Respighi, Fuchs, Montague, Elgar

Hartford Symphony Orchestra
Bushnell, Hartford
April 30, 2008
By Donna Bailey-Thompson

Suddenly, organist Edward Clark’s thundering chord opened the latest program in the Masterworks Series, a reverberation that if created within dimmed light and long shadows could inject fear into one’s marrow . But in the lighted safety of Mortensen Hall, with the joining of throbbing cellos and the sweetness of violins, the Cantico of Ottorino Respighi’s (1879-1936) Suite in G Major for Organ and Strings became more celestial than sepulchral.

The composing of "Canticle To The Sun" by Kenneth Fuchs (b. 1956), a concerto for horn and orchestra, was inspired by the "virtuosic playing" of Timothy Jones, principal hornist of the London Symphony Orchestra. The evening’s world premiere featured internationally acclaimed soloist Richard Todd whose burnished French horn shone with the brilliance of a jeweler’s window and sent forth enriched variations of tunes based upon the Protestant hymn, "All Creatures of Our God and King." At times, the dialog between soloist and orchestra seemed to be spontaneous, as if the magnificent horn was saying, "Listen to my thoughts!" and the strings, eager to understand, were responding, "Is this what you meant?"

"Behold a Pale Horse" for organ, two trumpets, two horns, two trombones and a tuba by Stephen Montague (b. 1943), was inspired by The Apocalypse as described by John in the Book of Revelation. Maestro Edward Cumming read aloud: "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hellfire followed with him. And Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with all the beasts of the earth." For the next fifteen minutes, the eight musicians roiled the score into a cacophony of awesome magnitude. The terror banished in Respighi’s Cantico was transferred with a vengeance into this blaring assault that manifested mental images of a violent end of this world.

Variations on an Original Theme, "Enigma," Opus 36 by Edward Elgar (1957-1934) tapped into what oxygen remained in the hall. According to the composer, the theme is silent but is suggested through a series of clues. We can speculate all we want but we’ll never know what Elgar had in mind. The composer created musical mini portraits of his friends, hence a smorgasbord of orchestrations: if some friends were delightful and some weren’t, the overall effect was charming.

Schumann, Bruch, Mendelssohn

Hartford Symphony Orchestra
The Bushnell, Hartford
April 5, 2008
By Donna Bailey-Thompson

The centerpiece of the program, Scottish Fantasy for Violin with Orchestra and Harp by Max Bruch (1838-1920) rendered what followed ("The Italian" by Mendelssohn, 1809-1920) anti-climatic. How could that be? Because Leonid Sigal stepped out of his role as HSO’s Concertmaster to beguile the audience with his love affair with the violin. At one with his instrument, Sigal embraced the various moods of the Scottish Fantasy, including spirited adaptations of various European ethnic dances and passages of fluid abandonment akin to improvisation. There were moments when it seemed as if the composer might have happened upon a wagon encampment and transferred the experience into music which clicked with the romantic within Sigal whereupon he assumed the identity of a solitary gypsy violinist baring his tortured soul. In the program notes, Dr. Richard E. Rodda’s writes: "The invigorating, tuneful Scottish Fantasy is evidence of Sr. Donald Tovey’s trenchant summation of the music of this composer: ‘It is not easy to write as beautifully as Max Bruch.’ "

During the pre-concert talk, guest conductor Grant Llewellyn described the program as a happy combination of music, in essence a musical European Grand Tour. A native of Wales (born 1962), this engaging musician’s other passion is soccer. Like Mendelssohn 150 years earlier, Llewellyn when almost twenty, toured Italy for a year or so, earning some money from playing the cello but more from playing soccer. He praised the Scottish Fantasy, saying that it "puts the violin through its paces as much as a concerto" and that the harp creates "pyrotechnics of its own."

But Llewellyn was most enthusiastic about the Overture, Scherzo and Finale in E Major by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) which opened the program. Obscure, rarely performed, Llewellyn stated, "I love it to death." Composed during Robert and Clara Schumann’s first year of marriage (her father opposed her marriage with a vehemence to rival Mr. Barrett’s of Elizabeth’s to Robert Browning), their happiness is mirrored in the buoyancy of the score.

