The New York Baroque Dance Company ~ Catherine Turoccy, director – (10/22/26)

Curious, Comic, and Sublime
Dancers: Julia Bengtsson, Kaede Hibara, Samuel Humphreys & Patrick Pride
Music: Paul Shipper, recorder, guitar, and music direction & Dongmyung Ahn, violin

A Chacoon for a Harlequin – Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
The Blindfolded Juggler – Gregorio Lambranzi (ca. 1700–ca. 1750)
The Passepied with Harlequin and the Rustic – Nicolas Bernier (1664–1734)
Musette and Musette Minuet – Bernier
Scaramouche – Lambranzi
The Magician and the Gypsy – Lambranzi
The Three-Legged Dance – Lambranzi

Performed to violin and guitar, a solo Harlequin character used stylized movements to discover her lost hat. (For some reason, "Does anyone still wear a hat?" popped into my head.) It was enjoyable and mildly humorous. A note on the stylized movements; they were exaggerated steps, small leaps and minimal turns/pirouettes—sort of ballet precursors. 

The Blindfolded Juggler was a duet. She was masked on her face and the back of her head. He was masked on his face. They tossed light, airy scarves back and forth, and then she actually juggled three of them. As the dance was ending, she exited while he bowed with many flourishes, sort of playing to the audience to milk it for increased applause. 

The third work (Passepied) was also a duet. The Harlequin and the Rustic danced with props this time around. A goblet and a small platter for each, that were used for sound effects such as clinking and tapping as percussion devices. The Rustic got pretty tipsy right away, making for a bit of humor. It was performed to guitar, violin, and phone (really people?!?). 

The Musette Minuet was performed to recorder and violin (violin as a drone); both dancers here, a shepherdess and a shepherd, were unmasked. It was nice to see unmasked faces. She began the work and he admired her from a distance before joining in the dance. They danced mostly separately, circling around each other before eventually joining hands. It was all very bucolic and pleasant.

Scaramouche was essentially a solo for a masked male dancer who was introduced to the audience by a second male dancer. This dance, performed to solo recorder, was a bit of a tour de force, involving a lot of tip-toe dancing, more twirling than in any of the other pieces, mime-style pulling himself up from the floor, and a rather lengthy balancing section.

The Magician and the Gypsy was a very humorous piece that included using the actual dance steps as percussion in an otherwise quiet work, i.e., no musical accompaniment. There were also light humming vocals, but I'm not certain whether they came from the dancers or the violinist and guitarist.  

The Three-Legged Dance was also a quite funny male solo, and I'm not sure how he pulled it off. It really looked like he had three legs. The afternoon ended with a nicely choreographed finale for all four dancers and a well-planned curtain call including the two instrumentalists and the founder/choreographer, Catherine Turocy. I really enjoyed myself, as did the audience.

ConcertMeister

These Are The Days (9/19/26)

Remembrance of Shirley Perle
A Celebration of Shirley Xenia Gabis Rhoads Perle

There were spoken tributes. There were references to her husband George Perle's papers being archived at the Library for the Performing Arts, where this tribute took place. Shirley was a pianist, teacher, vocalist, and composer. George was also a composer. Musical interludes were included, and I'll focus on the music.

“Largo,” from Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1770)
Leila Josefowicz

“Allegro molto,” from Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, K. 526 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Julian Kuerti, violin; Michael Stephen Brown, piano 

“For Shirley Gabis Rhoads Perle,” from Thirteen Anniversaries – Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) 
“For Shirley Rhoads,” from Barcarolles – Ned Rorem (1923–2022)
A Little “Perlude” for Shirley’s Birthday, 1994 – Oliver Knussen (1952–2018)
Michael Boriskin, piano 

“For Leonard Bernstein,” from Six Celebratory Inventions – George Perle (1915–2009)
100 Chords for Shirley [World Premiere] – Michael Stephen Brown (b. 1987) 
“Postlude,” from Lyric Intermezzo – George Perle
Michael Stephen Brown, piano 

Two Rilke Songs
Du meine heilige Einsamkeit • Der Bach hat leise Melodien – George Perle 
A Shirley Surprise! – Shirley Xenia Gabis Rhoads Perle (1924–2024)
Lucy Shelton, soprano; Michael Boriskin, piano 

Valses nobles et sentimentales – Maurice Ravel
Shirley Gabis Rhoads, piano – 1950 recording 

“Andante Sostenuto,” from Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960 – Franz Schubert (1797–1828) Richard Goode, piano 

My take. The solo violin was calm and absolutely appropriate for beginning the afternoon. The Mozart was bright and lovely. The violinist here would play it with Shirley sometimes. As for the Bernstein, it was slightly modern/atonal without being harsh, and the Rorem was very pretty while still being in a modern style—quite songlike. The Knussen (and, no, "Perlude" was not a typo) was also modern with jewel-like tones. 

The music of George Perle had lots of staccato energy. 100 Chords was lyrical and lovely, specially written with Shirley in mind. Mr. Brown said that while writing it, her heard Shirley’s voice in his head. Apparently she said, “It needs two more chords.” So he added two more and called it finished. 

The second G. Perle piece was modern but gentler than the first of his that we heard earlier. The Two Rilke Songs were extremely modern—both piano and vocals—and were not my cup of tea. And Shirley Surprise! had three short movements, lyrical but still not my favorite style; a little more interesting (and I liked it better); and a vocal waltz that was both nice and a bit clever. 

The 1950 tape of Shirley playing Ravel was a real treat, as was the Schubert that followed, which was slightly dark to begin then lyrical and pleasant—just the right touch and mood. Uplifting. 

All in all, I really enjoyed the afternoon and learned a lot about American music from that time frame. And I heard several composers for the first time. I like learning new things.  

ConcertMeister

The Orchestra Now (9/27/26)

Fate: Love and Death
Zachary Schwartzman conductor

La forza del destino Overture – Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Totenfeier (Funeral Rite) – Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde – Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Francesca da Rimini – Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

The Verdi was quite dramatic (actually, all four pieces were) and was a good curtain-raiser. There were brief remarks about the first two pieces on the program from the harp player of the afternoon. As a result, I made an effort to keep my ear out for her, and I wasn't disappointed. 

Mahler's piece was gentler than I expected, though it still offered the requisite drama. Well, all four pieces were from operas, just with no words included. It clocked in at 24 minutes, but I was never bored in the least. 

The Wagner was as beautiful as you would expect it to be, and it avoided the bombast that is sometimes associated with him. As the spoken intro, by the concert's bass trombonist, to these two pieces told us, the Prelude has lots of unresolved chords which go on for about four hours in the opera, but we skipped the bulk of them, and went right to the Liebestod, which offered a perfectly satisfying resolution—at least musically. Tristan would probably not agree. 

Tchaikovsky had the bombast that Wagner had skipped over. In fact, the low brass players provided a lot of that bombast, as we learned from the bass trombonist earlier. Tons of drama in this work as well. 

These paragraphs are a little leaner than I usually write, but the darkened auditorium made taking notes an impossibility. Also, the spoken introductions are a nice touch, as they give the players a better interaction with the audience. That's important, as The Orchestra Now is a teaching orchestra. These players are learning the ins and outs of what it is to be a contributing professional orchestra member. I think I've captured the flavor of the afternoon, though. Alas, there was no seating in the balcony, which is my usual hangout.

ConcertMeister