The musical birthday accolades to scholar and philanthropist William H. Scheide just keep coming in honor of his 100th birthday; the latest was a tribute concert of the Dryden Ensemble presented this past weekend in Solebury, Pennsylvania and Princeton. Sunday afternoon’s performance at Princeton Theological Seminary’s Miller Chapel (the concert was also performed Saturday night in Solebury) was devoted to Bach, paying tribute to both Mr. Scheide’s Bach expertise and his long-time support of the Dryden Ensemble. Nine instrumentalists and four vocalists presented a Bach “CantataFest” — two complete cantatas and several excerpts from other cantatas.

Joining the Dryden Ensemble were four more than excellent singers, each with a long history of Baroque performance practice. Soprano Teresa Wakim, mezzo-soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith, tenor Jason McStoots, and baritone Mischa Bouvier were individually featured in arias and joined together for the opening and closing chorales of the cantatas. Ms. Wakim demonstrated a glorious top register, quickly finding the optimum resonance of the space in Miller Chapel. She had a real ring to her voice within a Baroque context, elegantly handling melismas on specific words, such as “freundlich” in her opening aria. Ms. Dubenion-Smith sang with a remarkably smooth register, especially in the aria “Wie furchstam wankten meine Schritte” of Bach’s Cantata 33 — an aria loaded with octave skips. Conceived more instrumentally than vocally, Bach’s arias can be difficult for mezzos because of range and register, but not for this mezzo. Ms. Dubenion-Smith handled the tough intervals and figures with a voice as smooth as silk and her Cantata 33 aria was particularly gracefully accompanied by violinist Vita Wallace and Daniel Swenberg playing theorbo.

Tenor Jason McStoots demonstrated a lyrical and lighter sound, singing expressively with clean diction. Mr. McStoots’ aria “Woferne du den edlen Frieden,” from Cantata 41, was a complex dialog between voice and violoncello piccolo, played by Lisa Terry. In this aria the musical roles were almost reversed, with the cello taking on most of the melodic movement and the voice serving in more of an obbligato role. Mr. McStoots also provided a complementary voice to baritone Mr. Bouvier, with whom he sang a duet toward the end of Cantata 33. Mr. Bouvier had his opportunity to shine in the aria excerpt from Cantata 62, “Streite, siege, starker Held.” Mr. Bouvier clearly had the potential for a great deal of vocal firepower, with well-handled and articulate coloratura on the words “Streite” (“struggle”) and “kräftig” (“mighty”). The closing Cantata 97 featured each soloist in an aria, with Ms. Wakim’s voice like icing on the cake over the counterpoint of the other three soloists.

As instrumentalists, the Dryden players stayed true to the Baroque character of the music. The concerto-like opening Sinfonia contained delicate swells in the music with clean trills, with sequential phrases which were always going somewhere. Organist Webb Wiggins provided bell-like passages on a chamber organ and the ensemble as a whole maintained a clean texture, even when at full sound. Ms. Wallace had several opportunities for obbligato playing with one of the vocal soloists, playing especially sensitively in the tenor aria of Cantata 97. Oboists Jane McKinley and Julie Brye provided chipper playing, often in thirds, and were particularly supple in accompanying Ms. Wakim in her Cantata 97 aria. Cellist Lisa Terry, bassoonist Sue Black, theorbo player Mr. Swenberg (also playing Baroque lute) and Mr. Wiggins provided solid continuo playing throughout the performance, allowing each of the instruments to speak well in the space.

The Dryden Ensemble has devoted itself to music of the 17th and early 18th century, and Sunday afternoon’s all-Bach performance was particularly appropriate for its dedication to Mr. Scheide. On first glance, Dryden Ensemble concerts may not seem to have a great number of pieces on the program, but Sunday’s performance was well-informed with nuance, and introduced four great singers to a Princeton audience.

The Dryden Ensemble will present a birthday concert to J.S. Bach on Saturday, March 22, 2014 at Miller Chapel on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary. This concert, in honor of Bach’s 329th birthday, will feature chamber music by Buxtehude, C.P.E. Bach, and J.S. Bach. Ticket information can be obtained by visiting www.drydenensemble.org.

Joy comes in many forms and has been represented in music in many ways. Joy was definitely the overriding theme of the annual William H. Scheide “Birthday Benefit” concert held last Saturday night to a full house attendance at Richardson Auditorium. What was special about this concert was its celebration of Mr. Scheide’s 100th birthday (his actual birthday was January 6). Born on the edge of World War I, Mr. Scheide has seen a century of tumultuous events, larger-than-life personalities, and great music. William and Judith Scheide brought together honorees of past Scheide birthday concerts, as well as many old friends, to celebrate Mr. Scheide’s music, philanthropy, and humanitarianism.

This year’s “Ode to Joy” concert benefitted Westminster Choir College, honoring the Choir College’s model of “how to work together in harmony for the service of others.” Featured in performance was Westminster’s renowned Symphonic Choir, which clearly enjoyed its role in the celebrations. One of the vocal soloists for the keynote piece, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, also had a past connection with Westminster.

Conductor Mark Laycock began the festive evening in a first half dedicated to Mr. Scheide’s former academic life, with J.S. Bach’s setting of Philipp Nicolai’s 1598 hymn which became Cantata BWV 140, “Wachet auf.” The Westminster Symphonic Choir, accompanied by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, set the tone for the evening with the words “Gloria to you be sung with human and angelic voices.” As Mr. Scheide’s scholarly and performing reputation has been rooted in Bach, this was an appropriate way to open the concert. The Symphonic Choir, prepared by Joe Miller, presented a serene yet majestic sound, with the soprano section singing with an appropriately light Baroque timbre. Mr. Laycock maintained a broad tempo throughout the short selection, building the orchestra and chorus to a fortissimo in the closing lines of the chorale setting.

Johannes Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture seems to characterize academic youth, especially in its closing “Gaudeamus Igitur,” a popular student song in its day. The work’s emphasis on “rejoicing while we are young” was demonstrated in the brisk tempo with which the Vienna Chamber Orchestra began the piece. The strings of the orchestra presented a smooth and unified sound, accompanied by rippling clarinets and very clean horns. The brass sections throughout the concert were as well blended as an a cappella chorus. With Brahms’ compositional roots in Vienna, this music would be in the Vienna Chamber Orchestra’s blood, and the graceful melodic lines and playful winds showed that this overture is much more than a silly drinking song at the end.

Mr. Scheide’s own compositional skills were honored by a premiere public performance of a work he composed while a student at Princeton. Pianists Marian Nazarian and Andrew Sun performed Mr. Scheide’s 1936 Prelude, clearly inspired by the orchestral concerti of Bach, with high-spirited humor and clean counterpoint. Ms. Nazarian has long been a Scheide collaborator, bringing expertise to the keyboard in other birthday performances, and Mr. Sun proved why he is an up-and-comer to watch.

