Sneak Peak – Wilmington Community Orchestra

A cold Monday evening finds about 50 people on the stage of the Music School of Delaware rehearsing for the Wilmington Community Orchestra performance this Sunday, February 7.

Tim Schwarz, conductor, starts the rehearsal right on time and the dancing lilt of the Bach Orchestral Suite in D Major starts to warm the hall. The three trumpets and two oboes give the smaller orchestra a festive sound.

Then chairs shift as the other members join the group for the Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Opus 21. The strings take the challenge of the exposed writing – the seconds opened the Andante cantabile and the firsts start the final movement at a very soft dynamic of challenging scale work which the other sections jump in and imitate in the Allegro molto e vivace. Schwarz illustrates a few points by borrowing concertmaster Larry Hamermesh’s violin and the string players nod. It is a luxury to have a conductor able to demonstrate the sound he wants.

But Schwarz provides a more dramatic demonstration as he plays his own violin while Sam Fuhrman does the cover conducting for the Brahms Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra. Fuhrman does a fine job leading the orchestra which will be conducted by Dr. Richard Prior of Emery University in Atlanta for the Sunday performance. Lawrence Stomberg plays the cello solo part with the strongest and most resonant sounds I have ever heard in person and Schwarz has plenty of power to match that force on the violin.

The Brahms is still running through my head.

See www.musicschoolofdelaware.org.

Two world premieres

Mélomanie played two new works on January 30! To think that a small local group can commission works in these hard times is nothing short of great – and they used a little inventive cooperation to do so. Elaine Funaro, harpsichordist who also heads up a non-profit organization in Durham, North Carolina, which promotes new music for harpsichord (http://www.harpsichord-now.org), joined forces with Mélomanie to commission a new work by Sergio Roberto de Oliveira.

Oliveira’ s work, Angico, was a vivid descriptive piece of the acacia tree which survived a threatened felling. The story gives a vehicle for Oliveira to evoke Brazil with bird songs, angry workers, and traditional rhythms. He skillfully orchestrated his motives on cello, harpsichord, violin and flute. My favorite movement was The construction into which he snuck a few habañera rhythms.

Mark Hagerty’s piece, After Duchamp, was a provocation in keeping with the provocative pairings Mélomanie strives to achieve. He tackled the spirit of Marcel Duchamp’s statement: “I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.” Hagerty decided to go against his natural tendency to write long and serious pieces. For Duchamp, he wrote a frivolous and jocular set of vignettes for harpsichord. His program notes set up the facetious objectives: ‘bird/anger: Two totally unrelated ideas that do not interact musically’ and ‘Werk ohne Opus’ where he takes on the established music world’s pretensions. But how do you praise a composer who is working against his own taste? Do you tell him he achieved the bad taste he was seeking?

And paired with the exciting new pieces were six fugues from Bach’s Art of the Fugue played with subtle dynamics and intonations. The group also played four movements from Louis de Caix d’Hervelois’s Suite No. 1 in G Major for flute and continuo in which they allowed themselves a joyous mood of the dances. Their next performance will be March 13, 2010 at Grace United Methodist Church.

See www.melomanie.org.
http://www.harpsichord-now.org.
http://www.sergiodeoliveira.com.

Brazilian Composer Makes Visit to Delaware Very Personal

Brazilian composer Sergio Roberto de Oliveira travels to Delaware to join the classical/contemporary music ensemble Mélomanie this Saturday evening for the premiere of his work, Angico. Written in fall of 2009, this work is a collaborative commission with Aliénor (of Durham, North Carolina), whose ensemble will perform the piece later in the season. This piece is an intensely personal one, inspired by de Oliveira’s family vacation home in the Brazilian mountains, built as a fulfillment of his mother’s lifelong dream.

The composition pays tribute to the magical house he calls Angico, in honor of the Brazilian acacia tree, the Angico, which graces the property. Just after the house was built, the electrical company threatened to fell the tree. Ultimately, however, the tree sacrificed only one of its branches. It lives on as a witness to the family retreat, Angico, which the composer calls “a place full of peace and joy.”

In four movements, the music engages the audience in a fascinating story: the creation of the universe, the building of his family home, the triumph of the Angico tree over man’s threat, and, finally a celebration of the magical place called Angico.

de Oliveira and second guest composer Mark Hagerty (who will also premiere a piece entitled After Duchamp) will be on hand for Mélomanie's program this Saturday, January 30, at 8:00 pm at Grace Church in Wilmington. A post-concert meet-and-greet will be held at The Maraschino Room, on the 2nd floor of the Washington Street Ale House, just a few short blocks away. Tickets are $20; $15 for student and seniors. Youth under age 15 are free. To reserve, call 302.764.6338.

See http://www.melomanie.org/.