Concertante Chamber Players Perform at the Library of Congress in
Washington, DC March 23, 2001
Concert to feature Washington, DC premiere of Steven Gerber's "Spirituals"
CONCERTANTE CHAMBER PLAYERS will perform a varied program of chamber works
at the Library of Congress on Friday evening, March 23, 8:00 p.m., at the
Jefferson Building, corner of First Street and Independence Avenue SE.
The event will feature clarinetist Jon Manasse and the Washington premiere
of Steven R. Gerber's "Spirituals" for string quartet and clarinet. Mr.
Manasse will also join the ensemble in a performance of Clark's Three
Pieces for Viola and Clarinet. The entire program follows:
Clarke Three Pieces for Viola and Clarinet (with Mr. Manasse)
Steven R. Gerber Spirituals (with Mr. Manasse)
Barber Dover Beach, Op. 3
Brahms String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36
Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance by calling Ticket Master
at 1-800-551-SEAT.
Made up of individually accomplished musicians with successful solo
careers, the Concertante Chamber Players was founded in 1995 by a group of
Juilliard graduates intent on pursuing their musical collaboration beyond
graduation. It draws from its rich pool of artistic talent to perform a
wide array of repertoire ranging from quintets by established masters to
the less frequently performed nonet and other varied combinations of
instrumentalists. It has a particular interest in furthering the cause
of new music and has to date given the world premiere performances of new
works by David Ludwig, Oded Zehavi, and Jan Radzynski. It has also offered
infrequently performed chamber works by such celebrated composers as
Borodin, Elgar, Schoenberg, and Richard Strauss. Their website is located
at http://www.concertante.org/
Last season, Helicon Records released the group's first CD devoted to
Mendelssohn's Octet and the "Souvenir de Florence" by Tchaikovsky. This
disk received the highest praise in the January/February 2000 issue of the
American Record Guide:
"The first movement of the Concertante players' Mendelssohn bursts
out of the speakers with youthful high spirits and an irrepressible
(but unforced) vernal energy that are quite infectious. . . . The
opening of IV sizzles with pent-up energy, soon to be released in a
dazzling display of virtuosity tempered by balance, proportion, and
a remarkable sense of the overarching line. This strikes me as a
performance with something to please just about any taste, yet also
one with personality and character that is not generic."
Steven R. Gerber's music has gained international attention as a
result of two recent CD releases (by Chandos and KOCH) featuring several
of Gerber's new orchestral works. Born in Washington, DC in 1948, Mr.
Gerber has written for a number of musicians including Yuri Bashmet and has
had his music performed by groups such as the Knoxville Chamber Orchestra
under Kirk Trevor. For its Merkin Hall series, Concertante Chamber Players
commissioned Mr. Gerber to create "Spirituals," an 11-movement work for
clarinet and string quartet (which was premiered at the January 31
concert). Based on pre-existing material and drawing from various aspects
of Negro spirituals, Mr. Gerber stresses that: "The intention is not in
any way to deconstruct or even re-interpret the original spirituals, but
merely to use them as the basis for new inspirations whose character is
sometimes similar to, sometimes totally different from the source
materials." As an example, in the third movement of "Spirituals," entitled
"Homage to John Harbison," Mr. Gerber employs grace notes inspired by
embellishments in a Harbison work for solo oboe; in the last movement,
"Homage to Ravel," Mr. Gerber borrows arpeggiated harmonics from his
favorite Ravel work, "Trois Poems de Mallarme." His website is located
at http://www.composers.com/gerber.
For further information, please contact Hemsing Associates at
212-772-1132.
Hemsing Associates, Inc.
401 East 80th Street, Suite 14H
New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 772-1132
Fax: (212) 628-4255
Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>
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