Forces came together in a variety of ways for the Beethoven Symphony No. 9, a work which holds a strong historical place in Westminster’s history and surely fits well into the Vienna Chamber Orchestra’s repertory. The orchestra began the open fifths of the first movement with sharp attacks, punctuated by well-timed timpani, in a tempo that was not too fast. Mr. Laycock kept things moving steadily along, with lyrical wind parts, allowing the orchestra to reach full volume until the recapitulation of the movement.

Mr. Laycock and the orchestra began the second movement Molto Vivace in a brisk tempo, with entrances lightly handled by the players. The wind section’s rhythmic lines were especially clean, as were the melodic lines played by the horns. Mr. Laycock created numerous small builds in the music, enabling the tricky wind entrances of the third movement to seem that much more serene.

In the third movement, the players kept the long lines smooth, with particularly rich second violin and viola sectional playing. Sections of the movement sounded quite hymn-like in tranquility as the orchestra overall played with a very lean sound. The players presented the familiar “Ode to Joy” theme of the fourth movement with very little vibrato, enabling all parts, especially during the presentation by the strings, to be heard.

The Westminster Choir and Vienna Chamber Orchestra were joined by four vocal soloists with strong operatic backgrounds, which were a necessity, even with only 18 minutes or so of music in the movement. Bass-baritone Mark Doss was dramatic and forceful, and well answered by the men of the chorus. Mr. Doss was a good vocal partner for tenor William Burden, who handled the quick pace of the “Turkish march” section well. Mezzo-soprano Leah Wool and soprano Ah Young Hong rounded out the quartet, handling the demanding quartets at the end of this challenging symphony well. An equal star of this movement is the chorus, providing a solid sound in the thematic sections, while being somewhat haunting and ethereal on the text “Do you bow down before Him, you millions?” Mr. Laycock (who conducted the entire program from memory) led the orchestra and chorus through the transitions well, wisely allowing at times to let the music play itself.

As Judith Scheide noted in her introductory remarks to the concert, Mr. Scheide begins each day with music. She also shared with understandable pride a letter received from President Barack Obama congratulating Mr. Scheide on reaching his 100th birthday and commending his “unique and important contributions to American culture and society.” For those unable to attend this past weekend’s celebratory concert, it was taped for later broadcast on PBS, and it is only 342 days until William Scheide turns 101.

—Nancy Plum

The academic year goes by quickly, especially with a holiday break half-way through. The Princeton University Opera Theater always takes on a challenging opera to be presented shortly after the winter break, but it is hard to imagine Princeton’s operatic students and faculty undertaking a production as testing as Claudio Monteverdi’s TheCoronation of Poppea so soon after break. Fifteen singers, accompanied by harpsichords, strings, lutes, and theorbo presented Monteverdi’s final opera this past weekend, demonstrating the depth of vocal and instrumental talent in an opera which even the Metropolitan Opera would find daunting.

Friday night’s performance in Richardson Auditorium (the opera was repeated on Saturday night) was staged with pairs of musicians on either side onstage and a small string ensemble in the pit. The directorial team led by conductor Michael Pratt and director Ethan Heard sought to complement a production of the same opera in 2001, featuring countertenor and Princeton student Anthony Roth Costanzo, now on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. This year’s production featured a number of University singers also headed for promising careers in music.

The Coronation of Poppea harks back to opera’s beginning; with an Italian libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, it was one of the first operas to use historical events and real people as subject material. Princeton University’s production was primarily in English (with translation by Peter Westergaard, Wendy Heller, and Arthur Jacobs), with the original Italian retained at specific moments, such as in a late duet between Nero and Poppea. The singers were accompanied by an appropriate combination of harpsichords, played by Nicholas Lockey and Jason Nong; as well as lute and theorbo, played by Charles Weaver and Daniel Swenson alternating among instruments. All of these period instruments spoke well in the hall, with the lute and theorbo accompaniment easily balancing the singers as solo instruments.

The description of the opera’s Prologue could easily be used to describe the state of the world today: “Fortune and Virtue argue about who holds the true power of the world; Love proclaims his supremacy.” Accompanied by a nice light touch from the strings, Fortune and Virtue, sung by Allegra Wiprud and Sarah Cooper, respectively, solidly opened the production. Ms. Wiprud, costumed a bit like Lady Gaga, showed a voice with a good ring in the hall and well handled the extensive recitative text. Ms. Cooper deftly handled the extensive runs of Virtue’s role. Varshini Narayanan joined Future and Virtue onstage as the character of Love, bringing an energetic and nymph-like interpretation to her role throughout, with consistently impressive movement and singing.

The Coronation of Poppea revolves principally around the illicit love affair between Nero and Poppea, both married to others. Contrary to Italian morality of the time, the adulterous relationships prevail, with Nero’s wife Octavia and Poppea’s husband Otto banished in exile. The two students cast as the leads Nero and Poppea have worked very hard toward probable careers in singing. Countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen has proven his scholarly and performance command of music of the 17th and 18th centuries, and soprano Katie Buzard has been refining her vocal skills both at Princeton and the Royal College of Music in London. Mr. Cohen took command of the stage immediately, showing that the extensive vocal runs (precursors to the coloratura fireworks of the subsequent decades) were squarely in his wheelhouse, showing no trouble at all with the vocal demands of Nero’s role. Ms. Buzard demonstrated a sparkling top register, also keeping the 17th-century Italianate style well in hand. Monteverdi’s music, revolutionary for its melody and humanism, served the text and the emotions conveyed by the singers, and both of these performers never lost sight of the connection among these elements.

The two hapless spouses of these conniving individuals were also well performed. Countertenor Michael Manning sang the music of Otto, deliberately composed to show Poppea’s husband as tentative and timid, lyrically, and demonstrating despair well. Marie-Gabrielle D’Arco, singing the role of Nero’s wife Octavia, sang with incredible richness and maturity and showed that she will have no trouble pursuing her chosen career in opera as she powerfully executed the almost exclusively dramatic recitative-style. Operas of the early 17th century feature upper voices, and the one significantly lower voice in this production was Jonathan Choi’s interpretation of the philosopher Seneca. Seneca’s music is bold and wide-ranging, and Mr. Choi was especially effective in the extreme lower register. In addition to the onstage Baroque instruments, conductor Michael Pratt effectively led a small ensemble of strings to support the singers. Most impressive among the strings was cellist Nathan Haley, who provided a great deal of specific accompaniment to arias and extensive solos.

Following its premiere in the mid-17th century, The Coronation of Poppea was neglected until the late 1800s and achieved new popularity in the second half of the 20th century. For a university opera company to take this production on could have been an invitation for difficulties and frustration, but the Princeton University Opera Theater provided itself to be more than up to the task.

There are numerous musical ensembles on the Princeton University campus which occasionally combine for joint concerts. An unusual musical collaboration took place this past week as the University Orchestra and Concert Jazz Ensemble combined their efforts in Richardson Auditorium for a program celebrating the concept of freedom. Dedicated to the memory and legacy of Nelson Mandela, Friday night’s performance (the concert was also presented Thursday night) intermingled the musicians of both ensembles for a concert that was “about as American as a concert can get.”

