Commissioned by the New Century Chamber Orchestra
Pictures at an Exhibition
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REVIEWS
In the end, the “Kiev Gate” — perhaps the most challenging section to follow in Ravel’s footsteps — came out the best. The full orchestra cuts out suddenly at the end of “Baba Yaga’s Hut,” leaving Mussorgsky’s solo piano to begin this movement. (Take that, Ravel!) Then comes the quiet part for string quartet; by the end, the full orchestra is accompanied sequentially by bells, tam-tam, and bass drum. – San Francisco Classical Voice
Assad creates a wealth of textural variety from her limited orchestral resources, in part by drawing on various percussion instruments and having the pianist pluck or strum the instrument’s strings. And with some judicious touching up here and there – particularly in the “Gnomus” movement, which gets some new and extra-spooky harmonies to go with its creepy glissandos – Assad puts her own stamp on the piece. San Francisco Chronicle
Assad had shown herself, during previous service as NCCO’s composer in residence, to be an arranger and orchestrator of great imagination, and she proved it again here. This piece was great fun, more fun than it’s probably licit to have on the anniversary of 9/11. Passages for the full ensemble — fewer of those than you might think — alternated with dips into chamber music: violin and piano, or cello (Robin Bonnell) and piano, or the slow middle section of “The Great Gate of Kiev” magically set for string quartet… In the end, the “Kiev Gate” — perhaps the most challenging section to follow in Ravel’s footsteps — came out the best. The full orchestra cuts out suddenly at the end of “Baba Yaga’s Hut,” leaving Mussorgsky’s solo piano to begin this movement. (Take that, Ravel!) Then comes the quiet part for string quartet; by the end, the full orchestra is accompanied sequentially by bells, tam-tam, and bass drum. San Francisco Classical Voice
Assad’s contribution was, without a doubt, a unique one, very much in the spirit of the case I made on Friday that we should celebrate opportunities for diversity in our listening experiences. Her approach exhibited as much understanding of the original piano solo as did any of the examples that Fogelsong had presented; and many of her “coloration” decisions provided opportunities to think about sounds we thought were familiar in a new light. Whether or not this will lead to a “new tradition” in the performance of Mussorgsky’s suite may be open to question; but there is no doubt that the opportunity to listen to Mussorgsky through Assad’s ears was a stimulating one. SF Classical Music Examiner -Stephen Smoliar
REVIEWS: OTHER TITLES
Clarice Assad did an admirable job of translating Tchaikovsky’s rich instrumentation for this episode into strings-only resources. The Examiner
The Schubert was arranged by Clarice Assad, NCCO’s resident composer-arranger and the wizard behind some of NCCO’s previous clever stunts. (I remember with particular fondness a strings-and-percussion orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.) Setting Schubert’s repeating figures and pregnant chords for strings produced effects alternately reminiscent of lush Tchaikovsky romanticism, cool Scandinavian modernism, and Philip Glass minimalism. San Francisco Classical Voice
More Titles (similar instrumentation)
BÉLA BARTÓK
4 Romanian Dances
Instrumentation:
String Orchestra + Percussion
RICHARD STRAUSS
Dance of the Seven Veils
*from the Opera Salome
String Orchestra + PercussionMODEST MUSSORGSKY
Pictures At An Exhibition
String Orchestra + Percussion & PianoJULES MASSENET
Meditation
*from the Opera Thais
String Orchestra + Solo Violin + Percussion
SOPRANO AND STRINGS
PYTOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Letter Scene (From the opera Eugene Onegin)
For soprano and strings
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Three Schubert Songs
1. An den Mond
2. Gretchen am Spinnrade
3. Sehnsucht