilliant use of the theme. ECCO’s first commercial recording, from 2012, includes this Serenade. I may just be on the lookout for it.
Major kudos to Christopher London on the 110th! anniversary of Naumburg Orchestral Concerts and to WQXR as a broadcast sponsor. I'm already looking forward to 2016.
ConcertMeister
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