Current events have influenced musical composition for centuries, and Princeton University Jazz Studies director Anthony D.J. Branker found inspiration and message in the 2012 Trayvon Martin case in Florida. Dr. Branker composed Ballad for Trayvon Martin, that was premiered at these performances, as a “song of healing that speaks to the urgent need for all of us to continue to work together.” Featuring guest tenor saxophonist Ralph Bowen, Ballad for Trayvon Martin honored victims of several civil rights incidents of the 20th century, and musically brought together members of the Jazz Ensemble with the string sections of the University Orchestra.

Branker brought a sprightly energy to the conducting of his work, creating a flowing lilt in the Bach-like canonic entries from the strings. He placed saxophonist Bowen within the orchestra and alongside a trio of piano, double bass, and drums, allowing Bowen’s smooth and rich sound to emerge from the instrumental texture as Branker finessed the colors within the strings. Throughout the one movement piece, Bowen changed tempo with the pace of the work, but never lost the sleekness of the line.

University Orchestra conductor Michael Pratt added brass and winds for a second world premiere, demonstrating that American jazz is a continually evolving form. David Sanford’s Teatro de Strada was a more abstract piece than the Branker work and was commissioned by the University Orchestra and Concert Jazz Ensemble to also feature tenor saxophone soloist Ralph Bowen. The one movement work was marked by the improvisatory sounds of street music and the urban musical environment, with conventional harmonies juxtaposed against the free playing of Mr. Bowen. The University Orchestra was joined in the piece by the complete Concert Jazz Ensemble, including trumpets, trombones, and a trio of double bass, piano, and drums. Pizzicato strings showed the work’s classical side, while a bit of “wail” in the saxophone solo and solo brass parts emphasized the variety of colors within the complex piece.

The Princeton University Orchestra continued the “freedom” theme with a piece composed for a theatrical production that was a play concerned with oppression. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont incorporated “the heroic triumph of good over evil” into crisp music performed with elegant wind solos by the University Orchestra players, especially oboist Katrina Maxcy, clarinetist George Liu, and flutist Marcelo Rochabrun. Led by the orchestra’s Assistant Conductor J.J. Warshaw, the familiar thematic passages were played very cleanly, and Warshaw clearly had the piece well in hand.

These three one-movement works were preludes to the final symphony on the program, which fit into the overall theme. Antonin Dvorak composed Symphony No. 9 in E minor just as jazz was emerging from the American musical scene and as his own expression of American musical idioms and traditions. A rich and clear lower string sound opened the first movement and with crisp rhythms and subtle dynamic builds the orchestra was off and running. Conductor Michael Pratt allowed the sound to flourish on its own, with tunes that recall the open spaces of early 20th-century America. Clean horns and elegant winds, including from clarinetist Paul Chang, flutist Lila Xie, and oboists Alexa McCall and Ms. Maxcy, kept the lively themes at the forefront.

The second movement Largo featured an eloquent English horn solo played by Tiffany Huang which became more expressive as the movement progressed. Mr. Pratt and the players brought out the “Goin’ Home” theme gracefully from a number of instrumental solos and combinations, from pairs of clarinets and oboes against pizzicato double basses to a solo string quartet. A sensitive horn solo by Gabe Peterson and intense playing by the orchestra brought the broad symphony and challenging program to a close.

Black Friday is principally known for early Christmas shopping, but music has its own post-Thanksgiving tradition in Princeton with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s annual “Black Friday” concert. Starting within just a few minutes of the packed house at the Palmer Square tree-lighting, Friday night’s NJSO performance at Richardson Auditorium was no concert of holiday fluff — Music Director Jacques Lacombe programmed an evening of demanding piano and orchestral music, including a world premiere.

The NJSO New Jersey Roots Project has become an integral part of the organization’s commitment to bringing the works of the state’s composers to the forefront. Lowell Liebermann found inspiration for Barcarolles for a Sinking City in the city of Venice, but the four-movement work began with a somewhat dark view of the “Floating City.” The barcarolle, a song of the Venetian gondoliers, rolls along in a motion depicting a boat on waves. The opening Funeral Gondola of Liebermann’s work maintained the smooth roll, but dark melodies from solo instruments and sectional violins made it clear that this was not a sunny ride through canals.

The second movement paid direct tribute to the most well-known barcarolle in music with Liebermann’s incorporation of Jacques Offenbach’s Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann into a hymn-like orchestral fabric punctuated by unusual instrumental effects. Throughout the Quodlibet movement, refined instrumental solos came through the texture, including from trombonist Charles Baker, bass clarinetist Lino Gomez, and English horn player Andrew Adelson. The carillon effect of the third movement Ostinato/Carillon was created by the scoring of marimba and xylophone, contrasted by Alexandra Knoll’s eloquent oboe solo. Like Hungarian composer Bela Bartok (whose Concerto for Orchestra closed the concert program), Liebermann likes to explore all instruments of the orchestra, and Barcarolles for a Sinking City created a palette from a myriad of instrumental combinations and abrupt shifts in dynamics which were well-handled by the NJSO.

Mr. Lacombe turned his attention to virtuosity in Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, featuring a dazzling pianist in Texas native Adam Golka. Although only in his mid-20s, Mr. Golka has amassed an impressive array of credits, both as a recitalist and concerto soloist. Ravel’s concerto is short by concerto standards, but full of technically demanding passages within an impressionistic palette. The key to this performance was precision, beginning with the percussive snap which opened the first movement. Mr. Golka excelled in both languid and technically quick passages, showing very fluid playing against the orchestra’s light and crisp sound.

Ravel patterned the middle movement Adagio after the music of Mozart, leaving great opportunity for Mr. Golka’s sensitive playing. The steadiness of his left hand never stopped, with graceful counter melodies provided by flutist Bart Feller and English horn player Mr. Adelson. The NJSO brought out the jazz influences in the work with klezmer-like winds and fierce percussion in the closing passages of the work.

Bartok’s five-movement Concerto for Orchestra showed the capabilities of almost all the players in the orchestra, with solid lower strings in the opening movement and wind scales going in many different directions. This piece required vigorous playing from the strings, complemented by sweet timbres from the English horn, bass clarinet, and a pair of harps. Winds were kept busy with solos, including from Ms. Knoll and clarinetist Karl Herman, and pairs of winds effectively brought out the Eastern flavor of the work. A rare movement of double bass exposure in the third movement was contrasted by clean piccolo playing from Kathleen Nester as Mr. Lacombe gently tapered phrase endings amid the full sound of the orchestra. Mr. Lacombe also worked hard to build dynamics slowly, effectively closing the concert with the orchestra in robust form.

The Westminster Conservatory, which houses the Westminster Community Orchestra, has within its ranks a wealth of musical talent not often heard on area public stages. The Community Orchestra and conductor Ruth Ochs have a long relationship with Westminster Conservatory pianist Phyllis Alpert Lehrer (who performed with the orchestra last season) and this past weekend showcased another conservatory colleague in pianist Ena Bronstein Barton. Sunday afternoon’s concert by the Community Orchestra in Richardson Auditorium featured a Beethoven piano concerto played by Barton with both lyrical classicism and a bit of dramatic fire. 

