Beethoven

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

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Play and Play: An Evening of Movement and Music

Jone danceIn Moore Theater, which provided an excellent intimate environment for this concert. The first dance was nicely suited to the Mozart quartet.  The second piece was Continuous Replay, which started with a nude dancer doing a series of gestures.  The other dancers slowly stripped and then dressed again, repeating the strange set of gestures.  We learned after the show that the founder Arnie Zane was a martial artist, and this was a section from the Hand Dance.  After seeing this, I think all modern dance should be nude!

The last dance had both quartets playing an octet by Mendelssohn written when he was 16.  It featured lots of jumping related to water like belly flops and diving, evoking the joy of the quote by Jenny Holzer.  The dedication is to Demian (the D of the title), who was dying of AIDS as the piece premiered, but apparently was carried through the dance.

In the Q&A after the show, Janet Wong (associate artistic director of Bill T. Jones dance company) and Nick Kitchen (first violin, Borromeo String Quartet).

The musicians used laptops with scores showing all the parts, and foot pedals for page turning.  Normally their scores don’t show all parts or else they have to turn the page too often.

Program notes

 

Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra

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Symphony Publicity photoI quite enjoyed the Dartmouth Symphony on Saturday night. And I love the photo (at left) that they used to publicize the show.

In general this was a high caliber performance, and I feel lucky to have it so accessible. Students are in front in the orchestra, but there are a fair number of other professionals involved. For example, there were 3 students violists listed, but 8 playing, 4 students cellists with 8 playing, 1 student bassist but 3 playing. And I bet that these students aren’t music majors, but are all doing other stuff, and still finding time to practice 2 or 3 hours a day.

The first piece was a short and sweet piece for strings only by Tchaikovsky. It made a nice introduction to the concert.

The second item was a Cello Concerto by Shostakovich. The soloist was Bonnie Thron, who I had heard was a Hanover native, although this wasn’t in the program.  She was a tall and striking woman, playing on a small platform facing the audience, providing a very good view of her playing. I particularly liked the first part of the 2nd movement, which was very lush.  This was followed by a long solo cello cadenza. I am sure it was played well, and certainly it was interesting to watch her expressive technique, but the music really didn’t appeal to me.

After intermission, it was time for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. It’s strange but I really have not heard this played very often in concert. Perhaps there is a fear that it is too much of a cliche or something, but it really is such a great piece of music. The dynamic contrast, starting right off, going from very loud to very soft, is something that is really spectacular when heard live. Also, the tempo was quite fast – faster than in the recordings I have.

This piece drew an ovation from the audience, as might be expected. The encore piece was a short Trepak from the Nutcracker Suite – lively and fun.

Program Notes