Review: Spring forward

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

Christian Arming
Photo by Shumpei Oshugi

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Spring arrived early this year, both outdoors and inside Powell Hall, as guest conductor Christian Arming led the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Friday night (March 2, 2018) in an inventive take on Schumann's "Spring" symphony, followed by an intriguingly idiosyncratic Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 by soloist Rémi Geniet.

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

It was the dead of winter when Schumann wrote his Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major in January of 1841, but it was springtime in the composer's heart. He had just married the love of his life, Clara Wieck, the previous September, and he responded to this happy turn of events with a massive outpouring of music, including some of his best-known song cycles. You can hear that in the symphony which, after a brief, dramatically stormy introduction, bursts into pure joy and which it continues to express for the next half-hour.

Conducting with big, fluid gestures (and sometimes singing along with the orchestra), Mr. Arming found an impressive variety of emotional levels in this music. The build from the majestic introduction to the Allegro molto vivace of the first movement was neatly done, and the coda had impressive energy. The Larghetto second movement was lovingly sculpted (summoning up images of Schumann's love for Clara), the third movement Scherzo was bracing, with marked contrasts among its sections, and the finale overflowed with vernal cheer. The expressive range of Mr. Arming's interpretation was wide, making Schumann almost feel like Mahler at times.

I feel like a broken record (remember those?) writing this, but the orchestra played beautifully for Mr. Arming, with fine work by Roger Kaza's horns (a good thing, since Schumann gave them some important work to do). There were also excellent solos by (among others) Principal Flute Mark Sparks, Associate Principal Oboe Philip Ross, Principal Clarinet Scott Andrews, and Associate Principal Bassoon Andrew Gott.

The Tchaikovsky concerto that followed intermission was also wide-ranging in its scope, thanks in part to the intensely personal performance of Mr. Geniet. Yes, he displayed solid technique, with plenty of power as well as a delicacy of touch, but what made his performance memorable was his ability to find new ideas in this well-known warhorse. His first movement cadenza, in particular, had such a wide dynamic and expressive range that it felt rather like a mini-sonata. Critics have praised Mr. Geniet in the past for his ability to shine new light on established classics, and he certainly did that Friday night.

Rémi Geniet
Photo by Jean Baptiste Millot

The performance was received with an enthusiastic standing ovation by the audience, which was rewarded by an ethereal encore that gave Mr. Geniet another chance to demonstrate that delicacy of touch: the "Cradle Song," the first of Tchaikovsky's Op. 16 "Romances" for voice and piano, in a transcription by Rachmaninoff. It was the last thing Rachmaninoff wrote, in fact, which made it both touching and sad.

The concert opened with a high-contrast reading of Smetana's symphonic poem "Sárka," the third of the six works that make up the epic cycle "Má vlast" ("My Homeland"). It's a vivid bit of musical story telling from an episode in the legendary Czech "Maiden's War" in which the legendary female lieutenant of the title seduced the warrior Ctirad and then, with the help of her fellow fighters, slaughtered him and his men in their sleep. Smetana's writing is colorfully descriptive and Mr. Arming's interpretation was cinematic in its scope, with an appropriately fiery finale.

Both Mr. Arming and Mr. Geniet were making their St. Louis debuts Friday night. Based on what I saw and heard, I'd say they made a very good first impression and I hope to see them here again.

Next at Powell: Grammy Award-winning singer and rapper Wyclef Jean joins the orchestra for A Night of Symphonic Hip-Hop on Friday, March 9th, at 7:30 pm. Christian Macelaru conducts the orchestra on Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3 pm, March 10th and 11th, with a program of Britten, Saint-Saëns, and Vaughan Williams. James Ehnes is the violin soloist.

Symphony Review, January 22, 2016: A fine romance

Percussionist William James

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This weekend was a busy one for David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony, with regular subscription concerts Friday morning and Saturday night and tonight and a Whitaker Foundation-sponsored "Music You Know" concert Friday night.

Initiated in the fall of 2014, the "Music You Know" mini-series (three concerts per season) features classical "greatest hits": relatively short works, most of which are likely to be familiar to regulars at Powell Hall. As was the case with the previous program in the series, there was also a local premiere—"Girlfriends Medley" by percussion virtuoso Bob Becker—but for the most part the music was tried and true.

