Symphony Preview: And (almost) all that jazz

This Saturday (January 13) St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin presents the second of three concerts demonstrating the influence of what Slatkin calls “vernacular” music—jazz, folk, spirituals, theatre, and popular music in general—on the classical canon. In the first half of Saturday’s concert, the emphasis is on jazz.

[Preview the music with the SLSO's Spotify playlist.]

Darius Milhaud, 1923
By Agence de presse Meurisse
Public Domain

The evening opens the ballet “La création du monde” (The Creation of the World) by Darius Milhaud (1892–1974). A member of that group of somewhat eccentric French anti-Romantic composers known as "les six" (the others were Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Germaine Tailleferre, and Louis Durey), Milhaud enjoyed a brief infatuation with jazz that began with a 1920 performance of the Billy Arnold Jazz Band in London and reached its apex during a USA tour two years later when the composer heard jazz bands in Harlem.

“The music I heard was absolutely different from anything I had ever heard before and was a revelation to me” he wrote in his 1953 biography “Notes Without Music.”

Against the beat of the drums the melodic lines crisscrossed in a breathless pattern of broken and twisted rhythms... Its effect on me was so overwhelming that I could not tear myself away… When I went back to France, I never wearied of playing over and over, on a little portable phonograph shaped like a camera. Black Swan records I had purchased in a little shop in Harlem. More than ever I was resolved to use jazz for a chamber work.

“La creation” was the result of that resolution. Upon his return to Paris Milhaud got in touch with Blaise Cendrars, who had published Anthologie nègre (a collection of African folk tales) the year before. Cendrars’s scenario involved “giant gods, trees which impregnate the earth with their seed, leaves transformed into animals, men and girls emerging from the trees and performing a mating dance, until they disperse, leaving a single couple on stage, united in love.” Milhaud’s score, for a band of 19 soloists, makes prominent use of the piano, sax, and percussion.

It went over well enough in jazz-infatuated Paris but, as Svend Brown wrote in program notes for a 2007 performance of the score by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the ballet “was more a chic succès de scandale than a true success. The costumes designed by Fernand Léger (who also created the set) worked magnificently visually, but were hell to dance in—heavy and inflexible, they made it difficult to move freely.”

Woody Herman, 1943
By General Artists Corporation-management 
Public Domain

Which may explain why “La création du monde” is rarely seen but often heard. The small size of the ensemble will be a test of the SLSO’s mettle, but it will also offer an opportunity for many of the section principal players to shine.

Speaking of which, SLSO Principal Clarinet Scott Andrews steps into the spotlight next in the “Ebony Concerto” by Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971). Written in 1945 for Woody Herman and his band The Herd (who premiered it in 1946 at Carnegie Hall), it’s a pithy work that crams a lot of musical variety into its ten minutes without overwhelming the listener. Yes, it’s jazzy, but it’s jazz heard through a heavy Stravinsky filter.

That filter made things a bit challenging for Herman and The Herd. “The piece was extremely difficult and the band struggled mightily,” writes an anonymous author at the Carnegie Hall web site. “After the first rehearsal,” recalls Herman, “we were all so embarrassed [that] we were nearly crying.” Check out the YouTube video of the recording by Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain with its synchronized display of the score to see the kind of thing that made grown men cry.

Fortunately, it all came together at the concert, which also included plenty of The Herd’s popular hits.

Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, 1942
By Wide World Photos
Public Domain

Next, we head back to the theatre for the “Kleine Dreigroschenmusik” (“Little Threepenny Music”) by Kurt Weill (1900–1950). Scored for winds and percussion, it’s a suite of tunes from Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 “play with music” “Der Dreigroschen Oper” (“The Threepenny Opera”) that the composer put together in 1929 at the request of legendary conductor Otto Klemperer. In fact it’s Klemperer who conducts the performance on the SLSO’s Spotify playlist

Without the bitterly satirical lyrics that Brecht wrote for them, Weill’s suite is a mix of a half dozen appealing “ear worms” marinated in the spirit of 1920s popular song and dance and bookended with a dramatic overture and finale. But the suite’s accessibility doesn’t necessarily mean that Weill’s motivation in creating the site was largely mercenary.

