The Hamilton College Performing Arts Series continues the Classical Connections Series with the famed chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal playing a concert titled "Night Music," on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m., in Wellin Hall on the campus of Hamilton College.
I Musici de Montréal's core of 15 musicians, under the direction of cellist Yuli Turovsky, lends its musical talents to a wide spectrum of chamber music repertoire, from baroque to 20th- century works. I Musici de Montréal presents more than 100 concerts annually around the world, including their series performances in and around Montreal.
Founded in 1983, the orchestra has recorded 41 compact discs, distributed in more than 50 countries around the world for Chandos Records. Among the many accolades bestowed on the orchestra are: a "Diapason d'Or" for a recording of Shostakovitch's Symphony No. 14 in 1988 and, a "Rosette" from the 1992 Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and cassettes for Handel's Concerti Grossi Op. 6, denoting a recording of "special illumination, magic… that places it in a very special class." In December 1998, the Conseil québécois de la musique awarded I Musici de Montréal two Opus Prizes "Recording of the Year" and "Best Recording, Contemporary Music" for its compact disc of works by Gorecki, Pärt and Schnittke. The orchestra in 1999 received the "Grand Prix" from the Conseil des Arts de Montréal for its outstanding contribution to the advancement of music throughout the Montreal community's territory. In August 2001, BBC Music Magazine chose I Musici de Montréal's recording of Miaskovsky, Schnittke and Denisov as its "Pick of the Month," calling it a Russian Tour de Force.
Under the inspired and ardent direction of Yuli Turovsky who conducts and performs as soloist, I Musici de Montréal has played the world's major concert halls: New York's Lincoln Center, Palais des-Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Tokyo's Kioi Hall, Geneva's Victoria Hall, Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Luxemburg, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, among others.
Everywhere, the orchestra's precision, cohesion, brio and distinctive sound charm audiences and critics alike. Such praise confirms I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra's prominence among musical ensembles in Canada and worldwide.
Scheduled pieces for the Hamilton College concert are: Antonin Dvorak's Nocturne for Strings, Op. 40 in B major, Aulis Sallinen's Nocturnal Dances of Don Juan Quixote for Cello and String Orchestra, Op. 58 and Carl Maria von Weber's Adagio and Rondo for String Orchestra with Yuli Turovsky as cellist, Arnold Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, and W. A. Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, serenade for string orchestra No. 13 in G major, K. 525.
Although it has a complicated history, the Nocturne for Strings is one of Dvorak's least known works. It began its life as part of the slow movement of the unpublished String Quartet in E minor, composed sometime around 1870. In 1875, Dvorak transformed it into the slow movement of his String Quintet in G major, opus 77. However, he was still unsatisfied with it and replaced it with another slow movement soon afterward. The Notturno finally appeared in its present form as a work for string orchestra in 1883. At the same time though, the composer also issued it as a piano duet as well as a particularly effective piece for violin and piano.
Born in 1935, Aulis Sallinen is best known as Finland's foremost living composer of opera. His musical imagination, highly suited to vivid theatrical characterization, may be easily appreciated in his idiosyncratic Chamber Music III, Op. 58. Subtitled "The Nocturnal Dances of Don Juan Quixote," this work for chamber orchestra highlights the cello, that infinite instrument of the night, in a sensuous journey that interposes musical evocations of brooding atmospheres with jocular dances.
Composed for string sextet in 1899 and created in Vienna in 1903, Schönber's Verklärte Nacht, Op. is the composer's first important score and, in the original version, it is characterized by a particular association of chamber music and program music: Schönberg drew his inspiration from a poem by Richard Dehmel but he notes that "it differs slightly from other compositions seeking to illustrate... because it does not depict a precise action or drama, it limits itself to painting nature and expressing human sentiments... in other words, it is quite possible to consider it as 'absolute music.'"
Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik presents a musical puzzle. Music historians know nothing of the circumstances that led to its composition, nor do they have any indication as to whether the piece was played during the composer's lifetime.
Tickets for this event are $15 adult, $10 senior and $5 students. All seating is general admission. For tickets or more information, please contact the box office at 859-4331. Box office hours are weekdays 1-4 pm.
