KEENE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA / Tricinium Presents

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3
Siegel - Monadnock Tales (2002)

Keene Chamber Orchestra
Eric Stumacher -Music Director, Conductor & Piano Soloist
Lewis M. Feldstein - Narrator

**Read Keene Chamber Orchestra CD Review**

Click here to view the CD Program Booklet
Includes Program Notes and Pictures

John Steinmetz - Review of KCO CD

Bravo to all! I think it's a lovely project!

I enjoyed hearing the Keene Chamber Orchestra's new recording of Beethoven and Siegel. It's a refreshing pairing: one piece from the classical greatest hits list, and a new piece inspired by local history and the beauty of the region.

I won't pretend to be unbiased, since I have so many friends in the group, but I responded to the enthusiasm and warmth of these performances. The Beethoven piano concerto shows how much everybody loves to play, with affectionate and lively exchanges between Eric Stumacher's piano and his colleagues in the orchestra. Larry Siegel's Mondadnock Tales kept me fascinated, with its surprising stories about Mt. Monadnock and music to match the moods of the narration. I loved hearing people make music connected with their own place--what a terrific way for an orchestra to serve and celebrate its community!

Keene Chamber Orchestra CD Review
Frank Behrens, Contributing Writer, Keene Sentinel

It is good to hear a CD that features all local talent.

Such is a new release of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Larry Siegel's Monadnock Tales: Symphony in Seven Movements. Eric Stumacher is piano soloist and conductor.

The Beethoven work is a powerful statement of western music trying to break away from the classical tradition, paralleling a similar movement in the poetry of Percy Shelley, John Keats and Lord Byron.

Although the concerto follows the traditional three-movement format (in this case Allegro con brio, Largo and Rondo: Allegro), it shows a good deal of innovation. For example, the piano in the first movement, for the most part, answers the main themes played by the orchestra in a cadenza-like way rather than in a merely restating the theme as was done in earlier concerti.

I especially like Stumacher's treatment of the beautiful second movement, which uses unusual key combinations in its theme-and-variations format.

Larry Siegel's Monadnock Tales offers new combinations of old forms. The introduction, for example, reminds me of Alan Hovhaness' musical depictions of mountains. However, here there is the added dimension of Edie Clark's verses. Few local audiences will fail to respond emotionally to this salute to the mountain that gives this region its name.

Siegel has won numerous awards and honors. Favoring folk idioms as an integral part of his scores, he prefers what the liner notes call participatory theatrical collaborations.

Edie Clark has been identified for at least 24 years with Yankee magazine; and her "The Place He Made" was highly praised in the New York Times Book Review. Narrator Lewis M. Feldstein is President of the N.H. Charitable Foundation.

The only problem I find with this part of the disc is a somewhat tenuous balance between voice and orchestra. Now and then, the players make it difficult to hear all of the words in this orchestral-vocal dialogue. However, this is infrequent and does little to mar the impact of this recording.

This CD can be purchased through the Web site at www.keenechamberorchestra.org.