Things got off to a galvanizing start with the overture to Smetana's 1865 comic opera "The Bartered Bride." Mr. Robertson adopted a tempo for the opening fugal section that might have been risky for a less disciplined string section, but Concertmaster David Halen and his forces came through with flying colors. Hearing them rip through those scurrying figures with such precision was a dose of sheer musical adrenaline.

The four selections from the incidental music Gabriel Fauré wrote for a 1900 production of Maeterlinck’s elusive and once-popular drama "Pelléas and Mélisande" that followed made for a nice lyrical contrast. The "Prélude" swelled with understated passion. The swirling strings of the "Entr'acte" (depicting Mélisande at her spinning wheel) cast an ethereal spell. The famous "Sicilienne" was a model of elegance, and Mélisande's death scene was profound in its tragic resignation.

The performance featured some fine solo work from (among others), Principal Flute Mark Sparks and Principal Harp Allegra Lilly, along with some fine playing by the double reeds and clarinet.

Bob Becker

The first half came to a big close with a spectacular display of xylophone virtuosity by Principal Percussionist William James in the "Girlfriends Medley." Originally written for percussion ensemble but re-scored here for xylophone and strings, the work is a ragtime-style mashup of three vaudeville-era songs that all have women's names in their titles—"My Little Margie," "Dinah," and one I'm embarrassed to say I didn't recognize. Mr. James's performance was a stunning mix of technical flash and musical elegance. If Fred Astaire had played the xylophone, it would have sounded like this. Mr. James got a well-deserved standing ovation.

The second half of the concert opened with the familiar "Wedding March" from Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" incidental music, a complete performance of which is on the SLSO bill next month, followed by the most weighty entry of the evening: the fourth movement "Adagietto" for harp and strings from the work that takes up most of the other concert program this weekend, Mahler's "Symphony No. 5."

As Mr. Robertson reminded us in his prefatory remarks, the movement is generally seen as the composer's musical love letter to his wife Alma and a profound musical statement of the sentiment that the world is a better place for the presence of one's love. But because nothing with Mahler is ever simple, there's also the suggestion, here and there, that love, like everything else human, is mortal and must pass.

The beauty and tragedy of this music was wonderfully conveyed by the orchestra's performance. Mr. Robertson let the music breathe, in accordance with the composer's sehr langsam ("very slowly"), but never allowed it become static (as I've heard happen with some performances). This was real "lump in the throat" material and completely captivating.

The evening came to a jolly conclusion with the second of two suites from Manuel de Falla's ballet "El sombrero de tres picos" ("The Three-Cornered Hat"). Mr. Robertson held the performance up as an example of why he loves to conduct this orchestra, and it was easy to hear why. It was a vibrant, exciting reading and a welcome opportunity for the percussion section to strut their stuff. The English horn solo in the final "Jota" had a nice bite as well. It was a welcome antidote to the cold and wind outside.

As Mr. Robertson pointed out in his remarks from the stage, last night's concert took place on the same date and same day of the week when, seventeen years ago, he made his debut with the SLSO. As if that weren't reason enough to celebrate the date, the soloist for that concert was pianist Orli Shaham, who would later become his wife. It's nice that we all got to help him observe the event with such an exemplary evening of music making.

The St. Louis Symphony begins a West Coast tour this coming week, so their next local appearance won't be until February 5 and 6, when violinist Anthony Marwood will conduct an evening of chamber music by Bach, Dvorák, and Peteris Vasks. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

All the hits, all the time

Steven Jarvi

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The St. Louis Symphony's regular subscription season ended a month ago with a bang-up performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 the weekend of May 9th. But they've got a final encore concert for you this Saturday.

In fact, it's kind of a meta-concert in that it's an encore program consisting of works often played as encores or (in at least one case) curtain raisers. They're calling it "Bravo! An Evening of Classical Favorites." And so it is.

Here's what's on the program, along with a few brief comments from me.

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture, op. 9 - This was actually an attempt by Berlioz to salvage something from his failed 1838 opera Benvenuto Cellini. It includes some themes from the opera's carnival scene, hence the title. Considered radical in its time and technically challenging, the opera has rarely been performed.

Faure: Pavane, op. 50 – Originally an 1887 solo piano piece, the Pavane was later orchestrated Faure for a small ensemble with optional chorus. There's no chorus listed on the program, so presumably you'll get the orchestral version. Faure thought this haunting and stately little piece "elegant, but not otherwise important." It turned out to be one of his biggest hits.

