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Nicholas Phan

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson, with tenor soloist Nicholas Phan
What: Music of Marc-André Dalbavie, Britten, and Tchaikovsky
When: May 9-11, 2014
Where: Powell Symphony Hall

If you're going to bring in a singer as a last-minute substitute, it's good to have one like tenor Nicholas Phan, who has clearly internalized the music and made it his own. His performance of Britten's song cycle "Les Illuminations" with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Friday night was—well—luminous. So was Marc-André Dalbavie's ethereally lovely "La Source d'un regard," a 2007 work getting its local premiere. The evening closed with a bold and dramatic Tchaikovsky "Symphony No. 5" which was not to be missed.

[Find out more about the music with the symphony program notes and my Symphony Preview article.]

Mr. Phan was actually the third performer scheduled to sing the Britten this weekend. When the concert was first announced, the soloist was to be a local favorite, soprano Christine Brewer. Last July, though, she had to pull out because her agent had double-booked her with an engagement with Chicago Lyric Opera. She was replaced with tenor Andrew Kennedy who was in turn replaced on April 29th with Mr. Phan.

Mr. Phan has performed "Les Illuminations" before and, indeed, talked about being "obsessed with" Britten's music in a 2010 interview. His performance Friday night was certainly assured. Singing without a score, Mr. Phan was thoroughly engaged with the vivid and surrealistic Rimbaud poems that constitute the text of "Les Illuminations."

Possibly written under the mind-altering influences of absinthe and hashish, the poems present a succession of surrealistic pictures, culminating in a somewhat nightmarish parade. It's fanciful and fascinating stuff, especially sung with this kind of commitment. Mr. Phan's voice was wonderfully flexible and he sounded entirely comfortable even when the music pulled him up towards the top of his register.

The music is officially designated as being for "high voice," by the way, which is why it can be sung by either a tenor or soprano. It was dedicated to and first performed by Sophie Wyss in 1940, but Britten and his life partner, the legendary English tenor Peter Pears, made a recording of it with the English Chamber Orchestra that is also highly regarded.

""Les Illuminations" is scored for string ensemble, which gave the symphony strings a chance to show off. The sound was lovely, with fine solo work by Concertmaster David Halen, Principal Viola Beth Guterman Chu, and Principal Cello Daniel Lee. Mr. Robertson and Mr. Phan were clearly on the same wavelength throughout, producing a wonderfully evocative performance of this wildly imaginative music.

Before the Britten we had the evanescent and often oddly beautiful "La Source d'un regard" by Marc-André Dalbavie. An admirer of the influential Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992), Dalbavie, as Paul Schiavo writes in his program notes, "is one of a number of recent composers, mostly French, who have developed what has come to be called 'spectralism,' a music that derives its harmonies from overtones, the high-pitched resonance that accompanies musical pitches, usually below the threshold of hearing." "La Source d'un regard," to my ears, sounded rather like Debussy crossed with Charles Ives's "The Housatonic at Stockbridge": a swirl of microtonal harmonies, a shifting and often barely discernable rhythmic pulse, and a sense of time standing still—or at least suspended.

This was music so gossamer-thin that at times it was hardly there at all and defies easy description. It was minimalist in some ways, but minimalist through subtlety rather than (as in the case of Reich's "The Four Sections" from last week) endless repetition. Unlike the Reich, "La Source d'un regard" sounds like a piece that leaves a fair amount of room for interpretation, and I expect it must be rewarding to play. Mr. Robertson and his forces undoubtedly made a strong case for it, with superb work by all concerned.

The concert closed with what was, I'm sure, the big draw for many members of the audience: Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 5 in E minor," Op. 64, from 1888. Like the symphonies that bracket it, the fifth deals with the composer's obsession with fate and his attempt to find happiness despite his depression and the stress of being gay in Czarist Russia. The fifth is less structurally coherent than the sixth or (especially) the fourth symphonies, but its triumphant final pages have a power that can't be denied.

Mr. Robertson's approach didn't stint on the power, but he also brought out the passion. The orchestra's sound was particularly lush and Mr. Robertson's measure use of rubato in (for example) the second subject of the first movement brought out just that extra measure of drama.

In an essay for the 1966 Penguin collection "The Symphony," the Austrian-born British music writer Hans Keller noted that the Fifth "may be the most consistently outstanding" of all Tchaikovsky's symphonies in the way that the orchestration "offers original sounds at every change of texture. If this is not generally recognized, it is only because all these sonorities seem as natural and necessary as the hills." Mr. Robertson's approach very much emphasized the originality and beauty of that orchestration—something that can get lost in the work's bombast.

There was some very fine solo work here. Principal Horn Roger Kaza, of course, takes pride of place for his golden, burnished tone in the famous opening pages of the second movement, followed closely by clarinetists Scott Andrews and Timothy Zavadil in the opening "fate" motif. Principal Bassoon Andrew Cuneo, Acting Co-Principal Oboe Phil Ross, and Principal Flute Mark Sparks all had standout moments, as did Shannon Wood on tympani.

This was, in sum, a perfectly balanced Tchaikovsky Fifth, and a fine way to end the regular concert season. You have one more chance to catch it live on Sunday, May 11, at 3 PM. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Next at Powell Hall, the first in a series of post-season concerts as the symphony performs "Stayin' Alive: a Tribute to the Bee Gees" on Saturday, May 17, at 7:30 PM.

