Last night I had the opportunity to listen to the NY Philharmonic Quintet. This consists of Mark Nuccio (clarinet), Sherry Sylar (oboe), Erik Ralske (horn), Judith Leclair (bassoon) and Robert Langevin (flute). The concert took place at the First Presbyterian Church of Durham. I have to say, the choice of venue is quite nice, as it's atypical. The program for the evening even mentions that the acoustics of the church are such that for an empty hall, the reverberations are 3.5 seconds with no audience, and 2.5 seconds with full seating. After the concert, the former principal oboist of the NY Philharmonic mentioned to me that he thought the reverbs were a little too much for the last piece, and perhaps they should have placed a carpet in front of the performers to "dampen it a bit!"
The music of the night:
Carl Nielsen: Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn
-Allegro, ben moderato
-Menuett
-Praeludium: Adagio - Tema con variazoni
Lalo Schifrin: "La Nouvelle Orleans" (1987)
David Maslanka: Wind Quintet No.3 (1999)
-Slow, moderate
-Moderate
-Very fast
I highly recommend Lalo Schifrin. It's a very nice blend of classical methods with jazz. Only roughly 7 minutes long, the music is captivating. It starts somber, almost like a funeral march, and very much in the traditional classical theme. This progresses with increasing complexity to a euphoric jazzy state, then the somber and light duel it out. What emerges from the battle, the climax, is a taste of wonderfully merged forms.
I was also very impressed with the purity of sound from Robert Langevin (on the flute). No wonder he is the Principal Flute.
The second highlight, aside from the music, of this concert was the reception afterwards. The five musicians sat down and told us their thoughts about the Philharmonic's recent trip to North Korea. I was quite moved by the concern each of them showed for the general well-being of North Korea, and I was very appalled to learn for example, that the elderly and sick are not allowed in the capital, that they were served a 16 course meal while the servers could not eat anything, that despite the government giving a television set as a gift to every household, the country has only 1 television channel, which is state-run, and that every household also has a radio, but there is again only one channel, and the radio is not allowed to be turned off.
Whether this is really true I cannot know, but I do not believe the Philharmonic members would make any of this up. But I do applaud them for making this trip. I think it's an important first step. They mentioned how one single event made this trip worth the while. Throughout most of the night of the concert in North Korea, the audience would finish each piece with polite, but tepid applause. But after the orchestra played Arirang, a traditional folk song, the North Korean audience exploded with applause, even going so far as to wave to the orchestra. In response, they waved back. Each of the musicians mentioned last night how they felt that a human connection was made, and that is such an important first step---to see each other as human.
The music of the night:
Carl Nielsen: Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn
-Allegro, ben moderato
-Menuett
-Praeludium: Adagio - Tema con variazoni
Lalo Schifrin: "La Nouvelle Orleans" (1987)
David Maslanka: Wind Quintet No.3 (1999)
-Slow, moderate
-Moderate
-Very fast
I highly recommend Lalo Schifrin. It's a very nice blend of classical methods with jazz. Only roughly 7 minutes long, the music is captivating. It starts somber, almost like a funeral march, and very much in the traditional classical theme. This progresses with increasing complexity to a euphoric jazzy state, then the somber and light duel it out. What emerges from the battle, the climax, is a taste of wonderfully merged forms.
I was also very impressed with the purity of sound from Robert Langevin (on the flute). No wonder he is the Principal Flute.
The second highlight, aside from the music, of this concert was the reception afterwards. The five musicians sat down and told us their thoughts about the Philharmonic's recent trip to North Korea. I was quite moved by the concern each of them showed for the general well-being of North Korea, and I was very appalled to learn for example, that the elderly and sick are not allowed in the capital, that they were served a 16 course meal while the servers could not eat anything, that despite the government giving a television set as a gift to every household, the country has only 1 television channel, which is state-run, and that every household also has a radio, but there is again only one channel, and the radio is not allowed to be turned off.
Whether this is really true I cannot know, but I do not believe the Philharmonic members would make any of this up. But I do applaud them for making this trip. I think it's an important first step. They mentioned how one single event made this trip worth the while. Throughout most of the night of the concert in North Korea, the audience would finish each piece with polite, but tepid applause. But after the orchestra played Arirang, a traditional folk song, the North Korean audience exploded with applause, even going so far as to wave to the orchestra. In response, they waved back. Each of the musicians mentioned last night how they felt that a human connection was made, and that is such an important first step---to see each other as human.
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