Orchestra

Orchestra

The Nusantara Chamber Orchestra has done it again! Their
program on April 3 was an absolute delight. It had two high
points. The first was the performance of Samuel Barber's Adagio
for Strings Opus 11. This singularly exquisite piece of music was
performed sufficiently well to produce an issuance of rheum at
the corner of my eyes and somehow conjured within me the
impression that it expressed the sigh of a great entity like an
ocean or even the planet itself.

Further it brought to mind an idea expressed in a lecture
given by the acclaimed British mystic Sir John Trevelyan in 1969
at which time he said that when a fine piece of music is
performed "geometries of light are created in the subtle realms."
I thought at the time that this was rather poetic manner of
speaking but as Barber's opus built into its crescendo and fell
back again I had the distinct impression that this was actually
happening.

The second high point occurred when Myrna Setiawan came to the
stage to give a passionate and robust interpretation of a
Rachmaninov piano concerto. What a pleasure it was to see this
beautiful and talented pianist giving Rachmaninov's moody and
technically difficult composition a real dusting off--and without
recourse to the sheet music either!

To the NCO - a great evening, thanks.

NARISH STOCK

Jakarta