Weill might have felt that his music would be more properly appreciated outside of the theatre, where he could use a larger ensemble and rely on the skills of conservatory-trained musicians. Given the success of his theatrical works, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that he had studied composition with Ferrucio Busoni and wrote extensively for the concert hall before he embraced the stage.

When Weill and Brecht were completing work on “Der Dreigroschen Oper” George Gershwin (1898–1937) was putting the finishing touches on his first major orchestral work, “An American in Paris,” which closes Saturday night’s concert. Begun during a trip to Paris two years earlier, the work is a reminder of just how much solid craftsmanship lurks behind Gershwin’s irresistible tunes.

Gershwin in 1937
Photo: Carl Van Vechten
en.wikipedia.org

In a 1928 interview for Musical America Gershwin described “An American in Paris” as “a rhapsodic ballet” intended “to portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris, as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere." As someone who has visited Paris several times and who has fallen in love with the City of Light, I’d say he succeeded completely.

The lively opening with its colorful evocation of the city's sidewalk cafes and bustling boulevards (complete with honking taxi horns in the percussion section) is a masterful bit of musical imagery. And the bluesy central section evokes not only the homesickness of the traveler but also the charm of Paris at night.

Plus, Gershwin’s orchestration is a reminder of how far he came in such a short period of time. This is, after all, a guy who went from being a Tin Pan Alley "song plugger" to an accomplished composer and orchestrator in only thirteen years. In another seven years he would write one of the mainstays of twentieth-century American opera, "Porgy and Bess.” Not shabby.

Slatkin and the SLSO recorded “An American in Paris” 50 years ago as part of the orchestra’s multi-LP set of Gershwin’s complete orchestral works for Vox (now available in digitally remastered format on ArchivMusic). Although the SLSO’s playlist for this Saturday’s concert does not feature that recording (opting instead Leonard Bernstein’s sonically dated version from 1959), it is also available on Spotify

The Essentials: Leonard Slatkin conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and clarinet soloist Scott Andrews in works by Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, Kurt Weill, and George Gershwin on Saturday, January 13, at 7:30 pm at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. For more information, visit the SLSO web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Review: Farewell Symphony

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

David Robertson

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In her program notes for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concerts this past weekend (May 4 - 6, 2018), René Spencer Saller quotes composer and jazz trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis as describing the final, quiet moments of his "Swing Symphony" this way: "It's a wistful feeling; it's not sad, and it's not happy. It's a feeling of contentment, a quiet celebration. It's like the last breath you take: 'We did this. We had a good time.'"

He could easily have been describing the mood among many at Powell Hall on Sunday afternoon, when the quirky, fade-out trumpet solo that brought Mr. Marsalis's piece to an end also brought to an end David Robertson's tenure as Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. I have no doubt that Mr. Robertson will return as a guest conductor at some point (as Leonard Slatkin continues to do), but these were the last notes of the last concert he will ever conduct as the orchestra's leader. The champagne toast to Mr. Robertson in the lobby at intermission had a celebratory air, but overall it was hard for me to ignore the fact that this marked the end of an era.

That era was marked by, among other things, a cheerful and well-considered advocacy for newer works in general and American music in particular. It seems only appropriate, then, that the program consisted entirely of American music composed since World War II, beginning with a nicely shaded performance of the "Three Dance Episodes" from Leonard Bernstein's wartime musical "On the Town." The final dance, "Times Square: 1944" had an especially nice swing and a cheerfully raucous trumpet solo by Associate Principal Thomas Drake.

