In March, conductor Andrés Rivas led The Orchestra Now in a performance of Andrés Gaos‘ Impresion Nocturna, which premiered in Paris 84 years ago this week. TŌN violinist Nicole Oswald writes, “One would wonder if Gaos was inspired by the rich harmonic texture and endless melodic material in Mahler’s Adagietto, while keeping the sincere sentiment of Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio for Strings. By comparison, Gaos’ orchestration has a dense harmonic texture at times with overlapping suspensions almost reminiscent of the old Hollywood sound we expect to hear from Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The sonorous quality of string orchestra coupled with the mild tempo and rich harmony creates a beautiful palate for any listener.” You can read Nicole’s full concert notes on the piece by clicking here.

In March, conductor Zachary Schwartzman led The Orchestra Now and soloists Renée Anne Louprette on  harpsichord, Frank Corliss on piano, and Taylor Ann Fleshman TŌN ’22 on harp in a performance of the Petite symphonie concertante by composer Frank Martin, who was born 131 years ago this week. Taylor Ann Fleshman writes that “The Petite symphonie concertante was composed in 1945 from a request made by Paul Sacher. Sacher did not micromanage how the piece was to be composed, but his one specific request was that plucked basso continuo instruments were to be employed along with standard string instruments. From here, Martin decided to use instruments that are still common today, which included harp, piano, and harpsichord. These three instruments are the soloists of the work while the remaining strings are split into two equally important groups.” You can read Taylor’s full concert notes on the piece by clicking here.

In April, violinist Zongheng Zhang joined TŌN and conductor Leon Botstein for a performance of Leonard Bernstein‘s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) in a physically distanced concert that was livestreamed from the Fisher Center at Bard. TŌN timpanist Keith Hammer III writes that the piece is “based on Plato’s dialogue The Symposium. Plato’s work is a musical reflection of the impassioned, yet rancorous, speeches on the subject of love made by philosophers such as Aristophanes, Agathon, Phaedrus, and Socrates.” You can read Keith’s full concert notes on the Serenade by clicking here.

In February, TŌN’s associate conductor James Bagwell led the orchestra in a performance of Popcorn Superhet Receiver by composer and Radiohead musician Jonny Greenwood. TŌN bassist Tristen Jarvis writes that the piece was “notably featured in the 2007 Oscar-nominated film There Will Be Blood. Deeply influenced by experimental 20th-century composers Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Arvo Pärt, Popcorn is dominated by dissonant, anxiety-provoking, microtonal clusters (evoking static from the shortwave radio catalog of an actual superheterodyne receiver), an infectious groove-based middle section, and familiar contemporary art-music atonality with occasional bursts of consonance for stability.” You can read Tristen’s full concert notes on the work by clicking here.