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major had an auspicious start at its premiere in 1808, sandwiched among at least five other monumental works by Beethoven, but has since found its place in concerto repertory. A concerto from this period should be  marked by classical sparkle, and a pianist of Barton’s caliber would no doubt bring drama to the piece, and neither aspect of the performance disappointed the audience.

Barton opened the concerto with elegant but strong chords, cleanly answered by the strings. Both orchestra and soloist brought out the dynamic accents heard to the extreme in late Beethoven. Subtle instrumental solos by oboist Helen Ackley and flutist Judy Singleton complemented Barton as she launched into keyboard runs in the middle of the first movement. Barton used a bit more pedal than some might be used to in a piece from the early 19th century, but she maintained exceptional clarity, especially among parallel thirds as her hands flew over the keys.

Throughout the concerto, the Community Orchestra matched Barton’s level of virtuosity, as Ochs watched Barton carefully to keep ensemble and soloist exactly in time. Barton found intense fire in the cadenza to the first movement, with shades of drama amidst the long melodic scales and false cadences.

Ochs paired the Beethoven concerto with an expansive symphony by Antonin Dvorak, whose works contain complex ideas within small spaces and require great orchestral stamina to maintain musical intensity. In the opening movement of Dvorak’s 1884 Symphony no. 7 in D Major, Ochs brought out the rolling drama of the music with trumpets and trombones which were always clean. The first and fourth movements of this symphony had an overall dark character, but Dvorak can also be nimble and airy, and the oboes, clarinets, and flutes of the Community Orchestra aided in creating contrasting lighter sections.

The orchestra achieved its fullest sound of the afternoon toward the end of the first movement of the Dvorak, with a trio of clean horns paying homage to Wagner’s orchestration. Throughout the symphony, wind playing was precise, including solos from flutist Ms. Singleton, clarinetist Daniel Beerbohm, and oboist Ms. Ackley, and the winds particularly came to the forefront in the Trio of the third movement. Ochs whipped the orchestra into a frenzy for the close of the third movement Scherzo, with the rhythmic motives of the movement clear. This is a work which grew more settled within the players as the movements progressed, with the back row of brass, including trumpets, trombones, and tuba, always accurate. The fourth movement in particular contained a myriad of musical ideas, and the orchestra always managed to hang onto their focus to convey the complex instrumental palette.

The Dvorak symphony was an especially challenging work for the Westminster Community Orchestra, and Conductor Ochs was deservedly proud of the players following Sunday’s performance. The Beethoven concerto held the audience’s attention for Ms. Barton’s exceptional playing, and the Dvorak brought the Community Orchestra together to reach a demanding and difficult new performance height.

Each year at this time, Princeton takes on Yale in a football game that, for more than a century, has been bringing out the best in student competition. Over the same century, the Princeton and Yale Glee Clubs have presented a joint concert to kick off the weekend of collective school spirit and friendly rivalry. Glee clubs have a long tradition of fostering camaraderie but collegiate choral singing is not just for drinking and football songs anymore. This past Friday night’s “Centennial Football Concert” with the Princeton and Yale University Glee Clubs in Richardson Auditorium featured a challenging mixture of choral works, together with a commissioned premiere.

Princeton Glee Club conductor Gabriel Crouch and his Yale counterpart, Jeffrey Douma each programmed a range of music reflecting a variety of anniversaries as well as their own personal repertoire specialties. Following works by Brahms and Victoria, Dr. Douma led the Yale Glee Club in music of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including his own arrangements. In the Brahms piece, which opened the program, Douma found a Viennese flow to the music, showing off a light and clear sound from the sopranos in the Glee Club. In a refreshing piece by Mark Sirett, the 16-voice Yale Glee Club Chamber Singers demonstrated the same exact tuning under the direction of Yale Masters student Kathleen Allan.

Douma paid tribute to British composer John Tavener, who died this month, with a performance of Song for Athene, probably Tavener’s most well-known piece. Although the low choral drone was hard to hear from these young voices, the lone melodic lines were well sustained and harmonic shifts from major to minor were well executed. The singers achieved particular intensity on the text “Life: a shadow and a dream.” Douma closed his half of the concert with two of his own imaginative compositions, as well as a medley of football songs by historic Yale Glee Club conductor Fenno Heath, sung to the backdrop of the obligatory friendly heckling from the Princeton Glee Club members in the balcony.

Princeton Glee Club conductor Gabriel Crouch focused his half of the concert on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, acknowledging a myriad of anniversaries. Most significant was the choice of Herbert Howells’ Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing, composed for the funeral of President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago this week, and the Carol (Maiden in the Mor Lay) who would have turned 100 on the same date as Kennedy’s assassination. Interspersed throughout the Glee Club’s program were other unofficial anniversaries, including 400 years since the death of Carlo Gesualdo and 70 years since the death of Sergei Rachmaninoff, both composers of works in the concert. With his choice of the jazzy I’m a Train, Crouch may also have inadvertently paid tribute to the legendary “Princeton locomotive” cheer heard so often in Richardson Auditorium over the past decades.

In their opening selections from Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, the Princeton Glee Club presented large blocks of sound, with an effective flow to the music. Crouch kept the members of the nearly 80-voice Glee Club close together, allowing the solid chords to ring through Richardson as they would have resounded through spacious Russian churches. Commendable in the second selection Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda was mezzo-soprano soloist Saunghee Ko, who displayed a rich sound well beyond her years and complete ease with the low register of the solo.

Crouch’s conducting “bread and butter” is the music of late 19th-century and early 20th-century England, and he showed his mettle with the Glee Club in the music of C.V. Stanford and Herbert Howells. The harmonies in Stanford’s Beati quorum via unfolded luxuriantly from the women’s voices, and the difficult harmonies in Howells’ Take Him, Earth were well-handled by the chorus. Crouch showed a lighter side of the Glee Club Chamber Chorus in a double-chorus selection by Bach, with a polished and clear sound from the singers. He also gave a student the chance to lead the Glee Club, and Princeton senior Kamna Gupta showed that minimal conducting gestures can produce tremendous results in a crisp presentation of Britten’s Carol.

The two University Glee Clubs joined forces for a premiere of a work by Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi commissioned specifically for this occasion. The Famous Tay Whale, led by both conductors (each conducted their own respective chorus in tag-team conducting) was a jazzy and homophonic setting of humorous text appropriate for the concert. Pianists Paul Noh and Min Joo Yi well handled a keyboard accompaniment which was entertaining in itself.

As one can read elsewhere in this paper, Princeton beat Yale in the football game Saturday and is on its way to an Ivy title. Friday night’s performance by the two Glee Clubs showed that the students from these two Universities were well capable of handling complex and difficult choral music while asserting their places in their respective scholastic histories. Equally as important, this engaging concert also proved that healthy competition in a choral setting can do as much as sports to create fine young individuals in a college setting.

