Orchestra brings out soul of Sinfonietta
It isn't often that a visiting composer is present in a Saint John audience to
hear a performance of one of his own works. Last night was one of those special
occasions.Oskar Morawetz, Czechoslovakia-born Canadian composer, was called
to the stage after a performance of his stunning and quite difficult string
Sinfonietta. He applauded the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra hugged Maestro
Nurhan Arman and beamed his approval as the enthusiasm of those in attendance
showed approval for the composition and the performance.
The Sinfonietta, composed in the 1960s and recently revised, received a
remarkably brilliant performance that brought out all the nuances, the climaxes
and the superb writing. Well, it might have been expected since the ensemble on
stage was the professional core of the Saint John Symphony that showed its
excellence and brought out the soul of the music.
Lots of contrast in the three movements and lots of opportunity for the
ensemble to show its artistry. Linked with two other string works in a program
originally billed as a Slavonic Rhapsody, the ensemble engineered its fine
reading not, it seemed, because the composer was in the audience, but with a
conviction that this composition merited something more than just a routine
reading.
It's a work that has received widespread attention and justifiably so.
Certainly one of the stimulating forms of music is that written for string
orchestra and the myriad of great works written over the past century and a half
(crowned by Vaughn [sic] Williams Fantasia) has merited a lot of attention.
There were no Rhapsodies on this program devoted to Slavonic composers, but the
suite, the sinfoniette and the serenade seemed sufficient rhapsodizing to
satisfy the most discriminating audience.
[...]
There was of course, a whole other dimension in the 20th century Morawetz
work - modern, yet not complex and easily accessible to the average listener - a
piece of music that definitely deserves a prominent place among contemporary
string pieces.
[...]
