This was interesting. It took place in Bella Abzug Park, a place I'd never been to. The performers were from three generations: Youth Orchestra, Grad students from Mannes School of Music and Manhattan School of Music, and OSL players. I heard, in order, the grad school woodwind quintet, the OSL players brass quintet, and the youth orchestra.
The woodwind quintet consisted of flute, oboe, bassoon, French horn, and clarinet. Pay no attention to the fact that the flute is metal and so is the horn—just go with the flow. They played six pieces, but I don't know what they were. There was no running order for the event other than a QR code. I have no idea whether the QR code listed the pieces and composers. As most woodwind quintet pieces are bubbly to some extent, all six pieces were bubbly. The first piece was jolly though it also had a few subdued phrases. There was a good mix of phrases, a good mix of volumes, and a gentle ending. The second was bubbly while the third had subdued bubbling. The fourth had a calm opening and then the tempo picked up, quicker but not frantic. The fifth was in a slower, gentle tempo that was sort of a relaxed dance. The sixth opened with a brief bassoon solo, then it was quickly tutti (all five playing together), with relatively perky bubbling. I left early since the first set started at 4:00-ish, and the next group I wanted to hear started at 4:30.
Hello, brass quintet! The five here were French horn, trombone, tuba (the regular kind, not a Sousaphone), and two trumpets. The first piece sounded like a fanfare and was pretty modern. After they finished, it was announced that it was a fanfare written by Paul Dukas. My ear was pretty good. Some pieces were announced while some weren't. Next up was Puttin' on the Ritz. My notes say—pure fun! The third was a jazz tune that I didn't recognize, upbeat, with an almost ragtime feel. A Gershwin medley followed consisting of Fascinatin' Rhythm, Summertime, and I Got Rhythm. I was tempted to sing out like Merman but I restrained myself. West Side Story's Maria was next, and it opened with a horn/trombone duet, then tutti, then closed out with a lovely horn to finish. It was paired with Tonight—trumpet, horn, trombone to open, then tutti. It was fairly straightforward with a bright button ending. Not quite a medley, I Feel Pretty closed out the grouping in a bright and fun fashion. Mississippi Rag, written by William Krell, began with a short tuba solo and then they all joined in. It had a definite ragtime feel and format. Gershwin's Love Is Here to Stay was given a gentle treatment and arrangement, then going up tempo for the repeat, before returning to a gentle, jazzy ending. (Side note: I always thought the title was Our Love Is Here to Stay. Wikipedia disabused me of that. I also include this from Wikipedia as I found it interesting: "Love Is Here to Stay" was the last musical composition George Gershwin completed before his death on July 11, 1937. Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics after George's death as a tribute to his brother. Originally titled "It's Here to Stay" and then "Our Love Is Here to Stay," the song was finally published as "Love Is Here to Stay.") Tiger Rag, by anonymous? it has a bit of a checkered history, was a fairly typical rag, bright and brisk. A Dixieland one-step closed out the set, with built-in humor in the arrangement—think slide trombone with the trumpets gettin' in on the slidin'.
The youth orchestra grouping began with two movements of a Mozart string quartet (with one of the mentors playing viola). In the outdoor setting, it was a little difficult to hear. The whole group played Bruno Mars (I think) followed by the first movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik. I packed it in after that. But the afternoon/evening was a lot of fun, and Puttin' on the Ritz was my hands-down favorite.
ConcertMeister