Morton Gould

Gould: "Pavanne" from American Symphonette No. 2 – American composer Morton Gould's "Pavanne" couldn't be more different from Faure's if it tried. It's jazzy and jaunty—very much in keeping with the overall mood of the American Symphonette No. 2, which Gould wrote for radio in 1939.

Grieg: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt – This five-act epic verse drama by Henrik Ibsen is (unlike many of the great Norwegian dramatist's other plays) rarely seen outside of his native land. The music Grieg wrote for the premiere production, though, has proved immensely popular. There's an optional choral part for this piece as well.

Dvorák: Selections from Slavonic Dances, op. 46 – Dvorák wrote two sets of Slavonic Dances (Op. 46 in 1878 and Op. 72 in 1886) as pieces for two pianos. They were so popular he was obliged to orchestrate them—and those versions proved even more popular. Every one of these works is a little orchestral gem, representing a different type Czech dance.

Open-air performance of The Bartered Bride
at Zoppot Waldoper, Danzig

Smetana: "Dance of the Comedians" from The Bartered Bride – Smetana's 1863 comic opera had a rocky beginning, but has gone on to achieve popularity world-wide. Performances of it aren't as common here in the USA, but the overture and orchestral excerpts like this one are invariably crowd pleasers. The "Dance of the Comedians" also pops up in "Road Runner" cartoons, as I recall.

Bizet: "Farandole" from L'Arlésienne – Alphonse Daudet's 1872 drama (usually translated as "The Girl from Arles") wasn't well received in its day and has pretty much disappeared since. Bizet's incidental music, though, continues to be popular. The "Farandole" incorporates a traditional French Christmas carol, "The March of the Kings."

Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture - Glinka's 1842 fairy-tale opera isn't done very often. The overture, though, one of those pieces that used to crop up often as “filler” on classical LPs—a function it still serves on classical radio stations today. Its alluring melodies and neat little solo tympani part are irresistible.

Fred, Ginger, and canine companion

Gershwin: Promenade – This perky little tune started out life as the accompaniment for a dog-walking sequence aboard an ocean liner in the 1937 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers vehicle Shall We Dance. In 1960 it was published as "Promenade." There are many recordings of it out there, including one by the St. Louis Symphony as part of its complete Gershwin orchestral works set.

Gliere: "Russian Sailors' Dance" from The Red Poppy – This 1927 ballet has would up on the ash heap of history, largely (I assume) because of the heavy-handed Soviet propaganda that constitutes its scenario. Individual numbers are still popular, though—especially this typically rousing dance that starts majestically and builds to a wild climax. I recall playing this in the school orchestra. The trombone part gets pretty hectic towards the end.

Tchaikovsky: "Waltz" from Sleeping Beauty, op. 66 – Here's one of those famous classical pieces that became the basis for a popular song: Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain's "Once Upon a Dream" from the 1959 animated Disney film Sleeping Beauty. In its original 1890 form it's a typically sweeping Tchaikovsky waltz.

Brahms: Hungarian Dance No.5 in G minor – It's only appropriate that this should be on the same program as the Dvorák Slavonic Dances since it was, in part, the success of the Brahms dances that moved Dvorák to compose his. Although Brahms is the composer of record for the 21 Hungarian Dances, most of them actually used existing folk melodies. The fifth dance, in fact, uses a melody composed by Béla Kéler, which Brahms, apparently innocently, took for a folk tune. Copyright law was less fierce in those days.

Grieg: "Last Spring" from Two Elegiac Melodies – The Two Elegiac Melodies for string orchestra from 1880 were inspired by poems of Aasmund Olafsson Vinje. "Last Spring" is wonderful mixture of joy and sadness, with some final bars that will melt the hardest heart. Bring a hankie.

El sombrero de tres picos
by the Spanish National Ballet

Falla: "Final Dance (Jota)" from El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) – I can't think of anything better to bring you back from the melancholy of "Last Spring" than this joyous final dance from Manuel de Falla's 1919 comic ballet. First performed at the Alhambra Theatre in London, El sombrero de tres picos boasted choreography by Léonide Massine and costumes by some guy named Picasso. The great Ernest Ansermet conducted. Not shabby.

The essentials: Steven Jarvi conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in "Bravo! An Evening of Classical Favorites" on Saturday, June 7, at 7:30 PM at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org. Note that Circus Flora is set up on the Powell Hall south lot, so parking could be at a premium.

