Jason Hardink
Jason Hardink has always liked programming works by Utah composers on the NOVA Chamber Music Series. But more than one work by the same local composer on the same concert is somewhat unusual. Yet that’s what’s being dished up on the series’ final concert of the season this coming Sunday afternoon.
The three works by Quaglia includes a NOVA commission, L’Acqua Alta, for viola, piano and an ensemble consisting of woodwinds, brass and percussion. Soloing will be Utah Symphony principal viola Brant Bayless and Hardink, who, besides being NOVA’s artistic director, is also the Utah Symphony’s principal keyboard.
Hardink told Reichel Recommends that it’s been hard work, but also very satisfying, to prepare and rehearse the concerto. “Brant and I started rehearsing together a while ago,” and the piece has been coming together nicely. Hardink added that Bayless’ part is a little more strenuous than his. “His part is harder to realize than mine. He’s having to sweat more.”
The concerto is in three parts. “In the first two we alternate, but in the third we’re equal partners,” Hardink said. He also said it’s beautifully orchestrated. “The orchestral writing is very colorful. Bruce is careful in paying attention to how the timbre of the instruments relate. It’s very sensitively orchestrated.”
Bruce Quaglia
L’Acqua Alta, or “high water,” was inspired by a trip Quaglia took to Venice, Italy, and time he spent in New Orleans. “The title refers to a seasonal occurrence in Venice,” Hardink said. “The work isn’t programmatic, but there is a layer dealing with the culture and geography of these places that lies underneath the writing.”
Conducting the concerto will be Timothy Weiss, whom Hardink knows from his days at Oberlin Conservatory where Weiss is the new music director. “I trust him with this repertoire, because he has tons of experience with this kind of music and he is great at leading rehearsals,” Hardink said. “He is a great musician with a great ear.”
Geography is also a significant element in the two other pieces by Quaglia on Sunday’s program: Through the Dark Passage and the Canyon Below and Passagio Scuro. “The ideas for these pieces comes from southern Utah,” Hardink said. “The location where he sketches his ideas is important to him. Bruce’s music is colored by his experiences in the places he visits.”
Another Utah composer on the program is a bit of a surprise. Corbin Johnston is better known as the former artistic director of NOVA and the associate principal bass of the Utah Symphony. But he does sometimes dabble in writing music, and two of his pieces will be played Sunday: Passacaglia 9(7) and Viola and Piano: One Application. “These short pieces are structured in improvisation,” Hardink said. “They’re a set of instructions, sort of like a template.”
Before becoming a classical musician, Johnston was a jazz bassist in Boston and other East Coast cities. “Corbin spent a lot of time playing avant garde, underground jazz,” Hardink said.
Hardink likes the idea of having two widely divergent Utah composers on the same program. “Bruce and Corbin are on opposite ends of the spectrum. It underscores the diversity of American music,” he said.
Rounding out the concert are two works by Mozart: the Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, K. 498 (Kegelstatt), and the Serenade for Wind Instruments in E flat, K. 375.
“Brant and I have never played the Kegelstatt,” Hardink said. “We’ve been wanting to do it for a long time.”
- CONCERT DETAILS
- What: NOVA Chamber Music Series
- Venue: Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah
- Time and Date: 3 p.m. April 27
- Tickets: $20 general, $18 seniors, $5 students
- Web: www.novachambermusicseries.org