By Nancy Plum
This past weekend, Princeton University Orchestra performed its annual concert, featuring the winners of the most recent Concerto Competition. Friday and Saturday night’s performances at Richardson Auditorium showcased not only three talented student instrumentalists but also an up-and-coming conductor connected to the Orchestra. The annual Competition offers University students from any area of study the chance to perform with the ensemble, and this year’s winners, representing violin, cello and clarinet, brought three diverse and challenging works to life, beginning in 18th-century Vienna.
Franz Joseph Haydn’s Concerto for Violoncello in C, composed between 1761 and 1765, was lost for centuries, resurfacing in the 1960s. Delicately scored for two oboes, two horns, strings and solo cello, Haydn’s work was rooted more in the Baroque style than the Mozart intricacy for which the Classical period was known. On Saturday night, the University Orchestra and solo cellist, University sophomore Maurice Neuman, began the Concerto with pure charm — graceful and sprightly passages lightly punctuated by a pair of horns.
A stylish musician, Neuman executed melodic figures and ornaments cleanly with elegant phrasing, while conductor Michael Pratt maintained a stately orchestral accompaniment. Neuman played the cadenza to the opening movement somewhat dreamily, saving his most virtuosic performance for the third movement “Allegro.” As Pratt and the Orchestra built dynamic tension, Neuman demonstrated agile and nimble fingers on the fingerboard while racing up and down scales.
American composer Aaron Copland also scored his 1940s Clarinet Concerto with sparse orchestration, complementing the solo clarinet with strings, piano and harp. This work was commissioned by jazz great and bandleader Benny Goodman, who had turned to classical music in the 1940s as interest in the big band genre waned. Copland’s Concerto was structured as two movements linked by a solo cadenza, with the second movement placing great technical demands on the soloist.
The Copland piece was conducted by University Orchestra assistant conductor Hannah Ishizaki, who is also pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition. When soloist Daniel Kim, a University senior, took the stage, it confirmed that the strongest support for all the soloists may have come from their fellow students. Copland’s work began peacefully, as Kim smoothly introduced a languid melody. Ishizaki drew out phrases expressively, suspending cadences slightly against an accompaniment of lush strings, harpist Calene Lee and pianist Milo Salvucci. The second movement, marked “Rather Fast” by the composer, featured quick melodic passages similar to Copland’s Rodeo. Kim deftly skipped across the jagged melodic lines, and both ensemble and soloist easily maneuvered the varied styles of Copland’s music.
The third soloist for the evening was violinist and University junior Ian Barnett, who has been a prize winner in both violin performance and composition. Barnett tackled Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto with strength and confidence, starting right off in the first movement with a reverent melody against rich accompaniment. Always in control, Barnett played the cadenzas to each movement dramatically, especially the whirlwind passages of the closing “Presto,” aptly marked “in perpetual motion.” Barnett’s vast experience showed in his poised technical command of the music, and he was clearly accustomed to being in the spotlight. Wind solos abounded, including from oboist Ishan Ghosh, clarinetist Deepak Viswalingam and bassoonist James Dyson. Conductor Pratt effectively guided the University Orchestra in capturing Barber’s drama, joy and use of virtuosity.
The fourth piece featured one additional “soloist” — composer Max Vinetz — who received graduate degrees from Princeton University and is a member of the music department faculty. Venitz’s one-movement Swell, which received its premiere only last year, was rooted in the composer’s affinity for water, and was full of musical effects depicting motion. Strings resembled butterfly wings, muted brass and harp added special color and percussion instruments were very present. Conductor Pratt maintained a crisp beat, enabling the unique sounds of the sea to emerge from the full orchestral palette to further show how the evening represented the best of the Princeton music program.
Princeton University Orchestra will present its next performances on Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium. These concerts will include Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No, 9, both featuring the University Glee Club. Ticket information can be obtained at tickets.princeton.edu.