This is the concert you should have attended.

On Oct. 28, 2009, acclaimed conductor Scott Yoo brought magnificence to the exalted pews and stained glass windows of Westminster United Church. It was a pity that only half those pews were filled.

If it was Anne Manson, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s (MCO) musical director, who selected these pieces, then she got it right this time. Looking at the programs for later performances, Manson appears to like contrast. It is not uncommon for her to select modern pieces prior to intermission only to conclude with a Mozart divertimento following — which is what she did here.

The two contemporary pieces provided a significant contrast themselves. In both cases, the composers were on hand to discuss their compositions.

Jeffrey Ryan’s “Vesica Piscis,” which had been commissioned by the CBC for the MCO, began the program. He explained that a “vesica piscis” was that almond-shaped piece formed by the intersection of two circles. That description clued the audience in to what was about to unfold. Reminiscent of Murray Schafer, the piece was sharply classical demanding the utmost of the 22 string musicians called for in the piece.

Strained, eerie tonalities filled the auditorium, glissandos moving through the instruments of the orchestra from violin to viola to cello to bass. At one point, the musicians were called upon to play their instruments with chopsticks. Strange as it sounds, it worked.

We were then taken to the more romantic, more subdued side of contemporary classical with Jeffery Cotton’s “Suite from ‘Pyramus and Thisbe,’” the Greek story about two lovers separated by a wall. The romantic nature of this piece may be realized when it is pointed out that this was the play from which Shakespeare derived Romeo and Juliet.

Initially, this piece was conceived in 1990 as an opera to celebrate the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The Guggenheim Foundation provided Cotton with a grant to go to Berlin and write the piece. Twelve years later, it surfaced as a ballet celebrating the reunion of two peoples separated by time and politics.

A commonality of these pieces was the way the bass was used as a percussive device, their strings pluckied heavily so that they thwacked against the sound-board. All strings were percussively abused when the performers were called upon to strike their bows against the string with the bass players taking particular delight by inverting their bows.

Another was the assertive playing of Karl Stobbe, concertmaster and principal violinist, whose high-register playing soared above the swirling morass below.

Yuri Hooker also deserves being singled out for his performances throughout the evening.
Woodwinds joined the orchestra in “Pyramus.” The name of the magnificent oboe player was not given in the program notes. Oh, well, perhaps she wasn’t that important after all.

And then there was the divertimento in D major (K 251). As the program notes state: “Mozart composed this light-hearted gem quickly, but with good skill and imagination [ . . . ]” No shit! We know the cat’s a genius — popping off masterpieces like other composers pop off fluff — but come on. It really doesn’t help composers’ egos to know that “the haste may have been related to the virtually simultaneous creation of the far more vast and intricate ‘Haffner’ serenade.” We can only join others jealous of casual brilliance in saying, “We hate you, Amadeus.”

The MCO’s next performance will be on Dec. 1. Included on the program is one of Winnipeg’s gems — Tracy Dahl. Bring your asses to the pews of Westminster United Church for that one. Ms. Dahl does not deserve even one empty seat.