Symphony Preview: A musical experiement recreated at Powell Hall Thanksgiving weekend

Whiteman in the trailer for the film
"Rhapsody in Blue"
en.wikipedia.org

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"An Experiment in Modern Music" was how bandleader Paul Whiteman billed the February 12, 1924 concert by his Palais Royal Orchestra at New York's Aeolian Hall. This weekend at Powell Hall, the St. Louis Symphony will recapture some of the excitement attendant on that legendary program.

The most memorable piece to emerge from Whiteman's experiment is, of course, Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" (although I have a fondness for the piece that preceded it: an arrangement of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" complete with plunking banjo). Until 1971, though, most people who heard the work weren't hearing what the New York audience heard in 1924. That's because it was Samuel Adler's 1971 recording that reconstructed the original Whiteman jazz band arrangement (by composer Ferde Grofe of "Grand Canyon Suite" fame) using parts from the original score. Before then, the "Rhapsody" was always heard in what conductor Maurice Peress (in the notes for his 1986 recreation of the Aeolian Hall concert for the Musicmasters label) calls the "Hollywood version" for symphony orchestra.

He (and I) grew up with that version—as have most classical music fans of a certain age. Hearing a reconstruction of the original, as you will this weekend at Powell, will probably come as something of a revelation. It certainly did to me when I first played that Adler disc. The jazz band version has a kind of snap and flash that the full orchestra can't seem to match, no matter how skilled the musicians.

The soloist for the Gershwin has a fair amount of snap and flash himself. It's Kirill Gerstein, who gave us a surprisingly lyrical Tchaikovsky 1st last September and a bravura performance of British composer Thomas Adès's “In Seven Days" two years ago. A Gilmore Artist Award winner, Mr. Gerstein has shown himself to be equally at home with both Romantic classics and new music—some of which he has commissioned himself.

Bernstein in 1955
en.wikipedia.org

The other big familiar work on the program is Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story," an orchestral suite assembled from the score for the 1957 musical by Bernstein in 1960. The orchestration by TV and film veterans Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal is irresistibly colorful and the piece as a whole does a nice job of distilling the essence of the play down into a nine-movement set lasting just over 20 minutes.

There are two local premieres on the program this weekend as well: "Hell's Angels" (written in 1999 by Michael Daugherty) and "Try" (written in 2011 by Andrew Norman).

Symphony program annotator Michael Durchholz describes the former as "a roaring, chaotic mini-concerto based on the titular outlaw biker gang" which "substitutes long, tubular bassoons for the unmuffled drag-pipes of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, creating a commotion sure to upset the neighborhood. Somebody call the authorities!" The composer himself says it's “the musical tale of a gang of hot-rodding motorcycling bassoonists who ride into town and take over a concert hall.” Appearing in the roles of the biker gang are SLSO bassoonists Andrew Cuneo, Andrew Gott, and Felicia Foland, along with contrabassoonist Gregg Henegar. Mr. Cuneo is the Principal Bassoon, so presumably he gets the "black leather jacket with the eagle on the back" (to quote a famous Leiber and Stoller lyric).

Andrew Norman
andrewnormanmusic.com

"Try," on the other hand, is less aggressive. In his notes on the piece, composer Norman says the music is at lot like him. "It's messy, and fragmented," he writes, "and it certainly doesn't get things right on the first try. It does things over and over, trying them out in as many different ways as it can. It circles back on itself again and again in search of any idea that will stick, that will lead it forward to something new. And, at long last, after ten minutes of increasingly frantic trying, it finds one small, unlikely bit of musical material it likes enough to repeat and polish and hone until it finally (fingers crossed) gets it right."

Scored for solo piano and chamber ensemble (string quintet plus winds), "Try" will segue directly into "Rhapsody in Blue." Which makes more sense than you might think since Gershwin, like Norman, was still trying a lot of things out when he wrote the "Rhapsody." Indeed, at the February 12 premiere Gershwin—who was also the soloist—hadn't quite decided when he wanted the band to enter, so the piano part wasn't actually written down. When he wanted the band to play, he just nodded to Whiteman.

A final bonus with these concerts is that the music will be accompanied by a light show created by artist S. Katy tucker, known for her design work at (among other venues) Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Opera, and the Sydney Symphony (where Mr. Robertson is Artistic Director and Chief Conductor). Far out.

The essentials: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with Kirill Gerstein, piano; bassoonists Andrew Cuneo, Andrew Gott, and Felicia Foland; and Gregg Henegar, contrabassonon; Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., November 28-30. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org. The Saturday performance will be broadcast on St. Louis Public Radio at 90.7 FM, HD 1, and web streaming.