Palisades Virtuosi: Margaret Swinchoski (flute), Donald Mokrynski (clarinet), Ron Levy (piano). Olga Gorelli: Song of the Mermaid; Chaminade: L'Ondine; Godfrey Schroth: The Sea Nymph; Paul Mack Somers: Ondine Visions (premiere); Barab: The Sea Princess; John Lampkin: Offdine. Bruno Walter Auditorium, Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, New York City, NY.

The Palisades Virtuosi continued their three-concert exploration of musical works inspired by Ondine with "An Ondine Repast" - a program, which featured a collection of mostly contemporary works based on the tragic fairy tale. Each piece was cleverly marked in the program notes according to its role: The Appetizer, First Course, Sorbet, Second Course, Third Course, and Just Desserts. Recipes for two world-premieres and two New York premieres peppered this delightful menu, and iron chefs Margaret Swinchoski, Donald Mokrynski and Ron Levy joined forces to add "a few hints of flavor, a sauce to baste, a splash of wine, and salt to taste."

It should here be noted that the original story of Ondine is actually quite a harrowing one. Long ago, a beautiful German freshwater nymph named Ondine made a life-altering decision to trade in her sea legs for human appendages when she fell hopelessly in love with the dashing mortal, Sir Lawrence. She married him, bore his child, and made ready for the ultimate "happily ever after." But alas, Sir Lawrence was a fickle homo sapien and soon found himself in a barn in the arms of another woman. Ondine, furious, put a curse on her husband, which eventually (and purposefully) resulted in his death - a strikingly productive way to work out marriage issues indeed. The origin of this story is not exactly the stuff of Disney dreams, and personally I preferred their version of "The Little Mermaid," just because I'm a sucker for happy endings.

Paul Mack Somers' world-premiere piece for flute, clarinet and piano, Ondine Visions, was by far the most intellectually serious and experimental work on the program. Prior to its unveiling, composer and New Jersey arts mogul Paul Somers appeared before the audience to provide some insight into the conception of his fascinating new piece. "Ondine is somewhat of a cautionary tale," he began, "it's about not trusting people who are different. But I wrote this piece to reflect my belief that there is good in all people, and I wrote an inner light into the text in the form of a trill. The work itself ends on this trill. It ends with the inner light as a reminder that if there is Original Sin, there must therefore also be Original Virtue."

Somers humorously quoted an opening figure in the piano that was similar to Ravel's "Ondine" (from "Gaspard de la Nuit"), before introducing a rich harmonic dialogue between flute and clarinet. There were several returns to the opening "shining light" throughout the work, and several sweeping lines of consonant harmony emerged as the music sailed on. A motive that channeled the sarcastic humor of Prokofiev appeared later on, set against the backdrop of a pulsing rhythm that renewed a vibrant sense of drive at every twist and turn. The piece as a whole, while it maintained its strong programmatic motivation, seemed fresh and spontaneous; a constantly evolving structure that kept listeners both eager and entertained. Indeed, Ondine Visions concluded upon its own "shining light," as played by pianist Ron Levy to a sparkling perfection.

Equally as enjoyable for a host of different reasons, was Godfrey Schroth's world-premiere, The Sea Nymph for bass clarinet and piano. "This is the first time I've ever had a premiere on April Fool's Day," the kind gentleman chuckled, "I didn't write this piece with a specific story in mind, but I did write it for bass clarinet because of its register depth. In my mind, mermaids come from deep down in the sea."

And Schroth's story did begin twenty thousand leagues under the sea. The hollow, creamy sound yielded by Mokrynski's bass clarinet submerged listeners in a very exotic color world, a stark contrast against ethereal ringing tones from the top registers of the piano. Levy and Mokrynski performed swimmingly and together they captured a wonderful sense of aimless wandering through watery textures.

Even though Schroth may not have carved out a specific programmatic storyline for The Sea Nymph, perhaps he didn't have to. There have been many great works of art which were based on a specific inspiration from the creator, but there have probably also been an equal number which weren't. Sometimes listeners are invited to create their own stories to accompany given melodies, and if a composer is able to affect listeners deeply enough so as to inspire them to push the boundaries of their own imaginations, he may automatically consider himself a success.

Speaking of successes, there was a bona fide TV-superstar in the house that afternoon. Bob McGrath, best known for his role of "Bob" on Sesame Street, who played the enchanting storyteller that visited my living room everyday for as long as I could remember, suddenly appeared on stage before me. To the wonderfully effective text and comedic musical score of Seymour Barab's The Sea Princess, McGrath delivered a fantastic narration in retelling the story of The Little Mermaid, anew.

He sang superbly, he commanded the text, he laughed, he cried, and he soothed. The reading was so alive, so friendly, and so polished, that it nearly brought tears to my eyes. McGrath beamed with a special magic, the very same magic which has made him into one of the most-loved people in the entire TV world, and every child, parent, and grandparent in the room shared one common, wistful smile.

Olga Gorelli's Song of the Mermaid and John Lampkin's Offdine book-ended the Virtuosi's performance. The shortest and lightest pieces on the program, they were the perfect choices to begin and end the concert. Offdine for flute and piano particularly proved a cute little ditty that included quotes from Ravel's Ondine, Mancini's Moon River, John Williams' Jaws, and even Chopin's Ballade No. 1, amongst several other familiar tunes. A lot was accomplished in the performance, which lasted all of ninety seconds.

While on the subject of Chopin, the program also featured a work by Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944) entitled, L'Ondine. It seems that Ms. Chaminade may have been somewhat under the influence of old Fredrick, for her melodies bore some resemblance to the style of his nocturnes and other shorter works. In all fairness, though, Chopin she was not. But the easy-listening tunes would serve up nicely if converted to the more primitive form of bubble-gum pop.