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This week's Paradigm Chamber Orchestra performances will be like two concerts in one.
On the first half, violinist Gerald Elias, violist Joel Rosenberg and pianist Jeffrey Price — three musicians who have collaborated with one another, but never played together as a trio until now — will play a set of chamber-music staples, with the cello part adapted for viola. Then Rosenberg will lead the chamber orchestra in two major works.
The program kicks off with Mendelssohn's first and best-known piano trio, noted for its "distinctly virtuosic piano part," Rosenberg said. "You'd think it's almost a piano concerto with string accompaniment. Mendelssohn is often perceived as a somewhat conservative classicist, but this piece really reaches into the Romantic era." Rosenberg said the piece's second movement, in particular, is reminiscent of the composer's well-known "Songs Without Words."
Movements from two Brahms trios will follow. Brahms wrote the first one when he was only 20, but he shelved it for about 30 years because he was "so afraid of comparisons to Beethoven," Rosenberg said, adding that the music world is lucky to have the piece at all, considering how much early work the composer destroyed. This week's performances feature Brahms' revised and tightened version. The other Brahms trio on the program, Rosenberg said, reflects the composer's lifelong interest in Hungarian music.
"Primavera porteña," the "spring" movement from Piazzolla's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," closes the first half. After intermission, the Paradigm Chamber Orchestra will play Mozart's D Major Divertimento, K. 136, and Bach's C Major Concerto for Two Pianos. Ning Lu, the University of Utah's director of keyboard studies, and his wife, Jie Lu, who also teaches at the U., will be the soloists. —
Paradigm
Music of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Piazzolla, Mozart and Bach.
When • Wednesday and Thursday, April 19 and 20, 7:30 p.m.
Where • Libby Gardner Concert Hall, 1375 E. Presidents Circle, Salt Lake City
Tickets • $12.50; free for University of Utah students with ID; $6.50 for other students with ID