By Peter Jacobi
H-T Reviewer| pjacobi@heraldt.com

February 26, 2013
In Auer Hall, the IU Chamber Orchestra, led with loving attention by Uriel Segal, offered a rewarding program of works by Ravel and Tchaikovsky.
The Ravel included a partial premiere. To explain: In 1914, Ravel composed “Le Tombeau de Couperin” as a piano tribute to Francois Couperin who, two centuries earlier, helped found the French school of keyboard music. Left unfinished, Ravel returned to the score several years later and determined that the six pieces in the suite should also honor friends who had given their lives defending France in World War I. He orchestrated four of those pieces.
One left unfinished was the concluding Toccata. IU composer Don Freund decided to attempt its orchestration. The results were introduced on Sunday. They rightly echoed Ravel’s style. What’s more, there was glitter in what one heard and a touch of exoticism; everything seemed to fit. Segal and the orchestra played the five movements with grace and, where intimated, poignancy.
Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2013