Up next was another Bernstein composition, the "Prelude, Fugues, and Riffs" for clarinet and jazz band. It was written in 1949 for the Woody Herman combo, but the band broke up before the piece could be performed. The work didn't see the light of day in its final form until October 16, 1955, as part of an episode for the cultural television show Omnibus, to which Bernstein was a frequent contributor. It's a piece that crackles with energy, from the driving brass and percussion opening to the concluding "Riffs" section with its wild, keening clarinet solo.

Scott Andrews

SLSO Principal Clarinet had the solo spot this weekend, accompanied by guest instrumental ensemble the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on lead trumpet and the SLSO's Gerard Pagano on bass trombone. If there were any doubts as to whether a classically trained musician could but lose and "wail," Mr. Andrews's ecstatic performance surely put them to rest.

The concerts concluded with Mr. Marsalis's "Swing Symphony" (officially his Symphony No. 3), first performed by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in 2010. With seven movements and a running time of over an hour, it's an big work that encompasses, as Ms. Saller points out in her notes, "a whirlwind tour of jazz history, moving from ragtime to big band, bebop, hard bop, Afro-Cuban mambo, and the modal experiments of Miles Davis and John Coltrane." I'd add that there is also, in the penultimate "Think Space: Theory" movement, a nod to the jazz/classical fusion that Gunther Schuller called "third stream jazz" in the late 1950s in the form of a complex jazz fugue.

That's an ambitious undertaking made even more so by the fact that it's cast as a kind of modern version of the Baroque concerto grosso, with the larger ensemble (the full orchestra) set against the smaller solo group (the Lincoln Center jazz band). Unfortunately, the size of the Powell Hall stage made it impossible to clearly separate the two groups. The jazz band was surrounded on all three sides by the orchestra, which made it hard to clearly hear the differences between the two, at least from our seats in the Dress Circle.

Wynton Marsalis

Still, there is much that's powerful and ingenious in this work. The first movement, "St. Louis to New Orleans," moves seamlessly from the sounds of ragtime to low-down blues, while the "All-American Pep" movement that follows is a wonderfully hallucinatory tribute to 1920s jazz. "Midwestern Moods" is a driving tribute to the Kansas City style big band sound (described by Mr. Robertson as "eight beats to the bar and no cheating"), "Manhattan to L.A" evokes the infectious sounds of Latin jazz, and "Modern Modes and the Midnight Moan" includes a brilliantly manic trumpet solo by Mr. Marsalis, along with a final section that vividly evokes a smoky, late night club. The classical fusion sounds of "Think Space: Theory" act as a bridge to the final movement, "The Low Down Up on High," with its echoes of Afro-American sacred music and a final, oddly unresolved trumpet solo that fades out into breathy silence.

It's a vivid sonic tapestry, in short, with some especially inventive writing for the jazz band (I don't think have ever seen such a wide variety of mutes in a brass section, for one thing). The structure of the work is, perhaps, a bit too episodic for its length, but on the whole it was a great pleasure to hear it.

The "Swing Symphony" bristles with great solo moments for both the jazz band and orchestral musicians, and they got bravura performances from everyone when we heard the work on Sunday afternoon, under Mr. Robertson's deeply committed and well-paced direction. The packed house responded with multiple standing ovations for Mr. Robertson, Mr. Marsalis, and the musicians. As valedictory appearances go, it was unbeatable.

We did this. We had a good time.

This past weekend's concerts concluded the SLSO regular subscription season, but special events continue at Powell Hall throughout May and June, beginning with a showing of the classic musical film "An American in Paris" this coming Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13, 2018. The orchestra will perform the score live under the direction of Norman Huynh. The regular season resumes in September.

Review: Young at heart

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Matthew Halls
Photo by Eric Richmond

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[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview post.]

The accent was on youth this past Sunday (February 18, 2018) as guest conductor Matthew Halls made his St. Louis Symphony Orchestra debut with a program of music by a trio of early 19th-century composers who flourished early, died young, and left behind a sizeable body of music.

