Durwynne Hsieh isn’t exactly the resident composer for the San José Chamber Orchestra, but over the past 15 years he’s forged an unusually tight connection with the ensemble.
Ever since the SJCO performed his “String Quartet #4” in 2010 the relationship has gradually accelerated with a series of commissions. The impressive run includes the world premiere of his 2014 score for an imaginary yet-to-be-made movie, “Music for a Short Independent Film,” a violin concerto in 2019, and his environmentalist-inspired “Symphony No. 1” in 2023.
On Sunday, March 23, the SJCO presents the world premiere of a new Hsieh commission at St. Francis Episcopal Church, and it’s unlike anything the orchestra (or just about any other ensemble) has seen. Written in the emotional key of C, for Covid, “Drizzle, Downpour, Desperation and Other Stories” is a triple concerto conceived for SJCO violinist Debra Fong, former St. Lawrence String Quartet cellist Christopher Costanza, and their violist offspring Ezra Costanza.
The project started with a call from Barbara Day Turner, the SJCO’s founder and music director, inviting Hsieh to write a piece for the Fong-Costanza Family Trio. Like with any concerto, he wanted to showcase their instrumental prowess, but started with the goal of highlighting that “they are a family in addition to being soloists,” Hsieh said from his home in Antioch. “I tried to have them playing together a fair amount as well as shining individually.”
Sunday’s program also features Michael Touchi’s arrangement of “Sonnerie: (The bells) of Saint Genevieve du Mont de Paris,” by French Baroque composer Marin Marais, and James Aikman’s 2004 “Ania’s Song: A Pavane for Strings.”
Triple concertos occupy a small place in the classical canon, territory dominated by Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major. But a piece foregrounding the Fong-Costanzas’ particular instrumental triumvirate seems singular. Fittingly, Hsieh composed “Drizzle, Downpour, Desperation,” which consists of three contrasting tone poems, as a reflection on the unprecedented early months of the pandemic.
Despite the fraught topic, Fong described Hsieh’s music as “really quirky in a fun way” on a recent video call with her husband. “Durwynne always tells a story. In the middle, slow movement, he literally replicates what we experienced in Covid. And when Ezra came home and we all sheltered in place, he’s been able to reconstruct that experience musically so beautifully.”
“He has a real gift for writing beautiful, lush harmonies and driving musical motifs,” Costanza added. “He’s using our initials in the primary motif and it’s kind of cyclic, reoccurring throughout the piece. It’s got the feel of a very well written, evocative film score, bringing images to mind.”
While “Drizzle, Downpour, Desperation” is the first piece commissioned for the Fong-Costanza Family Trio, they’re no strangers to working directly with composers. As a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Christopher Costanza has played dozens of commissioned pieces by leading composers such as John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
“And I do a lot of orchestral playing with Santa Fe Opera, which does a lot of commissioned works and I’ve worked with many living composers,” Fong said. “But this is different and new, and we’ve worked really closely with Durwynne going back and forth. It’s different for sure, and we are thrilled.”
Hsieh has gotten to know Fong over the years through his work with the SJCO, but it was only recently that he and Costanza discovered their paths had crossed much earlier. They both hail from New York, and as standout high school cellists in 1981 they were members of the New York All-State Orchestra.
“Durwynne was actually my stand partner and we did a tons of rehearsals,” Costanza said. “But I didn’t see him again until Debra played his symphony a few years ago, and I realized right away we knew each other. After high school our paths diverged. I went on to conservatory and he went on to MIT. Now he’s back to full-time composing.”
After graduating from MIT, Hsieh earned a PhD from UC Berkeley in molecular biology. He went on to teach biology at Los Medanos College and worked as a technical writer, but never put down his cello or stopped composing.
Given that he’s been able to devote himself to music full time in recent years, maybe he sees something of himself in the kinetic third movement of “Drizzle,” which “feels like it’s moving, a 16th-note motor like a train or car. It’s a big rousing finish, a happy ending to our story.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
SAN JOSÉ CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Presents “Drizzle, Downpour, Desperation and Other Stories”
When: 7 p.m. March 23
Where: St. Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Ave., San José
Tickets: $15-$75; sjco.org