Village Variations Jaro****:Pianist Misha Alperin, Arkady Shilkloper (horns) and Sergey Starostin (voice/folk reeds) formed the MAT in 1990.

With Alperin the driving force, the trio works in melding jazz, folk and classical disciplines. For this concert the pianist wrote "an imaginary ballet in 6 scenes", set in a Middle Ages Russian village, using the NCO with the trio. Its themes are bucolic: a wedding, drinking, dancing, a lost guest, the celebrations' aftermath, a premonition of death. The music is programmatic, allied to function, and though there is some improvising, mostly through- composed. But Alperin's writing has its own weighty virtues. In sophisticatedly evoking the often folklike, rustic themes without a trace of condescension, it surefootedly combines the MAT and the NCO's different qualities and benefits from hugely impressive performances by both - the NCO, in particular, handles changes of tempo and mood with great aplomb and accuracy. www.jaro.de