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The Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, conductor Scott Yoo and cellist Joseph Elworthy performed an Arizona Friends of Chamber Music concert last night at the Tucson Convention Center Leo Rich Theatre.
By Ken Keuffel Jr.
Why can't orchestras do this all the time?
The question arises after last night's stellar concert by the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, 16 Boston-based string players directed by Scott Yoo.
Yoo, you may recall, is also a violinist; he was to have performed a Piano and Friends concert with pianist Fazil Say last season but dropped out because of other commitments.
Last night at Leo Rich Theatre, he treated an Arizona Friends of Chamber Music audience to a model performance, both in musical and programmatic terms.
The Metamorphosen, a nimble-sounding band that takes its name from a Richard Strauss composition of the same name, combines classical repertoire with - no kidding - one newly commissioned work on each of its subscription concerts.
Last night's program reflected that; it paired a new work (``Parables of Flight'' by American composer Dan Coleman) with traditional fare (Tchaikovsky's C-Major Serenade).
Along the way, Metamorphosen cellist Joseph Elworthy soloed in ``Nocturnal Dances of Don Juanquixote,'' by Aulis Sallinen, a living Finnish composer who deserves more attention.
In program notes, Coleman, speaking of how he came to name his piece, likens music to a ``sensation of flight,'' which widens our perspective beyond a ground-level line of sight. His description of the work's second movement could pertain to the entire piece, namely that ``different strata of music compete harshly, and at other times . . . arrive in the same euphonious place.''
In last night's performance, Yoo skillfully navigated his players though a quickly changing kaleidoscope of ideas, many of which overlap or follow each other in rapid succession.
The evening's greatest joy was the Sallinen. Essentially, it engages the soloist in a crazed dialogue with the ensemble. The two converse on an array of dance subjects, from Cabaret-flavored tunes to tangos.
These tunes, some of which are dressed up in complex rhythms and harmonies, develop out of the most unlikely introductions, from eerie and muted dissonances to phrases in which the soloist simply repeats the same note. Through it all, Elworthy proved an engaging, provocative soloist.
The Tchaikovsky received an admirable performance, both expressive and rhythmically precise. My only quibble: Scott sometimes took too many liberties with the main legato theme of the second waltz movement. This resulted in some shoddy transitions between phrases.