The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s upcoming concert, "Ebb and Flow", promises to immerse audiences in the vibrant movement and emotion suggested by its title. Music Director Guillaume Pirard explains that the program “in first, an obvious way... contains the ebb and flow of liquid, of water, of the ocean,” especially evident in the opening work, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. “It’s quite programmatic in the way it sounds,” Pirard says, “describing the feeling that we have when we are on the ocean and maybe around that kind of quite rugged terrain.”
That motif carries through to the concert’s closer, Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. According to Pirard, “the very beginning gesture is one of... going left, going right, that never stops. And that’s kind of really like the DNA of the piece. And so it seemed like an appropriate title for a concert.”
The middle of the program features Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto in E minor, a work that broke several conventions. “Normally, in a violin concerto like Mozart, for example, the orchestra goes on for quite a while before the solo instrument comes in. But right off the bat, there’s the violin,” Pirard notes. “There’s something about Mendelssohn that... feels very easy to be jealous of when you see... his disposition towards life.”
Violin soloist Johnny Gandelsman brings a unique artistry to the performance. “I don’t know anybody who has the technique that he has,” says Pirard, describing Gandelsman’s playing as “an exhibition of sensitivity and an aesthetic that has quite disappeared in the 20th century.” Pirard adds, “There’s real integrity throughout,” whether Gandelsman is performing Bach, Philip Glass, or Schubert.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra presents Ebb and Flow on Saturday, November 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Ford Hall on the Ithaca College campus, with a pre-concert chat at 6:30. The program includes Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, his Violin Concerto in E minor with soloist Johnny Gandelsman, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. For tickets and more information, visit the orchestra’s website at ccoithaca.org