2014-599-E Arts - Chapel Hill Philharmonia for 2014 Arts Grant Agreement $1,500

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DocuSign Envelope ID:870374C9-FE3B-4037-9CA6-43465C92C83A Past Reviews 2014-2015 Arts Program Application "Chapel Hill Philharmonia Stretches its Envelope" John Lambert, CVNC Review of February 2005 Concert "... The piece de resistance of the evening was the world premiere of a trumpet concerto by Eddie Bass, distinguished Professor Emeritus of Composition at UNCG,whose music has on several occasions been premiered in Chapel Hill. This time,the commission was engineered by soloist Paul Neebe and funded in part by the Orange County Arts Commission.... The clincher for the CH Philharmonia was that the OCAC stipulated the piece be premiered by a community orchestra, and Oehler and Co.jumped at the opportunity, for as the Maestro noted in his pre-concert comments,musicians can spend whole lifetimes in the trenches withoutever participating in a"first performance." The new work,Suite Concertante, is a trumpet concerto in all but name,but it is in four movements,presented in the format of a suite as opposed to the traditional three-movement concerto. The movements—Alborada,March,Nocturne, and Caccia—are, as the composer's brief program note states,rich in character—richer, indeed,and more varied that one might expect from a more traditional concerto.Neebe is a spectacular player whose work this writer has long admired,and if he were an organist, one would be tempted to say he pulled out all the stops, for he played three different instruments—a standard trumpet, a horn with alto characteristics, and what looked and sounded like a version of a baroque trumpet during the course of the work.The slow third movement is intimate and reflective, as its name implies;it involves a small jazz ensemble,and for it drummer Thomas Stevens joined Neebe at the front of the stage.All the music is tonal, immediately accessible, and engaging from the outset all the way to its blazing finale, and Neebe and the CHP clearly gave it their all, delivering an impressive performance that had all the requisite qualities— good balance with the soloist and within the band, solid ensemble, considerably clarity, and lots of dynamic contrasts. It's something of a tradition to say of a new piece that's really good that one would welcome the chance to hear it again and it's often safe to say,too, since repeat performances of contemporary works are so rare, but this one merits reprogramming, and here's hoping the CHP and other groups will take it up post-haste. ..."