# New Century Chamber Orchestra at First Congregational Church, November 22, 2013

[New Century Chamber Orchestra](http://ncco.org/): _Legacies and Concertos_  
2013-11-22  
[First Congregational Church](http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/)  
[2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2345+Channing+Way,+Berkeley,+CA&hl=en)  
8:00 PM, Friday, November 22, 2013

## Set One

[8:05 PM lights down, announcements]

### Samuel Jones: Elegy for Strings

01. [8:06 PM] Samuel Jones (b.1935): Elegy for Strings (1963)  
[work ends 8:12 PM; banter from NSS]

### Tchaikovsky: Andante cantabile

01. [8:15 PM] Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Andante cantabile for string orchestra with solo cello (1871); featuring Susan Babini: cello.  
[work ends 8:22 PM]

### Arensky: Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906): Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, Op. 35a (1894)

01. [8:23 PM] Theme, Moderato
02. [8:00 PM] Variation I, Un poco più mosso
03. [8:00 PM] Variation II, Allegro non troppo
04. [8:00 PM] Variation III, Andantino tranquillo
05. [8:00 PM] Variation IV, Vivace
06. [8:00 PM] Variation V, Andante
07. [8:00 PM] Variation VI, Allegro con spirito
08. [8:00 PM] Variation VII, Andante con moto
09. [8:00 PM] Coda: Moderato  
[work ends 8:38 PM]

## Set Two

[8:59 PM lights down, announcements]

### Clarice Assad: Dreamscapes

01. [9:01 PM] Clarice Assad (b. 1978): Dreamscapes (2009), featuring Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg: violin.  
[work ends 9:14 PM; video presentation by MD]

### Michael Daugherty: Fallingwater for Solo Violin and Strings

Michael Daugherty (b. 1954): Fallingwater for Solo Violin and Strings (2013) (World Premiere), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg: violin.

01. [9:18 PM] Night Rain
02. [9:24 PM] On the Level
03. [9:28 PM] Prairie Psalm
04. [9:35 PM] Ahead of the Curve  
[set ends 9:40 PM]


## Performers

* Hrabba Atladottir: first violin;
* Susan Babini: principal cello;
* Kathleen Balfe: cello;
* Robin Bonnell: cello;
* Jenny Douglass: viola;
* Jory Fankuchen: second violin;
* Candace Guirao: principal second violin;
* Dawn Harms: assistant concertmaster, first violin;
* Anna Kruger: principal viola;
* Anthony Manzo: principal contrabass;
* Robin Mayforth: second violin;
* Isaac Melamed: cello;
* Anna Presler: second violin;
* Jeremy Preston: second violin;
* Cassandra Lynne Richburg: viola;
* Kurt Rohde: viola;
* Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg: concertmaster, music director, first violin;
* Karen Shinozaki Sor: first violin;
* Iris Stone: first violin.

## Notes 

I enjoyed tonight's concert quite a bit. The opening work, _Elegy for Strings_ was appropriately solemn and mournful, and served its function of telling the audience to put away everyday cares and tune in to the quiet and beauty of the moment.

The following work, Tchaikovsky's _Andante cantabile_, was my favorite for the evening, but then, I'm a sucker for the cello.

I think it was my first tie hearing Arensky's _Variations_, and while the connection to Tchaikovsky seemed audible to me, it was also pretty clear that Arensky had plenty of frsh ideas himself, cramming an introduction, eight variations and a coda into a scant fifteen minutes. No malingering there!

I was happy to hear Clarice Assad's _Dreamscape_ again -- a reprise from ?2009? -- and somewhat surprised by how little I recognized it. In tonight's rendition, it seemed to me to evoke a sort of anguished, nervously foreboding nightmare -- a dreamscape of sorts, but not the sort that I want to remember!

The finale, tonight's world premiere of Michael Daugherty's _Fallingwater_, a violin concerto, required an appropriately virtuousic performance from NSS, and she delivered in spades. This being a modern piece, much of that effort was aimed at adding screeches, trills, scrapes and other extended techniques unlikely to be found in much use in the standard repertoire.

Program notes are available online from the [[http://ncco.org/concert-tickets/2013-2014-season/program2/program-notes/|NCCO website]]

Elijah Ho posted an interview with Michael Daughety on the [[http://www.examiner.com/article/interview-with-composer-michael-daugherty|Mercury News website]].

{{tag>music New_Century_Chamber_Orchestra First_Congregational_Church Hrabba_Atladottir Susan_Babini Kathleen_Balfe Robin_Bonnell Jenny_Douglass Jory_Fankuchen Candace_Guirao Dawn_Harms Anna_Kruger Anthony_Manzo Robin_Mayforth Isaac_Melamed Anna_Presler Jeremy_Preston Cassandra_Lynne_Richburg Kurt_Rohde Nadja_Salerno-Sonnenberg Karen_Shinozaki_Sor Iris_Stone }}

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