An Evening of Chamber Music with the NSO & Guests

The United Methodist Church hosted both Newark Symphony Orchestra players and members of the University of Delaware Opera Theatre department for an evening of chamber music and song. It was a lively evening of music and an excellent opportunity to get to know the musicians of the NSO and their guest performers up close.

NSO Conductor Emeritus Roman Pawlowski

The first piece was the very difficult Beethoven Trio in C Major, Opus 87 for two oboes and English horn. This work, as Maestro Tartaglione said in his introduction, is an early, classical work by Beethoven. The harmonies and style show a great deal of Mozartian influence, and the first oboe has the bulk of the unflinchingly tough technical demands which Elizabeth Stevens certainly met, even though she had to fight her reed a tad in the Adagio. Cathy MacIntyre’s English horn came through with great smoothness and jollity, which, together with the smooth oboe tones of Susan Ritter, made all four movements a pleasure to hear.

The Woodwind Quintet in A-flat major, Opus 14, a piece by Gustav Holst which had been unearthed in 1978, was a fun, romantic romp which Michelle Webb (clarinet) obviously relished. Jennifer Hugh had a great night with the fairly demanding bassoon part as she led the Bel Canto quintet through the lush and romantic canon. It was a great opportunity to hear Bonnie McDonald’s horn playing and the silver sounds of Crystal Norman’s flute.

The UD Opera Theatre performers had four short and breezy opera selections which flew by.  All were conducted by Ian Christopher Passmore and accompanied by Paul Fleckenstein. Standouts were singers Kameron Ghanavati, tenor and Jessica Williams, soprano. You can hear more of their singing in the May performances of Puccini’s La Bohème.

The concert was crowned by a wonderful performance of Roman Pawlowski’s arrangement of Victor Ewald’s brass quintet — a wildly difficult piece which Maestro Pawlowski arranged for fourteen brass players. Casey Hesse’s trumpet sounds were both subtle and virtuosic as she soloed in the lush Russian work for which the reverberant church was a great acoustic setting. Current Maestro Tartaglione conducted and recognized former conductor Roman Pawlowski’s dedication to the Newark Symphony Orchestra. The theme of the concert, A Gift from Roman, was in evidence in his superbly crafted arrangement.

See www.newarksymphony.org.

Newark Symphony Orchestra aims high

The Newark Symphony Orchestra played the Double Concerto in E Minor, Opus 88 for clarinet, viola and orchestra with Vincent Marinelli, clarinet and Timothy Schwarz, viola as solosits at the Independence School in Newark on Sunday.  The clarinet and viola exchanged voices easily and their ranges are remarkably complimentary.  Dr. Schwarz and Mr. Marinelli each brought out their solo lines with ease and the result was a wonderfully flowing duo with vivid dynamics and a wide range of tone.  Although the orchestra was sometimes louder than I would have liked, the soloists were heard above the orchestra most of the time, including the beautiful passage in the second movement when Dr. Schwarz’s viola had the top voice of the final cadence.

Maestro Tartaglione has been pushing his orchestra to tackle more and more difficult pieces (as has Dr. Schwarz for the Wilmington Community Orchestra), but this time, the Wagner Ride of the Valkyries was just too much of a challenge for the French horn section, which has worked so hard over the past few years and has had some glorious performances.  But in Sunday’s concert, the Overture to Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber had some horn passages which suffered from tuning issues and insecure attacks, although the orchestra in general had a steady performance with a very strong cello section and a great solo clarinet part played by Michelle Webb.

The other three Wagner preludes came off well.  Laura Grass’s solo entrances on trumpet was beautifully controlled and quite effective in the Rienzi Overture – her quiet entries and well-controlled crescendos deserved applause -  and the horns sounded good as they did in Siegfried’s Rhine Journey.  The Meistersinger Overture was a triumph for trumpet, horn, trombones and tuba, although the drums and percussion resound in the hall at the Independence School, so perhaps they could have brought it down a notch.

The concert was quite moving and having the musicians strive for a higher level of playing has paid off in the vast improvements they have made under Maestro Tartaglione.  But shouldn’t the director include at least one easier piece in every concert?

 

See www.newarksymphony.org

Tartaglione and the Titan

Maestro Simeone Tartaglione

Simeone Tartaglione has worked for two years to get the Newark Symphony to reach beyond their already fairly high level of achievement and on Sunday, May 20, he showed a large audience that he has come far in achieving that goal.

Alyssa Blackstone

Concerto winner Alyssa Blackstone was extremely confident and businesslike in her approach to the Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor, Opus 37 by Henri Vieuxtemps.  Ms. Blackstone has no problem projecting above the orchestra, even in the lower register of the violin. She has been studying with Sylvia Ahramjian and has reached a high level of technical proficiency.   Her technique and physical strength in playing are the tools she will need as she begins to work on the subtler nuances of phrasing and interpretation in college.

The second piece on the program was the titan to which I refer in the title:  Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major.  This symphonic poem, called The Titan by the composer, is such a difficult one for any orchestra that few put it on the program.  The very large orchestration is the first hurdle:  eight horns and quadruple woodwinds. It is hard to gather the musicians or even fine a venue with space for all those musicians – but Maestro Tartaglione recruited enough players to get the mammoth Mahler sound.  There were small areas which were a bit rough, but all in all the mood of the performance evoked what I had been hearing on a CD of Zubin Mehta conducting the same piece with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The highlight of the Mahler performance was the third movement’s wild and raucous funeral dirge based on a wood engraving showing animals as pallbearers for a hunter’s funeral.  The reversal of roles was reflected in a reversal of the expected music – Mahler based the dirge on the German folk version of the tune we know as Frère Jacques and added jazzy, irreverent klezmer interludes.  The orchestra followed Maestro Tartaglione in this ironic and abruptly changing music with ease, dipping into the whirling tunes smoothly and tunefully – even playfully. 

