Close Encounters With Music: Vivace Chamber Orchestra – Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Britten, Boccherini, Barber

Composed by Tchaikovsky to counter a bout of insomnia and melancholy, Serenade for Strings immediately cheered him up, and he reported “feeling well, invigorated and content”—as gratified listeners have over the years. Few composers have possessed the ability to reflect emotions within their music as well as Tchaikovsky, and the Serenade channels solemnity and joy (an homage to Mozart, a memorable waltz) into one perfect package. Barber’s iconic Adagio, “full of pathos and cathartic passion, rarely leaves a dry eye” (it was played at the funerals of Albert Einstein and Princess Grace of Monaco…). Holberg Suite (subtitled “suite in olden style” – 1884), one of Grieg’s most beloved works, offers chorale-like harmonies, joyous and lilting rhythms, and hints of a rural fiddle player. Boccherini’s Baroque-era Cello Concerto, rewritten in a Romantic vein, is a virtuosic delight. The Vivace Chamber Orchestra is comprised of fourteen top-tier New York musicians who gather for periodic tours.

Vivace Chamber Orchestra

Yehuda Hanani, cello