Between the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and next year’s 70th anniversary of D-Day (as well as a few World War I anniversaries) there are a myriad of opportunities to acknowledge the role of music in and around the military. War and anti-war songs and marches are straightforward in interpretation and role, but musical works inspired by times or literature of war are more subtle and pieces which link two completely different battle periods are especially intriguing. Princeton Pro Musica took advantage this past weekend of its opening concert’s close proximity to Veterans Day by presenting four works connected to U.S. involvement in war over the past two centuries. Pro Musica Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau found a common theme in works using the same poetry in some cases to showcase Pro Musica in precise choral form in both chamber and full force configuration.

Saturday night’s performance began with an acknowledgment by Dr. Brandau of veterans in the Richardson Auditorium audience, together with a musical tribute by Aaron Copland to all the “common men” involved in the war effort of World War II. One of ten fanfares commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony in 1942 (and the only to survive with any longevity), Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man has often been a go-to piece to convey patriotism, and the eleven brass players of the orchestra accompanying Pro Musica for the evening filled the hall with clean playing and spirit. The sectional sound from the trumpets, an unofficial instrument of battle, was especially vibrant and ringing.

Both early 20th-century British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and mid-20th century American composer Jeffrey Van musically set the poetry of Walt Whitman, in some cases the same poems. Vaughan Williams composed his choral/orchestral Dona Nobis Pacem from the depths of uncertainty between World Wars I and II, while Van’s 1990 A Procession Winding Around Me was inspired by the composer’s visit to the Civil War battlefield Gettysburg, and both pieces find commonality in the post-Civil War poetry of Whitman. Van’s four-movement work was scored for chorus and guitar (Van is a member of the guitar faculty at the University of Minnesota), and Dr. Brandau presented this piece with the 35-voice Pro Musica Chamber Chorus, accompanied by guitarist James Day.

Van’s setting of Whitman’s poems was primarily homophonic, with a clear-cut declamation of the text. The singers in the Pro Musica Chamber Chorus demonstrated clear diction, with a consistently well-blended sound (especially from the men) and with vowels reliably pure. The setting of the third poem, “Look Down Fair Moon,” was the hardest to tune (admirably achieved by the chorus), beginning with whistling as from afar and well accompanied by Mr. Day with guitar playing that was both accompanying and percussive. Van composed some particularly effective word painting passages in the fourth poem, “Reconciliation,” which ended the piece on a positive note.

The Dona Nobis Pacem of Vaughan Williams was textually more complex than Van’s work, combining verses from the Bible with Latin liturgical text and Whitman’s poetry. Vaughan Williams composed the six-movement free-flowing choral/orchestral work as a plea for peace, using chorus and orchestra with soprano and baritone soloists. Williams began the work with text from the last part of the Latin mass — starting right off in despair. Soprano JoEllen Miller consistently sang with pure and ethereal tone, contrasting with the chorus’s expression of past devastation and impending return to war. This composer wrote effectively for chorus, and the full forces of Pro Musica handled well the driving rhythms and demand for sustained sturdy sound.

The Civil War was a very different kind of war from World Wars I and II, yet Vaughan Williams brought Whitman’s poetry new meaning in the 20th century with sensitive orchestration and solo writing. Baritone Paul Max Tipton (who also sang an Edward Cone song setting poetry of 19th-century British poet Matthew Arnold) sang Vaughan Williams’ version of “Reconciliation” with compassion, aided by the full-bodied sound of the chorus and refined solo playing from oboist Carl Oswald. Soprano Miller returned periodically throughout the piece as the voice of the people, interpolating the text “dona nobis pacem” into Whitman’s verses. Throughout the Vaughan Williams work and the entire concert, the chorus, soloists, and orchestra together brought life to music paying tribute to the dead, and presented well these four pieces which are not heard often enough.

A crisp and sunny fall afternoon on Sunday contradicted the unifying theme among the works presented by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. Led by Music Director Rossen Milanov, the Princeton Symphony performed three pieces focused on “notions of death and the eternal,” two by Romantic composer Richard Strauss and one by contemporary American composer Aaron Jay Kernis. Despite the dark themes and intense musical tone, the Princeton Symphony played with sensitivity and continuous focus through some very challenging music.

Aaron Jay Kernis composed the three-movement Colored Field in 1994 as a concerto for English horn and orchestra. Rooted in the tragedy of World War II as interpreted by the composer himself through visits to Auschwitz and Birkenau, Colored Field uses the solo instrument as a voice of anguish. Following the work’s premiere, Mr. Kernis rescored the piece for solo cello and orchestra, and this was the version the Princeton Symphony brought to Richardson Auditorium Sunday afternoon. Joining the Symphony was soloist Susan Babini, principal cellist of The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and soloist in this piece’s East Coast premiere with Mr. Milanov’s other ensemble, Symphony in C. As solo cello has often represented a voice of pathos to composers, Ms. Babini had no trouble conveying the despairing vocal character of Mr. Kernis’ work.

Ms. Babini began Colored Field with a somewhat light but definitely intense tone, conveying simplicity while maintaining a musical dialog with oboist Rita Mitsel. The Princeton Symphony cleanly played the many repeated patterns in the first movement, as the solo cello line blended well into the orchestral fabric, but just a step or two apart from the ensemble in character.

Despite the complexities of the Kernis piece, the audience persevered in catching every nuance and musical gesture. Mr. Milanov kept conducting patterns strict, so that there was no question for the players as to where Colored Fields was going. The sound was rather harrowing at times in effect, and elegant wind solos (including from clarinetist Alexander Bedenko and bass clarinetist Sherry Hartman Apgar) were so well submerged in the texture that one had to look hard to see where the player was. Through it all, Ms. Babini maintained firm control over the intricate music, meeting both the virtuosic demands and the call for sweet melodic lines.

Mr. Milanov paired the Kernis piece with two programmatic works of the pioneering 19th-century composer Richard Strauss. Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) is one of Strauss’ most well-known symphonic poems, a form which Strauss brought to a zenith with lush orchestrations and unique combinations of instruments. Although based on a somewhat depressing story line (a man’s final days), Death and Transfiguration ends in uplifting fashion.

The symphonic poem began peacefully, with stylish wind solos, especially by Ms. Mitsel, accompanied by harpist Andre Tarantiles. An identical melodic fragment passed among players, from oboe to flutist Chelsea Knox, English horn player Nathan Mills, and concertmistress Basia Danilow. Notwithstanding the lavish orchestration, the work never sounded thick, with melodies clearly heard. This being Strauss, there was a heavy emphasis on brass in the texture, and the brass sections of the Princeton Symphony played cleanly, never allowing the music to become bombastic.

Mr. Milanov kept an even flow to the music, bringing out the heroic character which is inherent in many Strauss symphonic poems. The Princeton Symphony extended this flow into frenzy in the closing work on Sunday’s program — “Salome’s Dance” from Strauss’ opera Salome. This high-spirited operatic excerpt began with a brisk Middle Eastern musical effect, with a snake-charmer melody from Ms. Mitsel, who carried the bulk of the melodic work of the piece. Rich unison upper strings contrasted with steady celli and harp, and Strauss’ unusual percussion effects added to the seductive character. Mr. Milanov whipped the Princeton Symphony into an appropriate frenzy, but the music always gracefully returned to the Middle Eastern melodies from the winds.

