Contemporary Youth Orchestra @ CSU Waetjen Hall 12/12/09

This is the fifteenth season of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, and from the beginning, founder and Music Director Liza Grossman has mixed life lessons with the music for those youngsters fortunate enough to cross paths with her. The opening concert of this season would have been virtually unthinkable when Liza was the age of her current musicians. Women composers were almost an anomaly back then – there were a few but they were indeed, very few!

This concert, then, was truly special, as it presented music by three women composers, two of them in attendance. Both of their works were World Premieres, by the way. One male composer was represented, but still – it’s an awesome concept, nonetheless. Along the way, we were introduced to an instrument that must be new to most of us, but is gaining in popularity every day, thanks to the new genre of ‘world music’. This was the GYIL, (pronounced jeel) native to West Africa, with a distinct sound—intriguing to anyone’s ears. (Trying to describe it is difficult, but basically, it’s a cousin to the marimba, although smaller. The wooden bars [this one had 14, but there may be more or fewer] in an inverted arch shape, like a bowl. Beneath the arch are gourds–as many as there are bars. They’re secured under there, as the instrument is picked up and carried sideways, and they don't fall out! The sound is not only from the bars that are struck with a mallet, but also a buzzing sort of resonance, from the gourds. It’s fascinating! If you look it up on Google, you’ll find several photos.)

Anyway. The first piece on the program was The Unmarked by Inés Thiebaut, who introduced the work in a very engaging short speech. She explained her motivation for the work, which is based on the story of Eros and Psyche, or love and fear. There were themes specific to each of these, which were demonstrated by the musicians. This certainly makes it easier for the audience to grasp the music, which is, after all, played only once for all of us. The piece is also somewhat of a mini-concerto for orchestra, as each section has solos, many of which were incredibly complex. As usual, the young musicians had no apparent difficulties in performing the challenging work.

Before the concert began, Peter Klein, president of the board, introduced ten young musicians, each of whom occupy an endowed chair. These were not all principals of their sections, and some of the awards are tied to other activities or scholarship. It’s a high honor to hold one of these positions. One of the musicians, Matt Zucker, was not physically present at that point, however, as he was preparing for his role as soloist, having triumphed as a CYO Concerto Recipient. (He has also won several other awards and/or positions of honor.) For this occasion, he performed the fourth movement of the Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, one of the staples of the repertoire. His performance was not only beautifully played, but intelligent and well thought out.

The second half of the program began with two West African Concertos featuring Valerie Naranjo, not only as marimba and Gyil soloist, but also as composer/arranger of the two works: Fer Barre Kena Jeno and Joro. Actually both were composed by Kakraba Lobi, with whom Ms. Naranjo mentored for many years, and she arranged the two works in his honor. (The first was orchestrated by Andrew Beall; the second by Paul Leary. Ms. Naranjo has been the percussionist on Saturday Night Live for more than 14 years.)

In her introduction, she stated that the first work’s title was Do Not Play Favorites or, ‘always respect everyone’. If only. She sang (or perhaps chanted) as she displayed her awesome ability on the marimba in the beguiling melodies and infectious rhythms. Daniel Zhou, concertmaster and Brian Plautz, alto saxophone, contributed lovely and expressive solos. At one point the violin and viola sections were plucking their instruments rather than bowing, and swaying gently from side to side as they did so. It was an enchanting vision.

For the second piece, Ms. Naranjo sat on a low stool in front of the Gyil, which was bare inches off the floor. As she struck the bars with mallets, the gourds beneath the bars added their buzzing sounds, making it sound like there were really two or three instruments in there, all huddled together. It was truly fascinating! I think the audience would have enjoyed and appreciated hearing more of this unique instrument.

Ms. Naranjo performed an encore (sorry, I haven’t a clue as to its identity) that was a sing-a-long by the audience, for which she moved back to the marimba. She encouraged everyone to participate by stating another proverb or saying from West Africa: Bad dancing won’t hurt the ground. Wise words!

The final work on this ambitious program was Tambour by perhaps the most well-known American woman composer Joan Tower. (She wanted to be here, but was unable to convince her schedule.) CYO previously performed Tambour in March 2001, when Ms. Tower was here, and explained that she wanted the orchestra in this piece to think of itself as a percussion section. Interesting concept. Even though all the instruments (at times) made other than their normal sounds, it was not just noise. It all blended together into a seamless whole, with myriad solos throughout: cello (Mr. Zucker), violin (Mr. Zhou) plus each of the percussion instruments by turns, resulting in a well-deserved group bow by the section players, out in front of the orchestra at the conclusion. These were: Dalton Brewer, Evan Cherchiglia, Julia McAvinue, Kevin Ritenauer and Eran Karanouh-Schuler.

Ms. Grossman always insists that each concert is the ‘best we’ve ever done’ and this time, I think she’s right. It was fascinating, unusual repertoire, well-played by these young musicians who know not the meaning of fear. Let’s hope it stays that way, forever!

The next concert by CYO is again at Waetjen Auditorium, on March 13 at 8 pm rather than the usual 7 pm. Daniel Goldmark will be the narrator for a program about television themes. For information, visit the website: http://www.cyorchestra.org or call 216.321.3525.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print next year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!

By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there's always been the writing. I can't imagine my life without it.