Chamber Orchestra :) - Bethany Hensel

So I'll be honest and admit something that shames me: Up until recently - and I'm talking about just last Sunday - I didn't know what a chamber orchestra was.  I mean, I knew kind of what it  was, but I didn't know any specifics.  I knew a chamber orchestra was smaller than a regular orchestra, but that's it.  

I know...shameful.  I pride myself on my cultural sensibilities, and I didn't know one of the most basic words in the lexicon.  Chamber Orchestra.  

But let me assure you all...I know what it is now.  Thanks to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, I am now well-versed in all things chamber orchestra. 

I know now that a chamber orchestra really is just a smaller scale orchestra.  It still has the winds and the brass and strings and everything else...but just on a smaller scale.

I know now that a chamber orchestra does indeed have a conductor.  Lawrence Loh, impeccable and incredible, exemplified charisma and charm as he led the PSO Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, during a performance that included works by Honegger, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, and Beethoven.  

I know now that a chamber orchestra is just as powerful as an orchestra of 100.  As I was sitting in Upper St. Clair High school's auditorium, I couldn't help but be marveled by the sheer force of the music. It didn't just fill that auditorium, but I think I saw the walls bend as the sound waves crashed against them.  Impressive doesn't begin to cover that sound I heard last Sunday. 

I know now that the PSO Chamber Orchestra can put on one heck of a show.  They had two soloist on Sunday, violinist Christopher Wu performing a jaunty, energetic Concertino de Printemps, and James Gortoon, oboe extraordinnaire who brought to life a very stunning Adagio for Oboe and Strings. 

Finally, I know now what I've been missing all these years.  I know now that the PSO Chamber Orchestra is something I definitely want to see again.  

Chamber orchestras aren't really all that different from a regular orchestra.  They just went in the spin cycle and shrank a few sizes...so to speak.  But they're still just as fashionable, wonderful, and pleasing to both ears and eyes as anything else.  

  

Comments

[Wilhelm]

kind of ironic given the news: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09085/958557-388.stm?cmpid=music.xml