When I first wrote about the then-30-year-old Kurt Rohde's "Oculus" less
than two years ago, not even that unqualified rave predicted where the
young composer would be today.

At tonight's New Century Chamber Orchestra world premiere in Berkeley of
Rohde's "Minerva's Pools," the program notes revealed that Kent Nagano has
commissioned a symphony from Rohde to be performed next year with all three
of Nagano's orchestras -- in Berkeley, Manchester and Berlin.  For a young
violist and part-time composer, that's an amazing opportunity and
recognition.

(Rohde has also received awards and grants from the Koussevitsky
Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund, and the Fromm Foundation, among
others.)

"Oculus" already had a unique voice, but its intense, complex, emotional
content was in the Bartok-Shostakovich-Stravinsky vein.  "Minerva" is even
more difficult to compare, although its mood and slowly-changing dark
harmonies bring sections of Schoenberg's "Transfigured Night" to mind.

Even with the obviously rough first performance of a devilishly hard
new work, "Minerva" emerged as an enormously challenging and rich work.
Referring to the pools in England from Roman times, Rohde's work portrays
the flow of water, the healing effect of the pools -- or maybe nothing like
that.  The composer spoke of these considerations, but the work is as far
from program music as anything can be.

Written for three violins, three violas, two cellos and double base,
"Minerva" is an upside-down theme-and-variations, with each instrument
(one per pool) given a variation until the theme emerges at the end.
Just as the "program" of the work, this structural peculiarity is also of
no consequence to the listener.  What is important is the enormous amount
of material the composer has compressed into 16 minutes, giving a clear
indication that "this means something," even if there is no hope of
"figuring it out" on first hearing or even after studying the work.  It's
a rich, important work that demands and deserves attention.

The New Century Chamber Orchestra prides itself on being an ensemble
performing without a conductor.  For the Rohde work, however, the musicians
asked George Thompson of the Berkeley Symphony to help them through the
premiere.  In another instant of breaking precedent, the string orchestra
employed a BRASS player, no less than David Krehbiel, the just-retired
first horn of the San Francisco Symphony.  He and the young tenor Norman
Shankle were the soloists in Britten's "Serenade" Op.  31, a haunting,
still-strange work after more than a half a century of its creation.

Described with excessive humility by Britten as "not very important stuff,
but quite pleasant," this substantial, rewarding work (with a variety of
moods and emotions) is something far more than that.  The orchestra did its
best work of the evening, Krehbiel handled the tough solo work well (but
without the brilliance he exhibited during the recent Mahler Festival), and
Shankle sang with a clear diction and great accuracy.  What's missing from
him is a sound of his own, something beyond "generic tenor," however
impressive that is when the challenge is this great.

Another Serenade, Elgar's from 1892, received a readthrough with each
instrument doing well, but the absolutely necessary smooth ensemble
missing.  The concert opened with an "uptempo," rushing version of Bach's
Brandenburg Concerto No.  3; it might have set a new speed record, but
perhaps did not make many new friends for Bach.  Stuart Canin, NCCO music
director and first violinist "saved" the performance with his clear,
perfectly articulated solo part that set a calming tone in the Adagio.

Janos Gereben/SF
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