The Concordia Chamber Orchestra showed its large audience in their new concert venue at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury why it has become so widely popular. While many ensembles would group Viennese composers Brahms, Mahler, Mozart or Hayden; Concordia chooses to add composers whose music, though seldom heard, is truly beautiful and helps to broaden the listeners’ experience.
So, when Alexander Zemlinsky’s Clarinet Trio in d minor opened the program before the Mahler and Brahms compositions, the tone was set for the afternoon. And who better than the young, dynamic principal clarinetist for the Metropolitan Opera Company, Anthony McGill, could have been selected? The clean, soaring conversational tones of his clarinet in locked dialogue with Michelle Djokic’s cello and Diane Walsh’s piano repartee clearly showed Brahms’ influence on Zemlinsky’s career and why his music should be played more often.
The quick-paced opening was followed by a brooding Gustav Mahler Piano Quartet in A minor that magically communicated the angst of the young composer. Joining Walsh and Djokic, long time Concordia musicians, Violinist, Carmit Zori and Violist Robert Rinehart, demonstrated why they have become favorites of Concordia audiences.
The playful, almost whimsical opening of Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G minor quickly revived the spirits of the listeners, but in a typical Brahms seduction quickly turned to a deeply resonating pathos and exuberance that left the audience cheering with enthusiasm.
Anthony McGill, Candace Jones, Diane Walsh
and Michelle Djokic perform the
Alexander Zemlinsky Trio in d minor, Opus 3
Photo Brian Keyes
The Concordia Chamber Players return to the Trinity Episcopal Church on January 13, 2008 at 3 PM with a performance featuring Mozart, Brahms and Ewazen. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.concordiaplayers.org or by call 215-297-5972.
By Roy Ziegler