These three works may have been rooted in concepts of death, but Sunday afternoon’s program by the Princeton Symphony was subtitled “Eternal Light,” recognizing the optimism beneath each piece. This was a very challenging program for the players, who more than rose to the occasion, but may well have felt they had been through the “Dance of the Seven Veils” themselves by the end.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) subtitled its concert series this past weekend “Lacombe & Gluzman.” This moniker referred to the conductor of the concert and the soloist in its featured work, but the descriptive title was so much more. NJSO Music Director Jacques Lacombe and Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman have had a long performance history together, and this combination of conductor and soloist took a rarely-heard musical gem to new heights. Although this concert series was not presented in the NJSO’s home base of Newark’s NJPAC, audiences in the other four venues (including Richardson Auditorium Friday night) were treated to an extraordinary three-way partnership among conductor, violinist, and orchestral ensemble.

The piece which Mr. Gluzman brought to life was Leonard Bernstein’s programmatic Serenade for Violin and Orchestra. Composed between 1953 and 1954, this five-movement work inspired by Plato’s philosophical text Symposium reminded the audience at Richardson of Bernstein’s legacy as one of the great melodists in music history. Bernstein orchestrated this piece uniquely for strings, harp, a wide range of percussion, and a solo violin, whose line was at times contrary to the ensemble and other times a precise and integrated part of the orchestral fabric.

Mr. Gluzman began the opening movement solo line with both confidence and inquisitiveness into the melodic depth of the Serenade and its emotional impact. Melodies were expressively passed back and forth across the stage as the NJSO demonstrated rich sectional playing from violas and celli. Mr. Gluzman’s energy was limitless, matching the jazz elements in the music and showing that this soloist lives the music he performs. In several of the movements, the solo line never stopped (often with virtuosic demands) and Mr. Gluzman seemed to make a particular effort to play in solidarity with the first violin section, executing perfect timing with pizzicato strings and punctuating harp. Intensity throughout the work was built by the extended percussion section, complementing well Bernstein’s poignant musical dialog among soloist, strings, and percussion.

Mr. Lacombe preceded this work with the light and airy Hector Berlioz Overture to Beatrice and Benedict, and followed it with the substantial Symphony No. 4 in F minor by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The Berlioz work sustained a bit of French quirkiness, with very crisp and clean orchestral playing from the ensemble as a whole. Instrumental solos, especially from flutist Bart Feller and oboist Melanie Feld provided elegance against rich string playing and clear-cut trios of trumpets and trombones. Mr. Lacombe effectively ended sections gracefully and whipped the orchestra into a grand finish to the Overture.

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 was a myriad of musical personalities as the composer was consumed with fatalism, yet conveyed final hope at the conclusion of the four abundant movements. The opening Fate motive was cleanly presented by the brass in a crisp Classical style, as Mr. Lacombe kept the mood driven and forceful. The concurrent melodic line from bassoonist Robert Wagner and clarinetist Karl Herman sounded as one instrument, with very light strings toward the end of the first movement. Throughout the symphony, the players maintained control over accelerandos at the ends of movements, while at the same time allowing instrumental solos to be heard.

Oboist Ms. Feld demonstrated a pastoral and continuous line in the poignant second movement, echoed by the cello section and answered at times by flutist Mr. Feller. Like Bernstein, Tchaikovsky was a great melodist, most evident in the second movement Andantino, and these tunes were made all the more touching by the juxtaposition of a languorous melody against incisive wind flourishes and instrumental echoes.

The third movement was uniquely scored for extended pizzicato strings, an unusual effect which is not easy to pull off as a large orchestra. The collective result of ensemble pizzicato against the intervening wind passages, combined with the dynamic ranges found by the players in the closing movements, accentuated the pathos and tenderness of the symphony, and brought the concert to an eloquent close.

Along with fellow Hungarian Zoltan Kodaly, composer Béla Bartók was one of the early leaders in the emerging field of ethnomusicology in the 20th century. Both of these composers wrote standard works in addition to their research into indigenous music of their native region, including in Bartók’s case six string quartets. The Takács String Quartet, founded at Budapest’s Liszt Academy in 1975, presented back-to-back performances in Richardson Auditorium last week of all six Bartók quartets, treating those who chose to attend both nights insight into the unique harmonies and musical complexities of this composer.

Friday night’s concert at Richardson featured Quartets No. 2, 4, and 6 (No. 1, 3 and 5 were performed the night before) to a sold-out house which seemed to have no trouble assimilating the intricacies of Bartók’s music. String Quartet No. 2, composed a decade after Bartók’s first quartet, came to be as Europe was immersed in World War I. Bartók captured the melancholy of the times in this quartet through its slow movements — the piece seems to be missing the usual final movement which might end on an upbeat note. Although Bartók did not quote any regional folksongs specifically in this quartet, the minor third interval prevalent in Hungarian folk tunes was a structural cell and theme of the piece.

Of the four original members of the Takács Quartet, second violinist Károly Schranz and cellist András Fejér continue to play with the ensemble, joined by first violinist Edward Dusinberre and violist Geraldine Walther. In Quartet No. 2’s opening movement, each player in the Takács seemed to be playing in their own individual world, yet came to rest periodically in rare moments of tranquility. This quartet had several waves of musical activity, perhaps reflecting the chaotic state of the world at the time. Amidst the shifting musical sections were gems of solo playing, including Mr. Dusinberre’s sweet violin melody against strummed cello, rich low viola passages from Ms. Walther and an elegant cello melody in the third movement.

Contrasting the melancholy nature of Quartet No. 2 was Quartet No. 4, with four quick movements split to bracket a mournful Lento. This quartet contained intense entrances and driving rhythms which were well handled by the Takács players. The musicians were uniform in their handling of the technical demands of the Bartók work, executing forceful bow strokes, double and triple stops and the “con sordino” (with mutes) effects of the second movement.

Bartók composed Quartet No. 6 on the edge of World War II, just before Bartók came permanently to the United States. Each of the four movements was preceded by a Mesto or motto, the first of which was a mournful tune played by Ms. Walther. Despite its desolate start, Quartet No. 4 becomes quite light through the first movement with teasing melodic lines and a very sweet ending to the first movement. Mr. Fejér effectively provided the Mesto to the second movement and the saucy rhythms and jazzy nature of the movement were contrasted with a dramatic second violin line played by Mr. Schranz. The Mestos grew in intensity with each movement, until all instruments were playing together for the third and fourth movements. The Mesto to the third movement may have been rich in texture, but the tuning effects called for by Bartók for the second violin made one’s hair stand on end. The Takács players also found a wide variety of vibrato effects in the closing movement.

