Victoria Bond at the Cutting Edge

The program of Cutting Edge Concerts at Symphony Space on February 18, 2019, opened with a delightful bird romp by Maria Newman.  Hal Ott on the flute, Scott Hosfeld on viola and the composer on the violin created pictures of four different birds.  Olivier Messiaen famously recorded birds in their native habitats, focusing on their identifying songs.  Newman widens the frame to include pictures of the birds' movements and suggests purpose, like the melancholy watchfulness of a snowy owl and the ravenous detection of prey for the falcon.   

The hummingbird hums and hovers over flowers, its agile movements sometimes suggesting the "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The first bird up was the dipper drawn with  dips and upward swoops, which start with a base theme from which movement ricochets as it is launched and returns.  This is the theme of the evening.

A choir from the Greek Archdiocese chanted.  They were the base from which composer Victoria Bond ricocheted into her piano composition "Simeron Kremate," a take on a chant.  Into this Bond wove a Jewish Passover chant "Tal," whose melody reminded her of the Greek chant.  Paul Barnes both chanted and played the piano.  The first part was crowned with a superb performance of Philip Glass's Annunciation Quintet.  

In the second part of the program we were treated to Victoria Bond's interpretation of "Gulliver's Travel's."  She both takes off from the iconic tale and follows Lemuel Gulliver.  He is bored by the mannerliness of his wife and family and launches himself on a series of voyages. He visits Lilliput where he is a giant, and Brobdingnag as a miniature among giants.  The humor of his condition is made much of musically and dramatically.  On he goes to a floating island and the land of the Houyhnhnms.