New Century Chamber Orchestra presents Anthony Marwood Leads featuring James Crabb
First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto
625 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2016 USA
7:30 PM, Friday, November 2, 2018

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[7:32 PM lights down, band out; Anthony Marwood talks about tonight's first work]

Sally Beamish (b.1956): Seavaigers, Concerto for violin, accordion and strings (2011, US Premiere); Composer's Note

1. [7:36 PM] Storm
2. [7:43 PM] Lament
3. [7:50 PM] Haven
   [work ends 7:57 PM]

Antonín Dvorák (1841–1904): Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22 (1875)

1. [8:00 PM] Moderato
2. [8:05 PM] Minuet. Allegro con moto - Trio
3. [8:12 PM] Scherzo. Vivace
4. [8:18 PM] Larghetto
5. [8:23 PM] Finale. Allegro vivace
   [set ends 8:30 PM]

[8:51 PM lights down, announcements, band out]

Pēteris Vasks (b.1946): Distant Light, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (1997); Composer's Note

1. [8:52 PM] Andante »
2. [8:5n PM] Cadenza 1 »
3. [9:00 PM] Cantabile »
4. [9:03 PM] Mosso »
5. [9:0n PM] Cadenza 2 »
6. [9:07 PM] Cantabile Agitato »
7. [9:nn PM] Cadenza 3 »
8. [9:nn PM] Tempo di Valse »
9. [9:15 PM] Andante
   [show ends 9:23 PM; lots of applause, but no encore]

NCCO

• Hrabba Atladottir: violin I;
• Robin Bonnell: acting principal cello;
• Michelle Djokic: cello;
• Jenny Douglass: viola;
• Jory Fankuchen: violin II;
• Eric Gaenslen: cello;
• Mike Graham: cello;
• Candace Guirao: principal violin II;
• Dawn Harms: violin I, associate concertmaster;
• Anna Kruger: principal viola;
• Anthony Manzo: contrabass;
• Robin Mayforth: violin I;
• Emily Onderdonk: viola;
• Deborah Tien Price: violin II;
• Evan Price: violin II;
• Cassandra Lynne Richburg: viola;
• Iris Stone: violin I;
• Michael Yokas: violin II.

• James Crabb: accordion;
• Anthony Marwood: violin, guest concertmaster.

Interim musical director Daniel Hope is off touring his own chamber program this fall (and sadly, I missed his recent local performance), but happily, he has terrific connections, so NCCO was led tonight by the amazing Anthony Marwood. How did that go? I thought that the show tonight was super good, a great example of top-notch ensemble playing, and a nice step up from the introspection of last night's solo piano set.

It's possible that the US Premiere annotation for Seavaigers refers to this new version (for violin and accordion; no arrangement date given yet) – I've found reference to a 10/13/17 performance date for this version with the same soloists in Montreal, but no earlier pointers to a US performance of this iteration or the original, written for violin and clàrsach (Scottish harp), which premeried early in January 2012.

The elegantly romantic classicism of Dvorák's' Serenade for Strings was a fine follow-up to close the second set. Hearing it, I was darn sure that I've witnessed it's performance many times, even by NCCO, but strangely, zero references turned up in a quick search of my past show-posts. My guess is that the data is buried in the pile of hand-written notes and program books that I've yet to publish online. Dang! Well anyways, it was good to hear it again, and the NCCO acquitted themselves very nicely!

I'm pretty sure that Pēteris Vasks' work, Distant Light, was new to me (though given my search failure on Dvorák, I'm not so sure that I haven't heard Vasks at one of Gidon Kremer's concerts). And having a chance to listen carefully in a nice hall with an attentive audience, the work made a strongly positive impression. It's certainly modern, what with all the high glissando elements in the solo violin part, yet I felt like it was also firmly rooted in the same classical tradition as the preceding work by Dvorák. The extended techniques were used to develop new growth on the old bush rather than avant-classical pieces from the past century that rejected the old forms and sprouted like upstart weeds. Hearing this makes me look forward to more from Vasks on future programs!

Program Notes or program notes

Jessica Balik posted a review of Saturday's gig in San Francisco for SFCV.

Joshua Kosman posted a review of Sunday night's performance in San Rafael for the SF Chronicle Datebook.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!