Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, Massachusetts
February 2, 2019
by Jarice Hanson
Watching Maestro Kevin Rhodes conduct is always entertaining,
and on Saturday night, he and the orchestra provided a program rich in musical
texture and artistry. Rhodes’
articulate and sometimes humorous introduction to each of the pieces helped
connect the evening’s selections to cultural history and the evolution of women
composers’ influence in composition and musical expression.
Joan Tower’s “6th Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” opened the
program with a pulsating, bright sound.
Though her six Fanfares collectively became known as a feminist retort to
Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” the “6th Fanfare” was written as
recently as 2016, making Tower one of the two contemporary composers featured
in the concert. Tower’s
“Sequoia” was a lovely contrast to the earlier piece, with its rhythmic
expression of the majestic sequoia tree growing toward the sky.
A stunningly ethereal “blue cathedral” by Jennifer Higdon
completed the contemporary works with a musical story created as a response to
the grief she had about her brother’s untimely death. Performed throughout the United States over 1,000 times last
year, this piece integrated Chinese bells and musicians playing water-glasses
(a glass harmonica) for a stunning sound that uplifted the heart.
Bal Masque, Opus 22, by Amy Beach was composed in 1894, and
provided a link to the romantic style of Rimsky-Korsakov, featured in the
second part of the evening’s fare.
In all of the evening’s offerings, many of the extraordinary musicians
of the symphony had lush solos and demonstrated the exceptional quality of
musicianship so prevalent in the SSO.
Based on the symphonic poem Scheherazade, Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov composed a musical telling of the story of the Arabian Nights.
Scheherazade, the concubine of a Khalif who slept with each wife and then killed
them, told a story every night to forestall her own killing. In this piece,
Maestro Rhodes energetically conducted as Concertmaster Masako Yanagita and her
violin “told” the story while different sections of the orchestra picked up the
theme for each of the four tableaux in the Suite.
The well-deserved standing ovation showed that the audience
appreciated the artistry of the evening.
Notable too, was the number of very young audience members who seemed
excited by what they had just heard, as well as the murmurs of audience members
who were clearly moved by the evening’s entertainment.
