Thursday (10/11) on the Houston Chronicle online, Charles Ward writes, “Rice University continued its centennial celebration with a triumphant concert by one of its sterling assets: the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. Though small, with fewer than 300 students, the Shepherd School of Music is an internationally known magnet for young players wanting careers as professional orchestral musicians. The excellent faculty—but above all conductor Larry Rachleff—consistently produces a top-quality ensemble many a city could want as its resident orchestra. That was evident start to finish Thursday in Stude Concert Hall. … The special item was the premiere of a commissioned work: Symphony No. 9 by American William Bolcom. It proved a profound work that probed, as the composer said in its notes, a chattering bedlam in search of some kernel of quietude and hope. Bolcom’s music is famous for its borrowing of American folk, pop and spiritual music, but this work was abstract. Its main theme comprised a series of pairs of adjacent notes (what musicians call minor seconds or half steps). … Rachleff and the musicians made a powerful case for the piece.”
Posted October 12, 2012
