In a week full of holidays and anniversaries, I’m only just getting around to sharing these photos of the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey’s ambitious Saturday night concert, a showcase for George Antheil’s “Ballet Mécanique” – the most notorious work by Trenton’s native son. (It instigated a riot at its premiere in Paris 100 years ago.) The piece was heard on Saturday in its 1953 revised version for four pianos and percussion, because, let’s face it, even Antheil was pragmatic enough to deduce that if it were ever to be performed again, a requirement of 16 player pianos, on top of everything else, would be a bit much to expect.
The stimulating program also included unusual fare by John Cage and Lou Harrison (well, maybe usual for them), incorporating industrial and found objects. I would have liked to have heard the rest of Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra, as soloist (and Capital Philharmonic concertmaster) Nina Vieru played the first movement ravishingly.
The concert opened with music director Dan Spalding’s “Overture to Industry,” a lively curtain-raiser, repurposed, like so many of the program’s unconventional instruments – in this case, from a percussion piece of his youth. Also featured was J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Four Harpsichords in an arrangement (also by Spalding) for four pianos and xylophones.
The event was greatly enhanced by entertaining interludes, executed as the stage was reset, by Trenton Circus Squad, with its jugglers, acrobats, clowns, and stilt-walkers, largely supported by the positive energy of the Plenty Pepper Steel Band, and of course the apt setting, inside Trenton’s historic Roebling Machine Shop. An enormous backdrop displayed an abstract rendering of an airplane propeller, another unusual item featured in Antheil’s score (reproduced on Saturday’s concert electronically).
The photos of the musicians were taken by Dan Aubrey, my editor at U.S. 1, because they are more interesting and came out much better than mine. Equally, most of my photos of Trenton Circus Squad were in poor resolution. For a more rounded view of what it was like to be there, there are additional photos and videos posted on the Facebook pages of the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic Orchestra and Trenton Circus Squad. Thanks to everyone involved for the unusual experience!
In case you missed it, here’s the preview I wrote (with more colorful Antheil anecdotes) for U.S. 1 newspaper.
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