Bobby McDuffie - The Seasons Project

Bobby McDuffy & The Venice Baroque Orchestra performed The Seasons Project at the Lensic. Of course, the place holder was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. This was the most dynamic performance of VFS that I have ever heard. The musicianship was incredible, energetic & pushing the envelope, especially McDuffy. His rapore with the orchestra was palpable & often playful. Several years ago McDuffy approached Phillip Glass about writing a companion piece to VFS. Glass composed his Violin Concerto #2 - The American Four Seasons for McDuffy in 2009. The piece is vintage Glass and the third & fourth movements were powerful. McDuffy was soloing for nearly the entire piece & played with passion. They are doing a 28 city tour of this program, which is hard to imagine given how demanding it is on him! Debbie knew him at the Aspen Music Festival, so big hugs ensued after the performance.

Songs of the Earth

Susan Graham, mezzo soprano, & Paul Groves, tenor, sang Mahler's Songs of the Earth at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Mahler titled this 65 minute piece as "Symphony for Tenor & Alto Voice and Orchestra", and this is a great description. The voices & orchestra are perfectly melded . Both voices in this performance were well suited for this wonderful music. I generally prefer sopranos to mezzo's, but Graham's gorgeous voice is my favorite mezzo. Her singing tonight was sonic ambrosia. Grove's clear tenor was exactly what this music called for, he deserves a wider audience.