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Vol. LXI, No. 17
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007
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Vol. LXI, No. 17
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007
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Faculty members of the New School for Music Study, located in Kingston, will present Camille Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals and the poetry by Ogden Nash in a family-oriented concert this Sunday, April 29, at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of Stuart Country Day School, 1200 Stuart Road.
Besides 11 faculty members — Laura Amoriello, Julie Baskinger, Marvin Blickenstaff, Fiona Christano, Scott Donald, Allison Fog, Amy Glennon, Katie Goins, Tracy Grandy, Carina Joly, and Margie Nelson — the concert will feature guest artists: flautist Jill Crawford, double-bassist Chris Clark, and narrator Joshua Worby.
Carnival of the Animals has been described as "a triumph of humor, graciousness, suavity and parody," and as a "grand zoological fantasia."
School founder Louise Goss said: "Carnival of the Animals is a wonderful fun-filled piece that will delight everyone, children and parents. Each year we have a faculty recital and this year the focus is on the children."
The former Hamilton Avenue resident who moved to Stonebridge three years ago described herself as the elder statesman of the school she founded in 1960. Now in her 81st year, and retired from teaching, she is still active with the school, finding time to observe faculty and comment on their work. She plans to attend the concert on Sunday.
The school's faculty will perform different movements of the Saint-Saëns work on two grand pianos that have been supplied by Jacobs Music.
Mr. Worby, executive director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra from 2001 until July 2006, will narrate poems by Ogden Nash. His daughters Andrea and Hannah are students at the New School for Music Study. Andrea is a junior at Princeton High School and Hannah is a fifth grader at Johnson Park School. They have been studying piano at the New School for 12 and five years, respectively.
A board member of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, Mr. Worby is also an active member of the Parents Advisory Council at the New School. He has narrated the Nash accompaniment, written some 50 years after the original music composition, several times, most notably with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra in Virginia.
"Everybody loves the elephant and the swan, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written," he said. "Nash's humorous poems for Saint-Saëns's orchestral suite are often recited with the work."
The suite begins with an introduction and royal march of the lion performed by the strings and two pianos. Then come hens and roosters followed by quick-moving wild asses, and then the tortoises, for which a tortuously slow version of Offenbach's famous "Can-Can" is played.
The lumbering elephant is given a section marked Allegro Pomposo. Kangaroos are represented, as are fishes in an aquarium and "characters with long ears," the cuckoo, and subsequently an aviary of other birds.
A humorous high point comes when the pianists themselves are caricatured doing what they do: practicing scales.
The composer has included a movement for fossils that mimics his own Danse Macabre to evoke the image of skeletons dancing.
The lushly romantic movement for the swan is by far the most famous of the suite and is often played by a virtuoso cellist to showcase his or her interpretive skills.
Ms. Crawford is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, and received a Master of Music degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. She had additional studies of baroque flute with Sandra Miller, and attended the International Baroque Institute at Longy School. She is a Master Faculty member of Westminster Conservatory. Besides Col Legno, she works with the chamber ensemble Trillium and the Volanti Flute Quartet.
Mr. Clark holds two degrees in double bass performance, one from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and one from the University of North Texas. He is professor of double bass at The College of New Jersey.
"The school's 260 students come from Princeton, South Brunswick, Kendall Park, West Windsor, Plainsboro, and Montgomery," said Admissions Officer Amy Glennon.
"Our teachers all hold advanced degrees (masters and doctorates) in Piano Performance and Pedagogy," said Ms. Glennon.
To coincide with the concert, students have created visual artwork on the "Carnival of the Animals" theme that will be displayed in the lobby of the school and also during the concert by projection.
The school held an art contest open to all students, from which winning selections will be displayed during the concert.
In addition to artwork, the school held a "Carnival of the Animals" themed essay contest. Winning works will be performed in the school's upcoming Spring Recital Series, May 11 12, in the Kingston Presbyterian Church.
Tickets are $15 adult, $8 child. For more information, call (609) 921-2900, or visit: www.nsmspiano.org.