The Takács String Quartet is not a regular visitor to Richardson Auditorium, but the musicians clearly feel at home in the space. Cellist Fejér claims that the Quartet loves Richardson’s “classic, amphitheater-like shape, coming all the way from ancient Greece, which has been the ideal acoustical layout” for the ensemble’s concerts. The sold-out house at Richardson would no doubt agree that the Takács String Quartet is welcome back anytime.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra has taken the concept of collaboration to new heights this year with its opening “Classical Series” concert this past weekend. With a musical program inspired by identifying what is uniquely “American” in music and centered on a work based on the Jacob Lawrence “Migration Series” set of paintings, the Princeton Symphony created an entire weekend of “Migration Project” activities, including discussions with the composer, a family festival, and art projects, all of which were achieved in partnership with a number of Princeton cultural and educational organizations. Princeton Symphony’s opening weekend culminated in a performance by the ensemble, on Sunday afternoon in Richardson Auditorium, of two American musical favorites and a New Jersey premiere, all commemorating the 150^th anniversary of the emancipation proclamation. 

With some new faces on the roster, the Princeton Symphony opened Sunday afternoon’s concert with Aaron Copland’s suite from Appalachian Spring, a work considered representative of the American spirit. Although not directly related to a visual work of art, Copland’s Appalachian Spring could easily be connected with the broad Pennsylvania landscapes of Andrew Wyeth. Princeton Symphony Orchestra conductor Rossen Milanov opened the suite with a broad musical palette, capturing the image of the sun rising on an open field, aided by clarinetist Alexander Bedenko’s opening solo. Mr. Milanov kept the orchestral texture muted, allowing the solo lines, including oboist Nick Masterson and flutist Mary Schmidt, to speak freely. A quick transition to the second section was handled well by the ensemble as the strings and a pair of flutes were well-timed with one another. Mr. Bedenko and Mr. Masterson had a great deal of musical interplay throughout the suite, and Mr. Bedenko in particular showed himself to be an understated yet expressive player. Especially effective in the close of the piece were a bassoon and oboe duet (played by Seth Baer and Mr. Masterson, respectively) and the graceful presentation of the “Simple Gifts” theme by the viola section against pizzicato strings and offbeat winds.

Considered equally as American as Copland but on another musical spectrum was George Gershwin, whose 1935 Porgy and Bess has been revered for its inventiveness and has generated a number of symphonic arrangements. Symphonic Picture, compiled and orchestrated by noted arranger Richard Rodney Bennett, took eleven of the opera’s great tunes and set them for an orchestra augmented by unique instrumentation, including a trio of saxophones and a banjo. Mr. Milanov began Symphonic Picture with bell-like effects, complemented by an elegant English horn solo played by Nathan Mills. With a bit of swing throughout the work, the Princeton Symphony drew out the teasing atmosphere of “Bess, You is my Woman Now” and the elements of big band style from the winds and brass. This was a very full orchestra, but one could hear such details as the banjo solo on “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin,” accompanied by flute and harp. This piece not only fit in well with the theme of the concert, but also was clearly fun for the musicians to play.

The defining piece of Sunday’s program was the New Jersey premiere of Migration Series, a five-movement work by award-winning American composer Derek Bermel, whose musical output crosses several genres. Mr. Bermel drew inspiration for this work from the Lawrence “Migration Series” set of 60 paintings (one of which was displayed in the Princeton University Art Museum for this performance). The Princeton Symphony was pared back to a small ensemble and was joined onstage by the Juilliard jazz orchestra, prepared by James Burton. The talented students of the jazz orchestra carried the bulk of the performing work in this piece, especially impressive were solos by trumpeter Joe Boga and trombonist Andy Clausen.

Mr. Milanov took a step back from conducting at times, allowing the jazz club atmosphere to prevail. The second movement of Migration Series, with its walking blues piano and gospel melodies, was especially accessible, but as might happen in a jazz club, there were times when there was an impression of musical chaos, which is not for everyone. The third movement seemed to be the most technically difficult, with the composer himself playing a mean clarinet accompanied by a combo of drums and bass. An amazing display of musical “banter” among three trombones marked a later section of the piece, as Mr. Bermel well captured the concept of “urban chatter” in musical form.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra “Migration Series Project” was by no means limited to this past weekend; related events took place in September and will continue well into the fall at locations throughout the community. If each program of the symphony includes this in-depth a range of activities, there will surely be something for everyone as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra continues to make its mark on the region.

The Princeton University department of music launched its 2013-14 season last Friday night with an old friend. The Brentano String Quartet, Performers-in-Residence at the University, set an elegant and precise tone for the year with a link of late Classical and early Romantic music with the Princeton premiere of a work by a well-established local composer. The very attentive audience in Richardson Auditorium paid careful attention to the Brentano’s musical details in the music of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and department of music chair Steven Mackey.

Ludwig van Beethoven redefined the string quartet form, but his 1800 String Quartet in D Major (the third of Opus 18) was pretty tame by Beethoven standards, refreshing in its sweet motives, but with just enough of a twist to keep the audience on its toes. The members of the Brentano String Quartet — violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violist Misha Amory, and cellist Nina Lee — gelled immediately from the first movement Allegro, timing accents and sforzandi together and gracefully presenting the melodies. The chorale-like beginning of the second movement was leanly played by the lower strings, contrasting with Mr. Steinberg’s teasing first violin. The quartet uniformly increased intensity and dynamics throughout the movement with a deliberate and clean ending. Following a smoothly-flowing triple meter Allegro, the Brentano Quartet closed the work joyously with moments of elegance, rather than the usual decisive chords and cadences.

Steven Mackey’s One Red Rose was commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Nasher Center of Dallas, Texas in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Brentano Quartet will play the three-part work on November 22 of this year, the actual anniversary date, in Dallas, combining the piece with spoken remembrances of that dark day in 1963 (members of the Richardson Auditorium were invited to contribute to the taped recollections). Mackey has incorporated many sounds of that weekend into the piece — repeated strokes from the cello recall the drums of the funeral caisson, sirens can be heard in the violin lines, and the music often breaks its mood abruptly, much the same way the original news rolled jarringly through the country and the world.

In the same way as the day of 11/22/63, One Red Rose required great intensity and concentration. Dr. Mackey divided the first part into Five Short Studies, each of which was slightly different in character. Beginning with a mournful second violin, sounding as if from afar, One Red Rose opened with a series of repeated patterns accompanied by drumbeat and drone from cellist Lee. With a bell-like second section and more melodic third section, Five Short Studies well captured the juxtaposition of control and chaos so prevalent both that day and for much of the remaining decade. The Brentano Quartet played relentlessly, with sudden emphasis when appropriate and often falling back on a more reflective texture.

Especially in the third section Anthem and Aria, universal mourning can be heard in the cello, accompanied by rich and melodic playing from the two violins and viola. One Red Rose closed with rich lushness from the Brentano’s four players.

The Brentano Quartet returned to a classical giant for the closing work on the program. Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in D Major, Opus 44, No. 1 began with all the freshness of the composer’s Italian Symphony and a rhythmic drive characteristic of the early 19th century. The Brentano’s overall sound in this light and airy piece was well contained and calm, keeping the rhythmic patterns moving and the dynamics under control. The violins kept the music flowing like a river in the second movement Menuetto, with especially smooth eighth notes from Mr. Steinberg in the Trio. Mr. Steinberg and Ms. Canin provided a gentle and songlike duet over pizzicato lower strings in the third movement Andante, ending the movement especially delicately.