Nevertheless, the night belonged to Sigal. When he returned after intermission, having resumed his role as Concertmaster, the audience greeted him with enthusiastic applause. At the conclusion of "The Italian," protracted applause signaled Llewellyn and the orchestra of the audience’s appreciation for an evening of first-rate classical music.

Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Brahms

Hartford Symphony Orchestra
The Bushnell, Hartford
February 16, 2008
By Donna Bailey-Thompson

This Valentine-inspired program featured Ravel’s intricate orchestrations, Rachmaninoff’s scoring skills, and Brahms’ transformation of melancholia into musical majesty. The Hartford Symphony’s salute to romance provided beauty and bite, euphoria and sadness, the skill of a sensitive pianist, all under the baton of guest conductor Tania Miller.

Imagine Tania Miller growing up in Saskatchewan (pop. 1000) who at age 35 is in her fifth season as Music Director of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. Maestra Miller won the audience’s admiration for her mature, definitive conducting skills; and for her warmth as an engaging young woman, she earned a piece of its heart.

Maurice Ravel’s "Le Tombeau de Couperin" is what impressionistic painting sounds like – shimmering, lush, vivacious, guarded, poignant, muted – particularly when the composer is roiling with emotional pain due to World War One, the deaths of six friends, the passing of his beloved mother, and the effects of brutality on French culture. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" is a collection of variations on one particular theme composed by the legendary violinist Niccolio Paganini. It’s what the scratchings of an algebraist might resemble when trying one hypothesis after another in search of the ultimate equation. But a brainstorm directs the mathematician towards a radically different approach which brings forth an interim possibility of heavenly proportions. The piano artistry of guest soloist Anne-Marie McDermott, tempered by respect for the piece, thrilled the audience.

The Symphony No. 4 in E minor by Johannes Brahms, in four movements, was written while he was warding off depression. Sometimes the music brightens, almost as if he doesn’t dare to feel happy. Ah, the fullness of Brahms! Maestra Miller evoked the orchestra to step up their involvement with the music without compromising their discipline. The repetition of ta dum, ta dum, foretells that something big this way comes. Can it be forestalled? Maybe. No, sorry, it’s inevitable. And this great composition swelled to a majestic, controlled conclusion. The audience was pulled to its feet.

Hartford Symphony Masterworks

The Bushnell, Hartford
January 9
By Donna Bailey-Thompson

Today’s inconveniences of international travel were bypassed by the Hartford Symphony saturating a Masterpiece Series evening with the romantic music of 19th century ebullient Vienna.

In his pre-concert talk, Conductor Edward Cumming described "the first half of the program as formal and the second half as fun." The sum was one hundred percent delightful.

Johann Strauss, Jr.’s "Overture to Die Fledermaus" (literal translation: flying mouse) introduced the spirit of the effervescent Viennese who, praise be, escaped being handicapped by Victorian rigidity. The orchestra’s sensitivity to the operetta’s jinks (both high and low) created invisible actors behaving deliciously silly and slamming-doors naughty.

The contrast between the score for the comical farce and Franz Lehar’s operetta, "The Land of Smiles" was stunning from the moment tenor soloist Matthew Plenk began singing the aria "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz!" ("My whole heart belongs to you!"). The audience, spellbound, absorbed Plenk’s strong tone and shading of the heartrending longing for the love of his life. In spite of vigorous applause, the clamoring for more of his voice was not to be. No wonder this young man will make his Metropolitan Opera debut this season as the Voice of the Young Sailor in "Tristan and Isolde"– the first voice that is heard as the curtain rises.

Because Cumming’s teacher had been a student of Richard Strauss, amusing anecdotes now have been passed along during the pre-concert talk. (If you weren’t there, you missed out.) Cumming also waxed eloquent about the four guest soloists, extolling them for their "immaculate intonation" and intelligence of mind and heart. During the suite and final scene from "Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss, the commingling voices of the three sopranos – Adina Aaron, Janna Baty (mezzo), and Amanda Forsythe – gave me chills.

Following intermission, a baker’s dozen students from the Hartt Music Theater Program shared their youthful dynamics, especially the all-male kick line of "You’re Back Where You Belong" from Lehar’s "The Merry Widow."

