Divertissement! c/o chamber orchestra

• Jacques Ibert (1892 - 1962): Divertissement:
• 1 Ibert: Divertissement: I. Introduction 01:11
• 2 Ibert: Divertissement: II. Cortège 04:57
• 3 Ibert: Divertissement: III. Nocturne 02:39
• 4 Ibert: Divertissement: IV. Valse 03:04
• 5 Ibert: Divertissement: V. Parade 01:43
• 6 Ibert: Divertissement: VI. Finale 01:54
• Émile Bernard (1843 - 1902): Divertissement, Op. 36:
• 7 Bernard: Divertissement, Op. 36: I. Andante sostenuto - Allegro molto moderato 06:56
• 8 Bernard: Divertissement, Op. 36: II. Allegro vivace 04:44
• 9 Bernard: Divertissement, Op. 36: III. Andante - Allegro non troppo 09:10
• Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945): Divertimento, Sz. 113:
• 10 Bartók: Divertimento, Sz. 113: I. Allegro non troppo 08:28
• 11 Bartók: Divertimento, Sz. 113: II. Molto adagio 07:40
• 12 Bartók: Divertimento, Sz. 113: III. Allegro assai 07:00
• Michael Ippolito (b. 1985): Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra:
• 13 Ippolito: Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra: I. Con moto 04:48
• 14 Ippolito: Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra: II. Aria burlesca 05:16
• 15 Ippolito: Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra: III. Menuetto 03:37
• 16 Ippolito: Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra: IV. Adagio - Allegro 04:32
• Total Runtime 01:17:39

Info zu Divertissement!

The c/o chamber orchestra is a collective of thirty young musicians from a dozen different countries. Playing without a conductor, the orchestra is dedicated to that particular collaborative process which is the essence of chamber music. For their first disc, the members have chosen to highlight a genre more difficult to pin-point than one might think. Its very name, divertimento, implies that it is simply a diversion, light music for entertainment – but many of the best-known examples of the form transcend that definition. And as many composers have learned, even light-hearted music should be taken seriously: humour requires a master’s touch. The four works recorded here offer different perspectives on the genre, starting with Ibert’s seven-movement suite in which the composer constantly plays with the listener’s expectations.

Some forty years before Ibert, his compatriot Émile Bernard composed a very different Divertissement. It is scored for double wind quintet, reminiscent of Mozart’s divertimenti and serenades for winds. But even though the music is melodious and carefree, the debt owed by Bernard to the German romantic composers is never far from the surface. A very special case is Bartók’s Divertimento for strings, composed just before the outbreak of World War II. The closing work on the disc reunites the winds and strings of the c/o orchestra in a work written especially for this project by the American composer Michael Ippolito, who in his Divertimento pays full tribute to the contrast-rich nature of the genre.

c/o chamber orchestra

c/o chamber orchestra
Working from the beginning without a conductor, the c/o chamber orchestra takes its name from the idea of stewardship and responsibility. A letter addressed with ‘c/o’ does not arrive directly but is passed on in the care of another. A composer puts pen to paper, but it only becomes music when brought to life by musicians – each and every performance anew. The collaborative process of seeing that responsibility through, and all of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with it, is at the heart of the orchestra’s work. c/o takes the idea of being a ‘chamber’ orchestra seriously.

Chamber music entails being both clear and flexible, leading and following, knowing when to step forward and when to step back. It is both a single group and a collection of individual artists. The musicians come from throughout Europe, from over a dozen different countries. Without one leader providing a single vision, the voices and personalities of each musician combine, negotiate, struggle and forge a distinctive way forward together, all in search of that musical moment when it suddenly becomes clear exactly what the work is trying to communicate. It is that moment that is unmistakably c/o.

Booklet für Divertissement!