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October 11, 2007
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A side order of Bach, please No rule requires classical music to be played by musicians wearing formalwear and heard by people dressed in their Sunday best. Yes, it’s a long-standing tradition, one rooted mostly in respect for the music. But it’s not a law. So for those not into dress-up, there are still plenty of chances in the local area to hear classical music without renting a tux. And in Manchester, among the best is the series of free lunchtime concerts run each year by the Manchester Community Music School. Dubbed “Music’s on the Menu,” the monthly series gives music school faculty a chance to perform classical works out in the community in an informal setting. For audiences, it’s a chance to eat lunch with a side order of live classical music. Concerts are held the third Wednesday of the month from October to May at Grace Episcopal Church in downtown Manchester, and they’re truly informal. In addition to the music, you sometimes hear audience members unwrapping sandwiches and crunching potato chips. Purists may frown, but it’s a successful combo. In the two years since their inception, the “Music’s on the Menu” concerts have enjoyed steadily increasing attendance. Sometimes as many as 100 people pack the pews for the concerts, which run the gamut from classical to jazz, from instrumental to vocal. The opening concert of its third season, set for Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 12:10 p.m., features Infinities, a woodwind quartet made up of local musicians Judy Teehan on flute, clarinetist Stephanie Ratte, Eleanor Taylor on bassoon, and oboeist Margaret Herlehey. If you’ve never heard a woodwind quartet live, this “Spanning the Globe” program is a great chance to hear a group of good local players, though don’t expect the old “ABC Wide World of Sports” fanfare. The church is located at the corner of Lowell and Pine streets in downtown Manch. For more info, call 644-4548, or visit mcmusicschool.org. • Babb and Lopez, Take 2: A week after teaming up for the first-ever concert of the Palace Festival Orchestra in Manchester, conductor Robert C. Babb and local pianist George Lopez joined forces for the season-opening concert of the Concord-based Granite State Symphony Orchestra. Held Saturday, Oct. 6, at Concord’s City Auditorium, the concert featured a fine realization of Chopin’s dreamy Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. Throughout the work, Lopez employed a smooth, gentle touch in keeping with the score, never hammering away and at times coaxing the music from the keyboard. Especially effective were passages in the nocturne-like second movement that ended by seemingly fading into thin air, a type of playing for which Lopez has a particular gift. Lopez topped it all, however, with his encore: a heartfelt Chopin solo nocturne in honor of clarinetist Julie Vaverka, a well-known local musician who died last week. The moment was real, and emotion was genuine, and Lopez matched it with music that brought everyone into the moment, making it all unforgettable. On the podium, Babb opened by leading a gutsy and virile rendition of Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont. The concluding work, Mozart’s sublime ‘Jupiter’ Symphony No. 41, is always worth a listen, and the Granite State musicians did a fine job, though an occasional lack of ensemble focus kept the performance somewhat earthbound. • Mozart’s ‘Jupiter,’ Take 2: In case you missed Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in Concord last weekend, the Nashua Symphony plays the same work later this month. On Saturday, Oct. 20, guest conductor Karla Lemon tackles Mozart’s masterwork in a varied program that also includes an elegant Concerto Grosso by Handel, Stravinsky’s exciting Firebird Suite No. 2, and a relatively new work (from 1991) called “Fratres” by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Lemon, who guest-conducted the orchestra’s ambitious “Ripple Effect” new music concert last March, is one of four finalists auditioning this season in Nashua to succeed longtime conductor Royston Nash, who recently stepped down after 21 seasons on the podium. The concert is Saturday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. at Nashua’s Keefe Auditorium. Tickets are $10 to $47; for more info, call 595-9156 or visit nashuasymphony.org.
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10/4/2007 More than a contender 9/27/2007 The curtain goes up
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