The concert opened with Symphony No. 3 in D major by Franz Schubert, dashed off in July 1815, when the composer was 18 years old. It opens with a slow, majestic introduction but the mood quickly turns sunny with a lilting main theme on the clarinet and remains cheerful for the next 25 minutes or so.

Conducting without a baton (as he did for the entire concert), Mr. Halls summoned those dramatic opening chords with a big, sweeping two-armed gesture and took the Adagio maestoso introduction at a relaxed pace that made the brisk first appearance of that main theme, expertly played by Associate Principal clarinet Diana Haskell, that much more energizing. It's marked Allegro con brio, which roughly translates as "quickly with energy," and it had energy in abundance.

In fact, his entire approach to the symphony made the most of the strong contrasts in the score. The Allegretto second movement was gracefully balletic, with a folksy charm in the contrasting middle section, while the Menuetto third movement danced along with subtle shadings of tempo and dynamics. The Presto vivace finale, with its tarantella-style 6/8 rhythm, raced along with fleet-footed playing by the strings and a satisfying sonic blend overall. Mr. Halls had Ms. Haskell stand for well-earned applause at the end along with her fellow woodwind leaders Philip Ross (Associate Principal oboe) and Andrew Gott (Associate Principal bassoon), but the fact is that everyone played extremely well.

The first half of the concert concluded with the Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, which Carl Maria von Weber wrote in 1811 at the age of 24. As befits a composer best known for his operas, the concerto is a work that often feels like it should be sung, with a dark and technically challenging first movement, a second that could pass for an opera aria, and a flashy Rondo finale.

Scott Andrews

SLSO Principal Clarinet Scott Andrews was the soloist, delivering a performance that had plenty of heart and soul (to cite an old song title) along with an easy virtuosity that allowed him to sail through the concerto's many difficult passages with an Astaire-like grace. He had a sensitive, singing tone in the lyrical second movement and approached the Rondo finale with a playful joy. He got great support from Mr. Halls and the orchestra, including some lovely playing from Roger Kaza and his fellow horns.

The concert ended with big, passionate interpretation of the Symphony No. 1 in C minor by Felix Mendelssohn from 1824. The composer was only 15 when he wrote it, but as he already had a dozen string symphonies to his credit at that point you could hardly call it the work of a beginner. It has, in fact, a maturity that belies Mendelssohn's youth, and Mr. Halls gave it a sense of weight and majesty that I have not always heard in other interpretations.

Conducting without a score, he drew a muscular, bold sound from the orchestra from the dramatic opening right through to the dynamic final movement with its powerful sense of momentum and sophisticated double fugue. There were many wonderful moments here, such as the almost inaudibly soft string pizzicati in the final movement and the elegant woodwind chorale in the Andante second movement. The sharp contrast between the vigorous outer sections and the gentle center of the third movement Menuetto was especially striking, generating a kind of tension that called to mind the transition into the finale of the fifth symphony of Beethoven, whose final symphony appeared the same year as Mendelssohn's first.

One could take issue with some of Mr. Halls' choices, but the sheer power of the overall result spoke for itself. As SLSO conducting debuts go, this one was pretty auspicious, and I look forward to seeing more of Mr. Halls in the future.

Next at Powell Hall: Kevin McBeth conducts the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus and soloist Oleta Adams in Lift Every Voice, a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Friday, February 23, at 7:30 pm; note that as this is being written, the concert is standing room only. On Saturday at 7 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, February 24 and 25, the SLSO presents a showing of the Alfred Hitchcock classic North by Northwest with the score performed live by the orchestra. All concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center.

Review: Mostly Mozart with the St. Louis Symphony

Richard Goode

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson with pianist Richard Goode
What: Music of Mozart, Lutoslawski, and Tippett
When: January 17 and 18, 2015
Where: Powell Hall, St. Louis

[Find out more about the music in my symphony preview post.]

