DSO Opens Chamber Series with Woodwind Program

By Christine Facciolo

In a commendable change of pace, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra (DSO) opened its Chamber Concert Series with a a memorable evening of music for woodwinds.

The DSO Woodwind Quintet proved to be exciting and dynamic performers by offering a program that was both eclectic and entertaining.

Playing works that were stylistically distinct the five musicians in the group — Kimberly Reighley, flute; Lloyd Shorter, oboe; Charles Salinger, clarinet; Jon Gaarder, bassoon and Karen Schubert, horn — showed the diversity of the woodwind quintet despite the paucity of repertoire for it.

The ensemble warmed up with expertly crafted works by notable French flutist and teacher Claude-Paul Taffanel's Wind Quintet in G minor and his contemporary Charles Lefebvre's Suite for Winds No. 1, Op. 57. The latter is a standard of the wind quintet repertoire, demonstrating a superior understanding of how to orchestrate for these five instruments.

Taffanel’s Suite for Winds is thoroughly French and late Romantic in style with rapidly changing moods.

The most interesting piece in the concert was Paquito D’Rivera’s Aires Tropicales, written in 1994. This charmer of a piece contains a wealth of melodic traditions, playful inventions and enticing rhythms. Noteworthy movements included “Dizzyness,” a tribute to the late, great Dizzy Gillespie, Habanera, a trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon in the style of Ravel, Contradanza, an upbeat Cuban dance honoring Ernesto Lecuonar. Vals Venezolano, a lively Venezuelan waltz and Afro, an energetic dance over an African ostinato.

The evening of varied music concluded with a performance of Aria and Quodlibet for Woodwind Quintet by clarinetist Arne Running (1943-2016). The Aria contains a chorale in the low winds, the repetition of which features Shorter’s oboe singing high above the melodic line. The Quodlibet is sheer fun; a pastiche of tunes from virtually every corner of the musical world.

See www.delawaresymphony.org.

Christmas Brass from DSO

By Christine Facciolo
There’s nothing quite like the sound of brass at Christmastime. Those radiant tones can transform even the grouchiest Grinch into a merry elf.

In the Gold Ballroom of the Hotel DuPont Tuesday, December 12, a very appreciative and enthusiastic audience was treated to a variety of music courtesy of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra’s Brass Quintet.

The five talented musicians — Brian Kuszyk and Steven Skahill, trumpets; Karen Schubert horn; Richard Linn, trombone and Brian Brown, tuba — gave concertgoers a veritable smorgasbord of styles from Renaissance dances to Broadway show tunes and, of course, some sounds of the season.

The first half of the program featured three feisty dances by 16th Century composer Tielman Susato. This dance collection has become a perennial favorite with performers of Renaissance music, because its bald homophonic style makes it playable on just about anything. And that’s good news for the brass ensemble, which as a recent phenomenon, has very little repertoire written exclusively for it.

Bach’s stately Contrapunctus 9 added a bit of gravitas to the mix.

The Romantic Russian style of Victor Ewald’s Quintet No. 1 was the most conventional work on the program. Ewald — a close associate of the more famous composers of the “Russian Five” — wrote four quintets considered to be the first original pieces written specifically for the modern brass quintet.

The musicians stuck a delicate balance by both blending their distinctive timbres and highlighting their individual lines with the unique sounds of their instruments.

Lighter fare included selections from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (Maria, Tonight and America) and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite (March, Arabian Dance, Waltz and Trepak). 

The program concluded with the sounds of the season, including the traditional Ding Dong Merrily on High, The First Nowell, Coventry Carol, Rejoice and Be Merry and Joy to the World.

See www.delawaresymphony.org.