The Brentano String Quartet has a long history with Princeton University, and in this concert last week, Richardson Auditorium seemed like home to the players. The new concert season has begun with the bar set high, and the Brentano’s performance has put everyone in the mood for great music for the fall.

William and Judith Scheide clearly have deep roots in Princeton, but until this past week, no one in the community knew about their strong connection to the Philadelphia Orchestra. From his earliest days at Princeton University, Mr. Scheide was a Friday afternoon concert-goer to Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, where he no doubt reveled in the orchestra’s rendition of Leopold Stokowski’s lush arrangements of Bach. Judith Scheide also attended Philadelphia Orchestra concerts, perhaps unknowingly at the same performances as Mr. Scheide. The stars converged last Wednesday night as the Scheides, conductor Mark Laycock (no stranger to the orchestra himself) and “Those Fabulous Philadelphians” came together at Richardson Auditorium for the annual Scheide Midsummer Celebration. The Philadelphia Orchestra has not performed in Princeton since 1964, and although many Princetonians likely make the journey to the Orchestra’s new home at the Kimmel Center, there is nothing like the ensemble’s clean, precise and rich playing in Princeton’s own backyard.

The legendary Philadelphia Orchestra “sound” has changed since the days of Eugene Ormandy’s performance at McCarter Theatre in 1964. Once heavy on string sonorities and legato playing, principal conductors since Ormandy, most notably Wolfgang Sawallisch and Christoph Eschenbach, crafted a leaner and more supple string sound and introduced a number of young players into the ensemble, adding to the Orchestra’s musical vibrancy. Wednesday night’s concert of refreshing and energetic works showed a wide range of dynamic and stylistic nuance, and it was clear that conductor Mark Laycock was having a great time painting on the Philadelphia Orchestra palette.

Sergei Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony No. 1 in D Major is one of the composer’s most popular works, but not many ensembles can execute it at the speed at which Mr. Laycock began the opening Allegro movement. Ultimate precision marked this performance, whether it was a pair of bassoons against pizzicato violins, the internal winds of the third movement Gavotta or timpanist Don Liuzzi finding an incredible range of dynamics — always on the front edge of the rhythm. Conducting from memory, Mr. Laycock was thoroughly comfortable with all the works on the program, and the Prokofiev was an effective way to reintroduce the Philadelphia Orchestra to the Princeton community.

Carl Maria von Weber’s opera overtures have survived almost more successfully than the operas themselves, and his Overture to Oberon well captured the early 19th-century German musical preoccupation with magic and the supernatural. Particularly marked by Jeffrey Lang’s clear and resonant horn solo, rich sectional playing from the violas and celli, and a languorous clarinet solo from Samuel Caviezel, the orchestra’s performance of this Overture emphasized the same dynamic rises in intensity as can be heard in Weber’s more familiar Overture to Der Freischütz.

The Philadelphia Orchestra demonstrated its ability to deftly shift musical gears as Mr. Laycock led the instrumentalists through the seven-part set of Variations on a Theme Of Haydn by Johannes Brahms. Remarkably light and airy in orchestration (especially the combination of winds and lower strings, and clarinets and horns), the Brahms work was led by Mr. Laycock with effective changes in tempo and character as the ensemble reached its fullest sound half-way through. The seventh variation in particular showed a nice lilt and smooth blend of sound within the Baroque Siciliano form.

The orchestra reached its height of majestic power in Robert Schumann’s Spring Symphony, full of characteristic youthful energy and rich chorale textures. A programmatic work in its connection to poetry, Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major was full of difficult stops and starts which the orchestra handled well, and smooth transitions between sections, especially in the third movement alternation of Scherzos and Trios. The fourth movement Allegro Animato was played with a strong emphasis on animato, evoking the playfulness of summer. A spirited encore of the Overture to Glinka’s opera Russlan and Ludmilla brought a grand and glorious finish to a summer concert which has become equally as grand a tradition in the community.

In the 2012 film A Late Quartet, the story of a fictional string quartet’s struggles toward possible dissolution, the second violinist character suggested switching chairs with the first violinist so he could take a turn leading the ensemble. The idea was met with horror from the rest of the ensemble, suggesting that maybe there is a hierarchy between violinists in a string quartet. The Amphion String Quartet proved this theory wrong in their performance last Tuesday night as violinists Katie Hyun and David Southorn easily traded chairs for three principal works on the program. In the penultimate concert of the Princeton University Summer Concert series, the Amphion Quartet’s performance at Richardson Auditorium was a crisp and meticulous presentation of music of the 19th century.

Ms. Hyun and Mr. Southorn, joined by violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin and cellist Mihai Marica, devoted the first half of the program to Franz Schubert. Schubert’s String Quartet No. 9 in G minor alternated between drama and grace, colored by a fierce and tragic character heard in other Schubert works in the same key. The Amphion players demonstrated a youthful sound, with Mr. Southorn leading the ensemble well as first violin. The first movement Allegro, demanded intense playing from the upper strings, with Mr. Marica providing delicate cello background.

Schubert was one of the great melodists of music history, which could be heard in the second movement Andantino. The quartet overall paid close attention to subtle classical upbeats, maintaining a great deal of tension in sequential passages. The movement was marked by a graceful dialog between first violin and cello in which Mr. Marica’s bow seemed to barely touch the strings yet the sound echoed through the hall.

Like the Dorian Wind Quintet last week, the Amphion String Quartet turned to a contemporary composer for a new twist on 19th-century music, in this case American composer Bruce Adolphe. The Brentano String Quartet commissioned Mr. Adolphe in 2010 to put a 21st-century spin on the 40-bar Andante passage from Schubert’s unfinished Quartet in C minor. Mr. Adolphe’s one-movement Fra(nz)g-mentation, led by Ms. Hyun as first violinist, was more jarring than Schubert’s completed work would have been. Mr. Marica opened and closed the work with a cello soliloquy, with more heard from Mr. Lin on viola than in the Schubert original.

The Amphion Quartet gave the second half of the concert over to a not-often heard String Quartet No. 1 in G minor of Edvard Grieg, composed with significant Nordic influence, beginning with the unison “Spillamaed” song which opened the first movement. This four-movement work was both dramatic and romantic, with continual rise and fall of tension. The first movement melody played by first violinist Mr. Southorn was backed by an icy and stark accompaniment from the other three instruments. A dialog between cello and viola in the first movement demonstrated an almost indiscernible timbre between the two instruments, as Mr. Marica utilized the upper register of the cello. This work also included a number of gypsy-like passages, which the Amphion Quartet played with great flourish and uniformity in bowing and rhythm.

The relatively young Amphion String Quartet (founded in 2009) has had considerable success in its short history, including competition wins, a Carnegie Hall debut, and an overseas tour. Their performance last week at Richardson was another case of the Princeton Summer Concerts series giving audiences a chance to hear young and up-and-coming performers on their way to their destinies as top-quality ensembles.