We may never know who first applied the nickname "Jupiter" to Mozart's last symphony—American musicologist Daniel Heartz posits that it was impresario Johann Peter Salomon—but it's not hard to see why the name stuck.

Scott Andrews

The music has a kind of Olympian power and grandeur, along with a degree of structural clarity that makes it possibly the ideal Classical symphony. It's music brimming with vitality and optimism. It never fails to impress, especially when played with the kind of assurance and vigor David Robertson and the SLSO gave it this past Sunday.

Granted, this was modern, "big band" Mozart (although Thomas Stubbs was apparently using smaller period-reproduction tympani), but the performance had the kind of vitality I associate with smaller "original instrument" ensembles. The strong tempo and dynamic contrasts I have come to associate with Mr. Robertson were all there as usual, as was the attention to orchestral detail. The result was an impressive reading that reminded me of how much the "Jupiter" looks forward to the Romantic era while crystallizing the Classical style.

Kristin Ahlstrom

The other big Mozart work on the program—the "Piano Concerto No. 17" from 1784—fared just as well. Soloist Richard Goode played with a delicacy and fluid grace that was the aural equivalent of good Champagne—smooth, but bubbly and piquant. Mr. Goode was clearly wrapped up in the music, often singing or humming to himself (inaudibly, at least from the dress circle) and generally showing signs of intense concentration and pleasure.

The orchestra responded well to Mr. Robertson's direction and played impeccably. Mozart put a lot of reliance on the winds in this concerto, and the SLSO players did not disappoint. They sounded splendid, especially in the emotional depths of the second movement.

Shawn Weil

Strong orchestral playing also characterized the two twentieth-century pieces that made of the rest of the program. The concert opened with a dazzling performance of Witold Lutoslawski's playful 1955 "Dance Preludes" by SLSO Principal Clarinet Scott Andrews. Quoted in the program notes, Mr. Andrews describes this brief (ten minute) piece as "very fun, rhythmic, based on the Polish folk tradition, but without taking direct quotations from folk music." Certainly that spirit of fun was present in the playing of both Mr. Andrews and the orchestra; there was even an occasional chuckle from some of us in the audience at the composer's little winks and nods.

David Kim

Sir Michael Tippett's "Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli" from 1953 (which opened the second half of the concert) is more substantial stuff. Scored for two string orchestras along with two solo violins and a solo cello, it takes an excerpt from the "Concerto grosso, op. 6, no. 2" by Arcangelo Corelli (published in 1741) and uses it as the foundation for an elaborate structure consisting of seven variations, a fugue, and a blissful finale.

The two violin soloists have perhaps the most challenging music, often trading licks like country fiddlers, but Kristin Ahlstrom and Shawn Weil (both members of the SLSO strings) were more than up to the task. The solo cellist doesn't get as many flashy passages, but SLSO Assistant Principal Cello David Kim did well by it. The solid, polished sound of the symphony strings back them up under Mr. Robertson's incisive direction.

Next at Powell: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus along with Kate Reimann, soprano; Johanna Nordhorn, mezzo-soprano; Keith Boyer, tenor; and Jeffrey Heyl, bass-baritone in an all-Beethoven program featuring the "Mass in C Major" and "Symphony No. 8" Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m., January 23-25. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

How strange the change from major to minor

Scott Andrews

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernard Labadie with clarinet soloist Scott Andrews
What: All-Mozart Program
Where: Powell Symphony Hall
When: April 26 and 27, 2013

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Mozart, as they used to say over at Variety, is clearly “boffo” with St. Louis Symphony audiences. The crowd at Friday morning’s concert was larger than usual and obviously appreciative of Bernard Labadie’s vibrant readings of Mozart’s 33rd and 40th symphonies, as well as with Principal Clarinet Scott Andrew’s elegant work in the Clarinet Concerto, K. 622.

The fans may be conservative, but they know what they like.

