Vivid colors in Marin…
The New Century Chamber Orchestra opened their 25th season with a lively program in four concerts around the Bay Area. I heard them in Marin on Sunday, Sept. 18, and it was a study in coloration. This ensemble of twenty strings, led by virtuoso violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg for the past nine years, will be shopping for a new Artistic Director this year. But in the meantime they are celebrating one last year of flings together, and Sunday’s concert showed some of what is possible in the strings-only repertoire.
They opened with Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz, a late romantic piece that he composed as a study when he was only 21. Webern is better known as Schoenberg’s protégé and a proponent of pithy modernist works. But before he took on twelve-tone techniques, he tried simpler tonal pieces, and Langsamer showed an instant mastery of its form. Originally written for string quartet, it was adapted for a larger MarcoBorggreve.jpg "Inon Barnatan- photo by Marco Borggreve")
strings orchestra by Gerard Schwarz, and that gave the piece a sense of largesse. In the theater of the Osher Marin JCC those yearning emotions were writ large in a space that was suddenly too small. The strings gave it a full, rounded sound with an undertow as expressive as a Russian lullaby.
Along with its compelling lyricism, what was most impressive was the range of timbres. I could have sworn I heard flutes and French horns as violins bowed pure notes over the warm density of cellos.
They welcomed Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan to join them in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 13 in C Major, and one would again be surprised by the contrasting of colors. Here the strings faded into a gray zone of middle resonance, while the piano created spills of bright sounds, each note pebble-solid and diamond bright. Barnatan had a light touch on the big Steinway, so he sparkled, but sparkled softly. Without the distraction of brass or winds, one was struck by Mozart’s cleverness and good humor, and a sense of melodic inevitability.
…and from colors to chromes.
After intermission they left Classics and Romances in the dust with a display of modern energy. Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3 was written with slowly shifting moods and deeply visceral rhythms, and the New Cents gave it a magnetic performance.
It is hard to attempt the busy minimalism of Glass in a conductor-less ensemble, but Nadja swayed in place and gestured with her chin, and after that they were marvelously together, even with four different parts in the first violins. And here, again, color was supreme. After the trancelike breaths of the opening, Glass turns darkly energetic, with busy sixteenths and a landscape that splits into many parts and then comes together in stark unisons. The third movement is all in the lower strings, long bass and cello themes, and when the upper strings slowly filter in, it feels like the rising of the sun. But not the sunrise of late Romantics! Glass’ dangerous beauty feels more like an homage to the sun as nuclear furnace, and one is instantly aware of Glass’ definitive Einstein on the Beach or Koyaanisqatsi.
They ended with Peter Heidrich’s Happy Birthday Variations, and it was as much a treat for us as a birthday cake for them. Here were fifteen variations on the “birthday” melody, written through a lens that included Bach, Mozart, Wagner, and ragtime. And Heidrich so perfectly embodied each composer or style that it turned into that best form of musical lesson – the delicate lampoon.
The New Century next welcomes 27-year-old wunderkind violinist Ray Chen as Guest Concertmaster in a program of Mozart, Britten and Elgar, Nov. 10 – 13, and then later in the season they will combine forces with the famed male choir, Chanticleer. More information at ncco.org.
—Adam Broner
Photo above of pianist Inon Barnatan; photo by Marco Borggreve.