Dieser küss der ganzen welt

Photo: Ken Howard

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Who: Opera Theatre of St. Louis
What: Bedřich Smetana's The Kiss
When: Through June 28, 2013

Fed up with politics? Disgusted with TV? Got a headache from 3D movies? Wilted by the heat? Well, take heart, dear friends. Opera Theatre has a charming romantic comedy for you that will take your mind off whatever’s bugging you and send you out of the theatre with a smile on your face and a Smetana melody in your heart.

The product, ironically, of a time in composer Bedřich Smetana’s life when his personal life was at a low ebb—his deafness was complete and he had lost an important job as a result—“The Kiss” is a resolutely sunny and good-natured confection of an opera with sparring lovers (a la “Much Ado About Nothing”), a hilariously crotchety father, nice-guy smugglers, and a happy ending for all. It’s filled with Smetana’s captivating melodies and lively dance-inspired rhythms and features a heroine with surprisingly modern-sounding attitudes toward the opposite sex and marriage, given that the opera premiered in 1876.

Chalk that up to the fact that the libretto is by a female author. Alžběta Pechová (writing as Eliška Krásnohorská*) wrote a total of four operas for Smetana, including “The Kiss.” “Entering into the world of these operas,” writes director Michael Gieleta in the OTSL program, “one is immediately transported into the realm of Mother Earth: into the countryside milieu of a household setting, motherhood, fertility, domestic relationships, betrothals and marriages, ill-balanced families, male faults, and female endurance.” The libretti show “the genuineness, the unquestionable emotional honesty” that comes from first-hand experience; something that “is seldom encountered in operatic portrayals penned by male librettists.” “The Kiss” looks at the quarreling lovers from a female point of view, in short, and it’s not a submissive one.

Corinne Winters
Photo: Ken Howard

Lukáš, a wealthy young farmer, had always loved Vendulka, but his parents forced him to marry another. Now a widower and orphan with a baby son, Lukáš returns to ask for Vendulka’s hand from her cynical and curmudgeonly father Palouckŷ. Papa warns that the lovers are too much alike and too stubborn to make a match, but things are going well enough until Lukáš asks for a kiss to seal the betrothal. Vendulka refuses out of consideration for the deceased wife, the argument escalates, and by the end of the first act Lukáš is off getting tanked with a couple of local lasses, Vendulka has run off with her aunt Martinka to join a band of jolly smugglers, and Palouckŷ gloats over the whole mess.

All ends happily, but not before Lukáš eats a considerable helping of humble pie and both he and Vendulka admit they might have been just a bit hasty.

The Opera Theatre production could hardly be better. Soprano Corinne Winters (who has done such fine work as Mélisande and Micaëla in the last two seasons) carries the bulk of the opera as Vendulka, convincingly portraying a wide range of emotions from joy to despair with a radiant, clear voice. Tenor Garrett Sorenson (who sang Hoffman so well back in 2008) brings that same impressive tenor to the role of Lukáš.

Bass-baritone Matthew Burns has demonstrated his flair for comedy before on the OTSL stage, so it’s no surprise that his Palouckŷ gets so many laughs. He looks a bit young for the part, though.

Emily Duncan-Brown
Photo: Ken Howard

The young servant Barče only has one aria of any consequence—the “Lark Song” from Act II—but it’s a doozy, filled with flashy vocal leaps and pyrotechnics. Soprano Emily Duncan-Brown’s performance was a true showstopper—lovely and seemingly effortless.

Baritone Matthew Worth is the mellow voice of reason as Lukáš’s brother-in-law Tomeš, mezzo Elizabeth Batton a fine comic presence as Martinka, and bass-baritone Charles Z. Owen roguishly charming as the smuggler Matouš, whose merry band brought to mind the comic pirates of Penzance.

James Macnamara’s set has an oddly artificial look for an opera filled with so many lovely musical evocations of nature. The stage floor is covered in something that looks a great deal like Astroturf and the moveable backdrop consists of long, rectangular wooden panels that wouldn’t look out of place in a high-end bar. Still, it works well enough, and Fabio Toblini’s colorful Bohemian peasant costumes add to the cheerful look of the piece.

Michael Gielata’s direction handles focus and stage movement nicely. His decision to accompany Smetana’s cheerful overture with a pantomime sequence showing the funeral of Lukáš’s wife struck me as oddly discordant, though. Conductor Anthony Barrese brings Smetana’s lively, tune-filled score to brilliant life.

