# Berkeley Symphony Orchestra at Zellerbach Hall Auditorium, October 13, 2016 [Berkeley Symphony Orchestra](http://www.berkeleysymphony.org/) presents _Romance_ featuring [Philippe Quint](http://www.philippequint.com/), violin soloist, with guest conductor, [Edwin Outwater](http://www.edwinoutwater.com/) 2016-10-13 [Zellerbach Hall Auditorium](http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/) [U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94305 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=U.C.+Berkeley,+Bancroft+Way+at+Telegraph+Ave,+Berkeley,+CA+94305+USA&hl=en) 7:00 PM, Thursday, October 13, 2016 [[2016-10-11-2|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2016|Up to the 2016 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2016#October_events|Up to the 2016 event list!]] ☸ [[2016-10-14|On to the next event!]] ## Tentative Program * Paul Dresher: new work TBD » 9/9: _Crazy Eights & Fractured Symmetries_ (World Premiere Commission) * Erich Korngold: Violin Concerto * Igor Stravinsky: _Petrushka_ ## Set One [6:53 seated and ready, most of the orchestra is onstage for tuning and last minute practice] [7:06 PM lights down, announcements from Rene Mandel] [7:08 PM concert tuning, pause, [Edwin Outwater](http://www.edwinoutwater.com/) out to conduct] ### Paul Dresher: Crazy Eights & Fractured Symmetries 01. [7:09 PM] Paul Dresher (b.1951): _Crazy Eights & Fractured Symmetries_ (2016) (World Premiere, BSO Commission) [work ends 7:24 PM; applause, bows, PD up onstage for more applause, flowers, then off] [brief pause to rearrange things slightly onstage] [7:27 PM orchestral tuning] [7:28 PM [Philippe Quint](http://www.philippequint.com/) & [Edwin Outwater](http://www.edwinoutwater.com/) out to begin next piece] ### Erich Korngold: Violin Concerto Erich Korngold (1897-1957): Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 (1945) 01. [7:28 PM] _Moderato nobile_ 02. [7:38 PM] _Romanze_ 03. [7:46 PM] _Allegro assai vivace_ [work ends 7:53 PM; applause and bows, flowers, then Edwin pantomimes bowing a violin to induce Philippe to take an encore] ### Encore: John Corigliano: Caprice John Corigliano (b. 1938): Variation No. 5 of _Caprice_ from _the Red Violin_ (1999), performed by Philippe Quint, solo violin 01. [7:55 PM] Variation No. 5 [set ends 7:58 PM; applause and bows, then all off just after 8 PM] ## Set Two: Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka [8:20 PM lights down, concert tuning] Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): _Petrushka_ (1947 revised version) Part I. The Shrovetide Fair 01. [8:21 PM] _Introduction (at the Shrovetide Fair)_ » 02. [8:24 PM] _The Crowds_ » 03. [8:27 PM] _The Charlatan's Booth_ » 04. [8:29 PM] _Russian Dance_ »   Part II. Petrushka's Cell 05. [8:32 PM] _Petrushka's Cell_ »   Part III. The Moor's Room 06. [8:34 PM] _The Moor's Room_ » 07. [8:38 PM] _Dance of the Ballerina_ » 08. [8:39 PM] _Waltz - The Ballerina & the Moor_ »   Part IV. The Shrovetide Fair (Evening) 09. [8:43 PM] _The Shrove-Tide Fair (Near evening)_ » 10. [8:44 PM] _Dance of the Wet Nurses_ » 11. [8:47 PM] _Dance of the Peasant and the Bear_ » 12. [8:49 PM] _Dance of the Gypsy Girls_ » 13. [8:50 PM] _Dance of the Coachmen and Grooms_ » 14. [8:52 PM] _The Masqueraders_ » 15. [8:54 PM] _Conclusion (Petrushka's Death)_ [show ends 8:56 PM; applause and bows, then all off] ## Performers ### Berkeley Symphony Orchestra * Joana Carneiro: music director, (absent "for personal reasons"); * [Edwin Outwater](http://www.edwinoutwater.com/): conductor; others vary by program, see http://www.berkeleysymphony.org/about/musicians/. ### Philippe Quint * [Philippe Quint](http://www.philippequint.com/): violin. ## Notes I like hearing brand new music, so starting this season and tonight's concert with a brand new piece by Paul Dresher seemed like a grand idea. This work, _Crazy Eights & Fractured Symmetries_, seemed very different to me than the _Concerto for Quadrachord & Orchestra_ that opened the 2012 season [xref](:2012:2012-10:2012-10-04), or _Cornucopia_, performed in 2010 [xref](:2010:2010-02:2010-02-11). Today's piece seemed to bear more than a bit of influence from Philip Glass, seeing as the majority of the work was filled with arpeggios (the crazy eights?) that zigged and zagged this way and that across the orchestral landscape. I'd certainly like to hear the work again, especially if it were taken up by a crack ensemble determined to polish it up to a fierce shine. Tonight's showcase piece, the Korngold violin concerto, was certainly lush and romantic -- fitting the advertised bill of fare -- and while I enjoyed it, I could also see why some critics decried it for being too melodramatic or schmaltzy. I suppose it comes down to whether you think that the emotions being conveyed are genuine or merely affectations. I'll give Korngold the benefit of the doubt and presume that he was being sweet rather than saccharine. I don't know that I'd care to listen to the piece again soon, but I'd prefer it to most of the atonal modern music that critics and composers of the 20th Century seemed to champion instead. I really enjoyed hearing the solo encore from Philippe -- he's an amazing musician -- but I'm flumoxxed as to exactly how he compressed a roughly 10 minute, 6-part work \(cf. [Corigliano's info page](http://www.johncorigliano.com/index.php?p=item2&item=57)\) down to a three minute encore. Lou Fancher posted a [review](https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/berkeley-symphony/dresher-delights-in-berkeley-symphony-opener) of the show for SFCV -- my thanks to her for clarifying the derivation of Philippe Quint's encore. I found the final half of tonight's show, the 1947 revision of Stravinsky's _Petrushka_, rather difficult to follow. Without the visual cues of the ballet/theatre, nor anything resembling a full-stop in the musical performance, it was really hard pinpointing where the sections given in the program started or stopped. I can understand why some recordings offer the piece as a single track, or break it down only by the four main scenes. I dunno. I probably should have just shut my eyes and listened instead of trying to hear the musical cues mentioned in the program as characteristic of each movement. (And you, dear reader, should realize that's a backhanded way for me to admit that the timing I gave above for this piece is more or less a hopeful shot in the dark). {{tag>music Berkeley_Symphony_Orchestra Philippe_Quint Zellerbach_Hall_Auditorium Edwin_Outwater }} [[2016-10-11-2|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2016|Up to the 2016 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2016#October_events|Up to the 2016 event list!]] ☸ [[2016-10-14|On to the next event!]]