New Orchestra of Washington embraces smaller-is-better movement

There have been times in history when composers and performers reacted to straitened economic and man-power conditions by thinking small. Heinrich Schutz produced his exquisite "Kleine Geistliche Konzerte" ("Little Sacred Pieces") during the Thirty Years' War; Stravinsky composed his chamber stage work "L'histoire du Soldat" during World War I; and today many orchestras are finding it economically necessary to trim their personnel. Now in its third season, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez's New Orches...