In Tuesday’s (3/9) Times-Union (Albany, New York), Priscilla McLean writes, “The gods of weather and music were smiling down on the Glens Falls Symphony on this perfectly sunny and beautiful day for their afternoon concert. The audience filled three-quarters of the large high school auditorium for three quite different string orchestral pieces, conducted by the music director, Charles Peltz. … The most interesting music of the afternoon was the world premiere of ‘A New Concerto’ for clarinet and string orchestra by Michael Gandolfi. The composer was on hand to describe his work, and acknowledged that the title was a misnomer, that it actually is a ‘serenade’ inspired by a section of a choral piece he is writing for the Atlanta Symphony. … After a series of cascading notes in the strings, Christopher Bush performed a jagged slow melody on the clarinet, each note harmonized in chordal blocks by the strings. This became the basis of the piece, and this theme repeated itself in many different guises.” Also on the program were Neruda’s Trumpet Concerto with soloist Greg Smith, and Dvorak’s Serenade in E Major for strings.
Posted March 10, 2010