Tales of the unexpected

Marc-André Dalbavie

The symphony closes out its regular season this week as David Robertson returns to the podium for a program that features a dramatic Tchaikovsky symphony, a hallucinatory song cycle by Britten, and a new piece by a French composer of "spectralist" music. Variety? We've got it.

The program opens with "La Source d'un regard," composed on commission in 2007 by Marc-André Dalbavie. An admirer of the influential Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), Dalbavie uses fragments from some of the older composer's works in this piece, but his compositional approach makes it unlikely that even the most dedicated admirer of Messiaen will recognize them.

"Dalbavie," writes Paul Schiavo in his program notes, "is one of a number of recent composers, mostly French, who have developed what has come to be called 'spectralism,' a music that derives its harmonies from overtones, the high-pitched resonance that accompanies musical pitches, usually below the threshold of hearing." The result is music so delicate that (as Philadelphia Inquirer music critic Peter Dobrin wrote of the work's premiere there) "[a]spects of it—melody, for instance—are so subtle they seem written in invisible ink. Even the occasional sonic jab, while menacing, is not jarring enough to disturb the work's incredibly transporting quality." "Spectral" music is often microtonal—using intervals smaller than those normally heard in Western music—and tosses out conventional idea of harmonic or rhythmic motion. That should make it an interesting challenge for the audience as well as the orchestra.

Benjamin Britten in the 1960s

Benjamin Britten's 1939 song cycle "Les Illuminations" is up next. Begun in Suffolk but completed during a brief period of self-imposed exile in the USA (Britten was put off by what Mr. Schiavo describes as "a deepening political, social, and artistic conservatism" in England), the piece sets to music a collection of wildly imaginative poems by the eccentric French writer Arthur Rimbaud, a remarkable character who lived fast, died young (age 37), and produced his entire literary output before the age of 20. Possibly written under the mind-altering influences of absinthe and hashish, the poems present a succession of surrealistic pictures, culminating in a somewhat nightmarish parade. It's fanciful and fascinating stuff.

Although written for a soprano, "Les Illuminations" is often performed by a tenor. In fact, Britten's life partner (the great English tenor Peter Pears), made a recording of it with the composer conducting the English Chamber Orchestra—one that's regarded as a definitive interpretation. That's fortunate, since the originally scheduled soloist for these concerts—hometown gal Christine Brewer—had to cancel her appearance when it turned out her agent had booked her for a conflicting appearance as the Abbess in Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of "The Sound of Music" (she now has a new agent). It's tough enough when you have to change the soloist; much worse when the music changes as well.

In fact, Ms. Brewer was not the last performer to withdraw from "Les Illuminations". As the symphony announced in an April 29th press release, the tenor listed in the printed program, Andrew Kennedy, has been replaced by Nicholas Phan. The release doesn't give a reason for the change, although it does note that Mr. Phan was named one of National Public Radio's Favorite New Artists of 2011 and points out that he's no stranger to the Powell Hall stage, having appeared in the Bach "Christmas Oratorio" last December. At the time I was impressed with his ability to bring a theatrical sensibility to the role of the Evangelist without compromising the music. In a 2010 interview he talks about being obsessed with Britten, so I look forward to hearing what he does with this music.

Tchaikovsky in 1888

The concerts conclude with one of Pete Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits, the "Symphony No. 5 in E minor," Op. 64, from 1888. Like the symphonies that bracket it, the fifth deals with the composer's obsession with fate and his attempt to find happiness despite what Mr. Schiavo describes as "difficult personal circumstances" and what I'd describe as the stress of being gay in Czarist Russia. If you need evidence of the pernicious effects of criminalizing sexual orientation, you need look no further than the pain and torment of Tchaikovsky's life.

Somewhat surprisingly (in light of its enduring popularity), Tchaikovsky began the symphony at a time when he thought he might be played out. "Have I written myself out?" he asked in an April 1888 letter to his brother Modest. "No ideas? No inclination? Still, I am hoping to collect materials for a symphony." He continued to question himself after the lukewarm critical reception of the piece at its November 17th, 1888, premiere in St. Petersburg (due, in part, to the composer's poor performance as a conductor). Audiences and musicians, however loved it—not only in St. Petersburg but later in Prague and Hamburg as well. Time, in any event, would vindicate him (if not necessarily during his lifetime).

“There's a monumental, an epic quality to this symphony," observes symphony Principal Horn Roger Kaza in the program book, "as with all of Tchaikovsky's late symphonies, although I find this one less tragic and fatalistic than the Fourth or Sixth. The Fifth is more exuberant throughout, and it contains absolutely brilliant strokes of genius." In an essay for the 1966 Penguin collection "The Symphony," the Austrian-born British music writer Hans Keller goes so far as to suggest that the Fifth "may be the most consistently outstanding" of all Tchaikovsky's symphonies in the way that the orchestration "offers original sounds at every change of texture. If this is not generally recognized, it is only because all these sonorities seem as natural and necessary as the hills."

The essentials: David Robertson conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and tenor Nicholas Phan in Britten's "Les Illuminations," along with Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 5" and the St. Louis premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie's "La Source d'un regard" Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, May 9-11, at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. Washington University will sponsor a free informal Q&A session with maestro Robertson on the Orchestra Level immediately following the Friday concert. For more information: stlsymphony.org.