How many cellos do you need for a chamber music concert?
Normally, just one or two, teamed with other strings and wind instruments. But the NouLou Chamber Players plan to feature a full house of eight cellists and their cellos in a concert April 14 in the Library music room at Oxmoor Farm.
“And who doesn’t love a roomful of cellos?” says cellist Cecilia Huerta-Lauf, who is one of the eight cellists performing in two cello quartets and an octet on the program. “We’re always a fun bunch. You can’t go wrong with a room full of cellists.”
If eight cellos sounds … er, unusual – it is. Though, in fact, the chamber music repertoire is well stocked with pieces for multiple cellos, including a new quartet for this concert by Kentucky composer Rachel Grimes. It’s called For the Next Time.
But the unusual is merely usual for the NouLou Chamber Players, an informal organization of Louisville professional musicians, many from the Louisville Orchestra, who just happen to love chamber music. They get their chance to play the smaller-sized works by king-sized composers like Mozart and Beethoven, and others, in a chamber-music sized hall – in which every note may be heard. In its ninth season, the NouLou has settled into a home at Oxmoor Farm, where the famous Library offers a special acoustical experience. (Plus hors d’oeuvres before the concert.)
Most classical fans are familiar with string quartets, and NouLou recently presented a Fanny Mendelssohn quartet that was thought to have been lost – though simply unknown, for 195 years – until discovered in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Just this season, the group has offered a harp and flute duet, singers performing the final Brahms waltzes, and a new work for multiple players by Louisville composer Daniel Gilliam called Suite for Ten Instruments. Gilliam said it could have been called a “decet,” except no one was quite sure how decet was even pronounced.
Huerta-Lauf says the cello is particularly suited for this concert’s quartets and octet because of the depth of its sound, and the instrument’s long reach through octaves. Plus, she says modestly, audiences just love seeing cellists perform. “When you’re watching cello players in the orchestra you can see how passionate they are – and we feel that passion in a cello choir.”
The cellist says her studies at the New England Conservatory included an opportunity to participate in an all-cello festival in France led by eminent cellist Alexander Baillie of the BBC Orchestra. “We all stayed in his house in Normandy and played cello ensembles,” she says. “I think there were 12 of us, and we’d take tea breaks together.”
A highlight of the NouLou program could be the eight-cello Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1, by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil’s most famous composer. The piece evokes the vibrant colors of Brazil and its intoxicating rhythms.
“It’s the piece every cellist knows and loves to perform,” says Huerta-Lauf. “You’ll hear those Brazilian rhythms and be dancing in your seat.”
‘A fleeting farewell’
An interesting facet of the NouLou chamber group is the players choose the music they play. And for this concert the inclusion of one piece led to another.
As the title implies, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 is Villa Lobos’ nod to Johann Sebastian Bach, who, as much as anyone, placed the cello in a starring role. Thinking about that, cellist Nick Finch proposed the Chaconne (originally for violin) by Bach. “What better to go with Bach, than Bach?” said Finch.
Rachel Grimes’ quartet was commissioned by the Portland (Ore.) Cello Project. “It reflects on themes of nostalgia and loss, and my own loss of a dear friend and collaborator,” says Grimes.
“The structure uses a familiar lyrical framework,” she explains. “It’s a sixteen-bar chord progression, or verse, where the lead melodic voice trades among the four players as the verse develops and repeats. Pizzicato accompaniment gradually gives away to a lush legato, culminating in a passionate chorus. Then one more verse and another chorus which closes with a fleeting farewell.”
As in, For the Next Time.
The concert’s eight cellists include: Nicholas Finch, Cecilia Huerta-Lauf, Han Lee, Alan Ohkubo, Allison Olsen, Wendy Doyle, Gabriel Ramos, Jonathan Ruckman and Lindy Tsai.
A brand NouLou album
Speaking of cellos, the NouLou Chamber Players will soon release its first album, featuring Finch performing three cello concertos commissioned by Finch and the NouLou. It’s called Nou Edition.
On May 9, the NouLou returns to its original home in the Conrad-Caldwell House on St. James Court for a concert of songs by Kentucky composers in the “Music at the Mansion” series.
NouLou's "Bach to Cello" concert is Monday, April 14th, 6:30pm at Oxmoor Farm.
