Never let it be said that a sophisticated group of 10 musicians doesn’t know how to have fun with a piece of music. Because the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, all members of the National Symphony Orchestra as well, will have a good time proving you wrong.
In a performance this afternoon at Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, strings, brass, woodwinds and one piano make their way around the kitchen in a piece by Bohuslav Martinu titled “La Revue de Cuisine,” aka “The Kitchen Review.”
“The original title for this piece was called ‘The Saintly Pot,’ the reason being, it was a ballet and all the dancers dressed up like kitchen utensils,” said NSO clarinetist and chamber player Kitt Loren. “They all were talking about a love affair between the pot and the lid, but the d-[ish] rag got in the way.”
| Onstage |
| Kennedy Center Chamber Players |
| Where: Terrace Theater Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW |
| When: 2 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $35; 800-444-1324; kennedy-center.org |
Just when you think you’re being had, Loren explains further: “This was a commission from a ballet company. We’re doing the suite from it, which has four movements.”
And it also has a lot of jazz feeling, according to Loren. The introduction to this 1927 piece starts with a trumpet and a piano, or as he points out, “off-beats and on-beats that kind of jerk you around; a kind of jazzy feel.”
It should be noted that this whimsical plotline, along with the “kitchen characters,” offers an outlet for composer Martinu to indulge in another of his special interests — dance. The first movement is a march, followed by a tango, a foxtrot and, of all things, the Charleston dance.
“The audience loves it because it’s uplifting, like a big-band concert,” he continued. “In Paris, it was a huge success that propelled [Martinu] into the limelight.”
