University of Tennessee Faculty Chamber Orchestra: "An Age of Enlightenment"

Part of the fun of Music of the Ages, this season’s series of Faculty Chamber Music concerts from the University of Tennessee School of Music, has been puzzling over the concert sub-titles and speculating on various musical connections to the works on each concert’s program. First came “An Age of Elegance” in September, then “An Age of Revolution” in November. Sunday’s concert, “An Age of Enlightenment” offers yet again a bit of a pleasant puzzle.
Oddly, none of the works on “An Age of Enlightenment” date from the 18th century, when the specific concept of “enlightenment” was in the forefront of philosophical and cultural discussion. The concert will open with a work dating from the 1880s, Johannes Brahms’ 2 Songs, op. 91, for voice, viola, and piano, with mezzo soprano Lorraine DiSimone, violist Hillary Herndon, and pianist Kevin Class. Also from the 19th century comes Crisantemi (“Chrysanthemums”) for string quartet by Giacomo Puccini. The quartet will be Mark Zelmanovich and Miroslav Hristov, violins; Hillary Herndon, viola; and Wesley Baldwin, cello.
The concert jumps into the 20th century with a work by contemporary Knoxville composer Mark Harrell, a quintet arrangement of the “Intermezzo” from his opera-in-progress, The Stainless Banner. The program concludes with the Quintet for Brass by contemporary English composer Malcolm Arnold, performed by the Brasswind Quintet. (Alan Sherrod)