“The Kiss” has one more performance on Friday, June 28, at 8 PM at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. It’s a sunny, lovable piece that only someone as crabby as Palouckŷ could fail to enjoy. For more information: experienceopera.org

*Why, I have no idea.

Lee's summit

Who: Cellist Daniel Lee and The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian
What: Music of Smetana, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: April 20-22, 2012

[Download the complete St. Louis symphony program notes in PDF format]

If St. Louis Symphony Principal Cello Daniel Lee isn’t feeling extraordinarily pleased with himself right now, it must mean that his virtuosity is exceed only by his modesty. Certainly the spontaneous applause that burst forth after the first movement of the Dvořák Cello Concerto and the standing ovation at the end are the sorts of things guaranteed to gladden the heart and increase the self-esteem of any performer.

For that matter, Peter Oundjian can feel pretty proud of his impassioned reading of Smetana’s Šárka from Má vlast and a snappy Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2 (Little Russian). It all made for an entertaining evening of late-19th century music with, to quote symphony program annotator Laurie Shulman, “an emphasis on native rhythms, harmonies, and melodies composed at a great distance from the music capitals of London, Paris, and Vienna.”

The cello doesn’t appear in the symphonic spotlight that often. It’s not that there aren’t concerti out there (although far fewer than for violin or piano), it’s just that most of them are relatively obscure. The Dvořák A minor concerto is probably the most popular—right up there with the Elgar—and justifiably so. Written during the composer’s final year in America, it’s a mature and deeply felt work of genuinely symphonic proportions. It’s also technically challenging without being superficially flashy. There are no cadenzas, for example, and the demands on the soloist’s technique arise naturally out of the concerto’s dramatic narrative.

To play this concerto well, then, you need not only nimble hands but also a warm heart. This is music of deep sorrow and overflowing joy. The soloist had better be open to all of it.

Mr. Lee has all that and then some. Sure, his performance on Friday night was technically proficient. But more importantly it was emotionally genuine. You could see the play of Dvořák’s feelings echoed on his face and in his body. He was, as we say in the theatre, completely in the moment and in tune with not only the music but with his fellow players as well. I have always loved this concerto, and Mr. Lee’s exemplary performance reminded me why.

The concert began and ended with a pair of virtuoso orchestral works. The opener, Smetana’s Šárka, is perhaps an unusual choice. It’s based on an incident from the legendary twelfth-century “Maiden’s War” in which the titular heroine seduces the warrior Ctirad and then, with the help of her fellow Amazons, slaughters him and his men in their sleep. Smetana’s tone painting is fairly literal (even including a snoring bassoon as the men fall asleep) and concludes with a particularly violent orchestral outburst. Mr. Oundjian’s interpretation made the most of the composer’s dynamic contrasts, with an especially hair-raising coda. I’d love to hear him tackle the entire Má vlast.

The evening concluded with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, nicknamed the “Little Russian” for its use of folk material from the Ukraine (a.k.a. “Little Russia”). Tchaikovsky’s first three symphonies don’t get nearly the respect they deserve, in my view, so it was delightful to hear this one at Powell Hall for the first time in nearly twenty years.

The symphony abounds in flashy writing, especially for the winds, and the orchestra’s players were more than up to the task. Even Mr. Oundjian’s breakneck pace in the finale posed no challenge. Everything, including the cheerful little piccolo solo, came through with perfect clarity.

Mr. Oundjian, as I have noted in the past, appears to run a tight musical ship. His podium style is less aerobic than Mr. Robertson’s and more traditional in approach, with the right hand mostly keeping time with the baton and the left cueing soloists and shaping dynamics. The dynamic contrasts he shapes can be extreme, but to my ears they always make sense and serve the music well. He appears to have an excellent rapport with the musicians, which may be one of the reasons he has appeared so often here—and will be returning May 4 and 5.

Next at Powell Hall: The much-heralded “Rach Fest” Friday through Sunday, April 27-29, with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Friday morning at 10:30) and Piano Concerto No. 2 (Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3) along with Shostakovich’s youthful Symphony No. 1 and Rimski-Korsakov’s Op. 29 Skazka (“Fairy Tale”). Hans Graf is at the podium with Stephen Hough at the keyboard. For more information you may call 314-534-1700 or visit stlsymphony.org.