Bernard Labadie

And there was quite a lot to like about this concert. As founder of Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, Mr. Labadie has substantial credentials as an interpreter of music of the Baroque and Classical eras. Reviewing a Barbican Center concert with the former ensemble, for example, the Telegraph noted that Labadie “radiates an infectious joy in the music”—a quality much in evidence here. His Mozart also has, to my ears, the kind of vitality I associate with the “original instrument” movement, although Mr. Labadie is not usually associated with that approach.

His Symphony No. 33 in B-flat major (K. 319) was, therefore, a perfect mix of exuberance and precision—very appropriate for a work of (to quote Paul Schiavo’s program notes) “uniformly bright countenance.” Tempi were on the brisk side both here in and in the Symphony No. 40, but the music never felt rushed.

By way of contrast, Mr. Labadie and Mr. Andrews gave us a relaxed and elegant concerto—also very appropriate for a work noted more for its “grace, tenderness, and intimacy” (to quote Mr. Schiavo again) than its virtuoso display. Mr. Andrews is not a particularly showy performer, but was clearly very much caught up in the music, dipping his body for low notes and swaying back and forth in time to the melodies. His tone was beautiful and limpid and his execution flawless.

Basset clarinet

The K. 622 has an interesting history, by the way. The original manuscript, written for Mozart’s friend and fellow Mason Anton Stadler (apparently quite a virtuoso), has been lost. It was written for a special “basset clarinet” invented by Stadler that had an additional major third at the bottom of its range (low C vs. low E). Stadler’s basset clarinet never caught on, though, so when the piece was published after Mozart’s death, it had been modified to fit the range of a standard clarinet.

Subsequent research has enabled musicologists to produce a basset clarinet version of the score, but since so few musicians play this oddball instrument, the modified version (the one performed in these concerts) is the one usually played these days. If you’re curious as to what the restored version sounds like, a 1997 CD by the Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy with Eric Hoeprich on basset clarinet is still in print, and I expect there are others.

Getting back to Powell Hall, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K. 550) that concluded the concert was wonderfully urgent and dramatic, with especially marked contrasts between the first and second subjects in the opening movement. This is a symphony that has produced a wide variety of responses from critics and Mozart biographers. Some have emphasized its obvious dark and brooding moods while others have noted what Robert Schumann called its “Grecian lightness and grace.” Personally, I tend to come down on the “dark and brooding” side, so I found Mr. Labadie’s approach completely compelling and convincing.

The musicians sounded great as usual. When performed by an appropriately sized ensemble (36 pieces in this case), the Mozart symphonies are a real test of an orchestra’s capabilities. There aren’t that many players per part, so everyone has to be in top form; there’s no place to hide here. The polished quality of the sound Friday morning was, therefore, yet another testament to this band’s high performance standards.

Next on the calendar: David Robertson returns to the podium along with local favorite soprano Christine Brewer and baritone Lucas Meachem Friday through Sunday, May 3-5. The program consists of the overture to Suppé’s Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna, Schubert’s "Unfinished", and the local premiere of Zemlinsky’s 1924 Lyrische Symphonie (Lyric Symphony). For ticket information: stlsymphony.org.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, April 26

Scott Andrews

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony conducted by Bernard Labadie with clarinet soloist Scott Andrews
What: An all-Mozart program
Where: Powell Symphony Hall
When: Today at 10:30 AM and 8 PM and Saturday at 8 PM
Why: "Mozart’s sublime writing remains an audience favorite and this program devoted to his genius is no exception. Bernard Labadie leads the composer’s hypnotic Symphony No. 40, known for its unmistakable opening theme, and the Clarinet Concerto featuring Principal Clarinet Scott Andrews. Praised as “elegant” in the Boston Globe and “extraordinary” by the New York Times, Andrews’ stellar talent shines in the lyrical concerto, among the final works completed before Mozart’s death."  It's always nice to see a member of the orchestra in the solo slot and the dramatic and haunting Mozart 40 is always worth hearing.