The crashing and clashing symbols and timpani were spot on (with excellent playing by percussionists Debra Bialecki and S. Mordecai Fuhrman on timpani and Gordon Engelgau on cymbals as well as Sergei Dickey on bass drum), but I could have done with a little less thunderous affect.

Next year’s music will seem like easy street now that they played the Mahler.  Maestro Tartaglione and the Newark Symphony deserve congratulations on a great achievement.

See www.newarksymphony.org. 

Newark Symphony Chamber Series - Baroque Masters

Mounds of snow did not keep more than 150 people from bundling into the United Methodist Church of Newark on Saturday, February 13 to hear the chamber ensemble of the Newark Symphony Orchestra play Baroque masterpieces, but the snow did rob them of some players who were also in Wilmington Community Orchestra’s concert rescheduled for the same evening. Oh, winter weather woes!


The ensemble found their verve on the Marc-Antoine Charpentier Noëls sur les instruments, adopting the dancing lilt of the notes inégales, which music director Nicole Aldrich explained were part of Charpentier’s instructions – to vary the rhythm according to good taste.


Aldrich also noted that the word Baroque was more of an insult than a compliment, coming from the Portuguese word barocco, which meant a bulbous pearl. In their day, people spoke of songful music and the new Baroque. So, Aldrich quipped, calling something Baroque was like saying ‘What’s with young people’s music these days?’


Hard to imagine that Bach’s audience could have felt that way when you hear the Magnificat, with the fine Newark Symphony Chorus’ on-cue attacks and enunciation. And the five young soloists from the University of Maryland were lively and strong singers as well.


The chamber ensemble also shone in the Bach – from Sue Ritter’s oboe duo with second soprano Katherine Sanford to the excellent bass lines played by Jennifer Hugh on bassoon, Leon Daniels on cello and Felix Cohen on double bass.


The next performance of the Newark Symphony Orchestra will be Sunday, March 7, at 3 p.m. at the Independence School.


See www.newarksymphony.org

Newark Symphony Orchestra at the Independence School

Bad weather did not keep a large crowd from coming to the Independence School to hear musical director candidate Simeone Tartaglione conduct the second Newark Symphony Orchestra concert of the season. Tartaglione told the audience, “If I get the job of directing this wonderful orchestra, I would like to know what you [the orchestra] want to play and what you [the audience] want to hear.”

His version of Smetana’s The Moldau (Vitava) from Ma Vlast (My country) was quite fast. Crystal Norman’s flute brought the symphony in with gusto, but softly enough that the string pizzicato line came out delicately. The woodwinds excelled as both flutes (adding Dorothy Boyd) and two clarinets (Anthony Wastler and Shao-Tang Sun) played together in thirds and sixths.

Jeffrey Lang, Associate Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was able to show his beautiful French horn tone as the acoustics of the hall were great for the Horn Concerto in B-flat major by Reinold Glière. The violas deserve special praise for their clear melodic lines (how rare that they get any) and Anna Montejo played a haunting oboe melody. The soft dynamics the orchestra was able to achieve meant that everything could be heard clearly.

The Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor was the pinnacle of the concert. Tartaglione introduced the piece as a story of Johannes Brahms’ unrequited love for Clara Schumann which made it all the more vivid for the listener. Sally Cornell’s oboe playing was clear and smooth. Having four excellent horns was also a great bonus for an amateur orchestra. Mordecai Furhman’s timpani entrances were clear and rhythmic, spot on. And to have the alto (James Olson), tenor (Frederick Unruh) and bass trombone (Phillip Hessler) parts played that well in the chorale was quite an accomplishment.

The audience demanded an encore and got one: the Brahms Danza Ungarese No. 5, conducted with giant retards and accelerandi, making it a lusty end to a great concert.

See http://www.peabodyopera.org/faculty/conductors/tartaglione.

See www.newarksymphony.org.

Newark Symphony Orchestra

This year, the Newark Symphony Orchestra is test-driving some conductors to find a new Music Director.

Nicole Aldrich took the baton yesterday, conducting the Bacchanale from Camille Saint-Saens’ opera Samson et Dalila. I was delighted to see former Music Director Roman Pawlowski in the percussion section - not just because he knows how to keep the beat – but also because he can enjoy the fruits of his labors as he experiences the impressive sound of the orchestra he worked so hard to develop.

Kathleen Hastings, violin and Cheryl Everill, cello were soloists in the Double Concerto for violin and cello by Johannes Brahms. Their smooth ensemble and the chiaroscuro contrast between soloists and orchestra was a pleasure to hear.

The Symphonic Dances, Opus 45 by Sergei Rachmaninov gave both the string section and the woodwinds/brass a chance to shine. Laura Grass’ trumpet and Anna Montejo’s English horn playing were highlights, as was Serban Petrescu’s violin solo.

It is time we started paying attention to this very well-established orchestra. The next concert dates are December 13, 2009, March 7, 2010 and May 16, 2010. Each concert will have a finalist conducting with the last two featuring the Youth Concerto Competition Winners.

See www.newarksymphony.org