February 17, 2013; Merkin Concert Hall; NYPhil Ensembles

This was a surprisingly engaging program even though three of the composers were either unknown or nearly unknown to me. The opening work was the overture to The Barber of Seville by Rossini but arranged for four cellos by Douglas B. Moore (who wrote The Ballad of Baby Doe). Cellist Eric Bartlett explained that an earlier cellist with the Philharmonic arranged many works for four cellos and the performance of such works was not uncommon. The overture sounded fabulous in this arrangement.

A trio for two violins and viola by Ysaye was next on the program. Violist Robert Rinehart explained that the composer revolutionized violin playing technique, and many great composers wrote for him. This work was initially intended for two violins but it became too difficult to play, so the composer added the viola. It was a very moody piece beautifully played.

The first half concluded with String Quartet No. 2 from 1988 by Christopher Rouse who was present and gave a short talk about the work. It was gnarly and intense until a "transfigured" conclusion.

The second half began with two songs from Silas Marner written in 2000 by Harold Meltzer. Mr. Meltzer was present and gave a short talk about the songs. They are not part of an opera as one might assume. They were written on commission. The composer thought to set the text because on a long drive he happened to be listening to an audio book of Silas Marner. The songs are accompanied by a cello. Meltzer went into quite a bit of detail on the demanding cello technique required to play them. Once soprano, Charlotte Dobbs, began to sing, however, I paid no attention to the cello accompaniment. The melodic line was exceeding clean and elegant and suited the texts perfectly. Ms. Dobbs sang beautifully.

Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1, Opus 49, concluded the program. The violinist was Yoko Takebe; it took a few minutes and a look at the program notes to confirm that she is the mother of Philharmonic music director, Alan Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert, with his wife and two children, was sitting in the row in front of me. The trio was beautifully played.

Program and performers are listed below.


ROSSINI/arr. Douglas B. Moore - Overture to The Barber of Seville
Eric Bartlett, Sumire Kudo, Ru-Pei Yeh, Wei Yu, cellos

YSAŸE - Trio for Two Violins and Viola
Elizabeth Zeltser, Quan Ge, violins; Robert Rinehart, viola

Christopher ROUSE - String Quartet No. 2
Fiona Simon, Quan Ge, violins; Dawn Hannay, viola; Alexei Yupanqui Gonzales, cello

Intermission

Harold MELTZER - Two Songs from Silas Marner
Charlotte Dobbs, soprano; Eric Bartlett, cello

MENDELSSOHN - Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor
Yoko Takebe, violin; Sumire Kudo, cello; Inon Barnatan, piano