NOVA ends on a high note

NOVA, U. Fine Arts Auditorium, Saturday.

The NOVA Chamber Music Series is noted for its innovative and original concerts. Under music director Barbara Scowcroft, the series has expanded the boundaries of traditional programming with creativity and imagination.

NOVA's final concert of the season Saturday evening, besides being striking in its musical selections, was also one of the series' most remarkable concerts. Presenting two of Richard Strauss' late works, the Sextet, op. 85, from the opera "Capriccio," and the "Metamorphosen," along with Beethoven's early Septet, op. 20, was, to say the least, unusual but decidedly fresh and musically stimulating.

The first half of the concert was devoted to the two Strauss works. The evening began with the Sextet, performed by Ralph Matson and Barbara Scowcroft, violins; Claudine Bigelow and Brant Bayless, violas; and Matthew Johnson and Noriko Kishi, cellos. These six artists exhibited flawless ensemble playing, capturing the reflective quality of the music with their intelligent, understated and wonderfully expressive performance.

The same can be said for the "Metamorphosen." Here, bassist Corbin Johnston joined the others for an interpretation that was emotionally charged, sensitive, yet also ardent and intense.

Shifting gears completely, the second half featured Beethoven's sunny and optimistic Septet. The piece was given a spirited reading by the seven musicians.

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