Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, MA
April 25, 2015
by Michael J. Moran
For this season finale program built around Stravinsky’s
“Rite of Spring,” SSO Maestro Kevin Rhodes said in his “Rhodes’ Reflections”
column in the program book, he “decided to pair it with other works which have
something of a rite, or ritualistic quality about them.”
Accordingly, the concert began with the Overture to Wagner’s
1845 opera “Tannhauser,” whose depiction of the battle between sacred and
profane love reminded Rhodes of “the somewhat ritualistic quality that Wagner’s
operas have and inspire in fans of his work.” The SSO’s account of this
colorful music was grand and majestic, as the hushed wind choir that opened the
piece gradually built to a powerful climax by the full orchestra.
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| Spencer Myer |
Rhodes’ other selection to accompany Stravinsky was
Rachmaninov’s popular Piano Concerto No. 2, because it evokes the “rite…of
going to a concert and the thrill of hearing and seeing a soloist conquer an
incredibly difficult piece.” That soloist was rising 35-year-old American
pianist Spencer Myer, whose SSO debut in April 2012 featured Mozart’s Concerto
No. 25.
To Rachmaninov’s familiar score he brought generous
romanticism and impressive virtuosity, from the full-bodied opening chords for
solo piano to melting lyricism in the central Adagio and rhapsodic abandon in
the closing Allegro. The SSO was with him every step of the way. A standing
ovation prompted a lovely reading of Schumann’s dreamy Romance in F sharp
major.
Intermission was followed by a sizzling rendition of
Stravinsky’s masterpiece, which still sounds as wild and primitive as it must
have sounded to its shocked first audience in Paris 102 years ago. In its
original ballet scenario, a young girl danced herself to death as a sacrifice
to the god of spring in pagan Russia, but it’s now best known as a demanding
orchestral showpiece. All sections of the SSO, including an enlarged percussion
section, reveled in the unpredictable rhythms and dissonant climaxes of the
“Rite.”
Equally wild applause at the concert’s end was exceeded only
by the pleasure of seeing so many young audience members, a heartening sign as
the SSO ended its 71st season on a high note.
