NCO teams up with Daverne and Rott in sold-out concert

NCO teams up with Daverne and Rott in sold-out concert

By Elise A. Sulaiman

JAKARTA (JP): Classical music lovers should be proud of the
Nusantara Chamber Orchestra's nearly perfect performance at
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta earlier this week.

It was successful not because the tickets were sold out, but
because of the performance itself.

The concert displayed excellent teamwork between the NCO and
the conductor, Gary Daverne, who comes from a different
background and culture. Daverne's conducting showed his personal
touch and ability to create a setting that is enjoyable both for
the players and the audience.

Daverne is a professional conductor with extensive overseas
experience, having just concluded a series of concerts in Turkey,
Portugal and in England with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
In March 1996, he conducted the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
in a classical outdoor extravaganza before an audience of
120,000.

Daverne, who has held the position of musical director of the
Auckland Symphony Orchestra for 20 years, is well-known in
television, radio, and the recording industry as a composer,
arranger, and musical director.

The evening began with the concert overture Youth of Auckland
composed by Daverne for Auckland's Secondary Schools Youth
Orchestra, where he taught economics, accounting and music. Many
of the songs and repertoires that he has composed for his
students remain very popular and are regularly performed. His
decision to perform Youth as an opening was suitable for the
young and dynamic NCO musicians.

During the performance, some parts dragged a bit, but Daverne
brought back the emotion with a perfect ending. The NCO had the
talent and knowledge to play the piece but perhaps needed a
little more experience and self-confidence.

In the second half, the NCO presented Symphony No. 5 in E
minor, Op. 95 by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). The symphony opened
with an introduction marked with adagio, which led to a vigorous
allegro molto. The first movement was introduced by French horns.
The second theme was taken from Bohemian folk characters with a
modal flavor and was quickly modified to suit the demands of the
full orchestra.

Daverne successfully expressed the character of Dvorak in the
symphony called From the New World, which was composed during
Dvorak's three-year stay in America. There were many things in
the New World which fascinated him, as he kept telling his
students in New York: "These beautiful and varied melodies are
product of the soil. They are American, and a composer must
return to them. Only in this way can a musician express the true
sentiment of the people."

And so did Daverne. Many parts of the movement from this
symphony contained Native American and African American
characteristics.

Cellist

The concert was closed with Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104,
composed by Dvorak with Reynard Rott, a young and talented
cellist. He has a strong character in expressing Dvorak's piece.

Rott started playing the cello when he was three years old and
was studying the Suzuki method by the age of seven. Currently 21
years of age, he won many regional and state competitions before
enrolling at the Curtis Institute at the age of 16. Two years
later, he transferred to Juilliard where he completed his
Bachelor's degree in cello performance under the tutelage of Joel
Krosnick last May.

Despite having the flu and a runny nose, he was able to finish
the whole concerto and still enhance the performance of the NCO
musicians.

In the second theme, which many consider one of the loveliest
melodies ever written by Dvorak, the cellist played smoothly and
beautifully. There was a similar atmosphere in the openings of
the New World symphony and the Cello Concerto.

The third movement opened dramatically with a march rhythm.
The melodious middle section was followed by a section where the
concerto reached its enharmonic major in which the solo joined
the first violin in a duet of passionate tenderness. All doubts
about the nasal quality of the cello's high notes and the
mumbling of the bass quickly faded away.

The NCO performance with Gary Daverne and Reynard Rott was a
great combination of teamwork, youth and experience.