Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Hartford, CT
December 3–6, 2015
by Michael J. Moran
Leave it to path-breaking Maestra Carolyn Kuan to upend yet
another classical music tradition by inviting concertgoers not to turn off
their cell phones but to turn them on! Pre-concert publicity had encouraged
them to download a free bell-ringing app and participate in one piece on the
program.
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| Worth and Moore |
But first HSO Board Chairman Jeffrey Verney dedicated the
orchestra’s performance of the opening work, Faure’s Requiem, to the people of
Paris as they recover from the terrorist attacks there last month. This is the
gentlest of all Requiems, and Kuan and the HSO gave it a fresh, flowing
account. Two world-class soloists – soprano Melody Moore and baritone Matthew
Worth – made the most of their solo opportunities, including a ravishing “Pie
Jesu” from Moore. But they never overshadowed the 160 men and women of the
Hartford Chorale, who sang with careful modulation and total conviction.
The Hartford premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s short orchestral
piece “blue cathedral” then lifted the solemn mood to a transcendent level.
Commissioned in 1999 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Curtis Institute of
Music, where she teaches, the piece also became a memorial for her brother, who
died of melanoma while she was writing it. The colorful orchestration includes
Chinese exercise balls played by many orchestra members as they lay down their
instruments in the quiet closing moments. Kuan cued the audience to ring their phones
in the last 20 seconds, and the sound was delicate and shimmering. The piece
soared in a luminous rendition by all participants.
Intermission was followed by a full-blooded presentation of
substantial excerpts from the first two parts of Handel’s “Messiah,”
culminating in the famous “Hallelujah” chorus that ends Part II. Moore and
Worth returned to excel in their multiple solos, and the Hartford Chorale
impressed throughout, hushed in “For unto us,” nimble in “All we like sheep,”
and jubilant in the finale. All sections of the orchestra played their hearts
out.
It was encouraging to see a large number of young people in
attendance, particularly for the overdue introduction of an outstanding
contemporary American woman composer to local audiences.