HSO’s New Year’s welcoming concert bubbled.

Hartford Symphony Orchestra

The Bushnell, Hartford
November 10
By Donna Bailey-Thompson

Exquisite – the one word description of the Masterworks’ program from the first note through the last of the Hartford Symphony’s performance under the baton of Director Edward Cumming. During the Concert Preview, Cumming stated, "This is not your grandfather’s program," referring to the 35-minute length of the opening piece followed by an intermission and then the sequence of the piano concerto and two musically enjoined pieces by different composers – "a program that stretches the orchestra and you." For the audience, a painless stretch.

"Petrouchka, a Ballet in Four Tableaux,"presented Stravinsky in all his glistering glory. The colorful energy of a fair was easy to visualize – the strolling crowds, a dancing bear – and then the fabled puppet himself, Petrouchka (Russian), Pierrot (French), Pinocchio (Italian), and Punch (English). He loves a ballerina; she’s infatuated with a Moor, and the Moor kills Petrouchka. Attending the Concert Preview netted musical insights, e.g., the "Petrouchka chord" – the use of two different keys at the same time (bitonality). While the first clarinet played the notes of the C major chord, the second clarinet played the same melody but in the F sharp major chord. The playing of Margreet Francis at the piano – uneven rhythms sharply delineated – was nothing short of "Wow!"

Following intermission, George Gershwin’s Concerto in F major was performed with technical aplomb by guest soloist Louise Bessette at the piano but who lacked the expressiveness – the musical soul – heard only minutes earlier in the playing by the HSO’s Margreet Francis. Consequently, the concerto’s passion was generated by the orchestra.

Pure bliss completed the concert beginning with Debussy’s Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun" which Maestro Cumming had described as "one of the most perfect pieces ever written" and in response to the opening notes of a poetic flute said, "Wherever that is, take me there!" Only a slight pause separated its ending with the beginning of Ravel’s "La Valse," a tightly crafted piece that echoed the not-so-innocent political dance leading to the First World War, its brutality exemplified by drums rumbling like distant thunder which built geometrically into the cacophony of senseless war represented by waltzing gone amok.

This evening was a triumph for the HSO.

Nielsen, Mendelssohn, Sibelius

Hartford Symphony Orchestra
The Bushnell Performing Arts Center
Hartford
By Donna Bailey-Thompson

Although Carl Nielsen's "Helios Overture" is a musical representation of the sun's daily journey, the piece could double as a musical essay. Both the opening statement (pre-dawn) and the conclusion (twilight into darkness) are virtually identical – a deep, resonance created by cellos and double basses. In between, the essay is fueled by the morning's energy that surges to high noon and then lessens until the sun's rays are obliterated by the horizon. Nielsen included this descriptive note on the score: "Stillness and darkness – the sun rises with a peaceful song of praise – wanders its golden way – sinks silently into the sea." The concluding measures – the continuous bowing of the cellos and double basses – imparted a soothing reverie, a meditation, until a few eager-beavers shattered the meticulously crafted mood by clapping, Chastened by the audience's silence, the clappers stopped, and under Conductor Edward Cumming's unflappable exterior, the bowing never stopped until it reached its designated conclusion.

When the exquisite Rachel Lee's musical education began at age four, she and the violin must have experienced love at first pluck because at age 19, what soars from this pairing is similar to the maturing love of a long-married couple who are still crazy about one another. Her interpretation of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto soothed, swept, soared, and sprinkled surprises.

The HSO's playing of Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 demonstrated, repeatedly, why this stirring work written at the beginning of the 20th century continues to hold audiences captive. Although Sibelius denied that the symphony was inspired by Finnish patriotism, for some that speculation endures. Following the death of his youngest daughter in 1900, an unidentified writer has noted that Sibelius' drinking "changed from youthful celebrating into something more dangerous." The anguish expressed within much of the symphony could be a father's outpouring of grief and/or anger with his growing dependence upon alcohol. Regardless of the composer's inspiration, Maestro Cumming and the HSO joined their forces to celebrate Sibelius' genius to such a degree that the emotionally wrenching theme within the final movement challenged my ability to suppress tears.

Some concert programs hold together better than others and – subjectively speaking – this Masterpiece Concert was superb.