Review: "Music You Know" brightens a gloomy night

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

Gerard Pagano (L) and the St. Louis Symphony Trombones

Share on Google+:

It was damp and gloomy outside Friday night (April 28) but inside Powell Hall it was all light and cheer as David Robertson conducted the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a festive romp through the last of the Whitaker Foundation's "Music You Know" concerts.

Launched back in November 2014, the "Music You Know" series features familiar classics often mixed with new but highly approachable works. This edition followed the same pattern, but with one charming wrinkle: the first music heard Friday night—the "Sword Dance" from Arbeau's Orchésographie, in a simplified arrangement by Bob Phillips—was played not by the SLSO but by one of the participants in the Symphony in Your School program: the Jennings Jr. High School string orchestra, conducted by their director, James McKay. Preceded by a video in which Mr. McKay, some of the players, and the ensemble's SLSO mentors reflected on the joy of their shared experience, the brief piece was an inspiring beginning to a highly enjoyable evening.

The SLSO part of the program began with a performance of the overture to Carl Maria von Weber's 1821 opera Der Freischütz that emphasized the work's dark and dramatic themes while still delivering an appropriate rousing finale. An unfortunate moment in the first entrance by the horns not withstanding, it was well played, with fine individual contributions, like the clarinet solo leading into the first statement of the big second theme.

Next up was a the premiere of The Arch, a concerto written for SLSO bass trombonist Gerard Pagano by James Stephenson and inspired by the Gateway Arch. Accompanied by a series of slides showing the construction of the arch, this listener-friendly work was a reminder of a time when America was brimming with courageous postwar optimism. The contrast with our current climate of paranoia and pessimism was both stark and sad. Mr. Pagano's performance was inspirational, though, and earned him a standing ovation.

The first half of the concert concluded with one of my favorite marches, William Walton's Crown Imperial. Intended for the coronation of Edward VIII—who abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson before the ceremony could take place—it was finally played to mark the ascension of George VI. It's a certified rouser, with a broad, noble second theme and an inspiring finale. Mr. Robertson and the orchestra gave it an appropriately powerful reading, with an especially high-gloss treatment of that second theme.

Julie Thayer

The second half of the program opened with a leisurely stroll through Mendelssohn's 1830 musical postcard from Scotland, the Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) Overture. This is vividly evocative music, and while Mr. Robertson's more relaxed treatment didn't always deliver that sense of the wild, storm-tossed Scottish coast, it did feature some exemplary playing, including Scott Andrews and Tina Ward in the important clarinet parts. And Mr. Robertson's approach certainly brought out the strong dramatic contrasts in the score.

A beautifully delicate performance of Debussy's Clair de lune (in the popular André Caplet orchestration) was next, featuring Allegra Lilly's gossamer harp, followed by a real rarity: an orchestration of the 1964 Nocturno for horn and piano by Franz Strauss, father of the celebrated composer Richard. A virtuoso player in his own right, Franz (as Mr. Robertson pointed out in his prefatory remarks) showed Richard what the instrument was capable of—which explains the very challenging horn writing in so many of the younger Strauss's works. The SLSO's own Julie Thayer was the soloist, in a performance that was the auditory equivalent of liquid gold.

The concerts concluded with a bold and fiery run through another musical souvenir, Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien. Written during a visit to Rome in the winter and spring of 1880, the Capriccio shows the composer in an exuberant and dramatic mood. From the opening fanfare (inspired by the bugle calls from the nearby military barracks that woke the composer up every morning), to the irresistible tunes informed by Italian folk songs, to the rousing and dramatic coda, this is the kind of stuff that inevitably brings an audience to its feet—which it certainly did Friday night.

“Tchaikovsky knows what the instruments can do in a virtuoso way," observed conductor JoAnn Falletta in program notes for a 2011 Virginia Symphony performance of the Capriccio. "He brings them to their limit in the most thrilling fashion." And "thrilling" is exactly what Friday night's performance was, with exceptional playing from everyone and a perfectly shaped interpretation from Mr. Robertson. It was an immensely pleasing way to end the evening and the current "Music You Know" series.

Next at Powell Hall: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, and vocal soloists in a concert version of Richard Wagner's opera Der Fliegende Holländer better known in English as The Flying Dutchman, with projected visuals by S. Katy Tucker. Performances are Thursday and Saturday, May 4 and 6, at 8 p.m. at Powell Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Symphony Review: A jolly evening of "Music You Know" at the St. Louis Symphony

Celeste Golden Boyer
celestegoldenboyer.com

Share on Google+:

Since the inception of the "Music You Know" programming in November of 2014, I have become a great admirer of the St. Louis Symphony's concert series devoted mostly to relatively short works -- most of which are likely to be familiar to SLSO regulars -- paired with an equally accessible new piece.

Yesterday (Friday, April 19, 2016) was the last concert in the 2015/2016 series sponsored by the Whitaker Foundation, and like those that have gone before, it was a jolly business all the way around, with Maestro David Robertson conducting and chatting about the music in between selections.

The fun began with a pretty much perfect run through the lively and tune-filled overture to Leonard Bernstein's 1956 operetta Candide. A standard encore for the orchestra on its tours, the piece is an ideal distillation of Bernstein's skills as a melodist and orchestrator, as well as a display of the sunny optimism once characteristic of America.

Up next was an equally accomplished performance of the "Dance of the Hours" from Amilcare Ponchielli's 1876 opera La Gioconda. It was distinguished by, among other things, some lovely work by harpists Allegra Lilly and Megan Stout in the opening measures, along with pristine playing throughout the piece. It has become hard to take this music seriously after the comic demolition jobs it received from Walt Disney in Fantasia in 1940 and Allan Sherman in his 1963 LP My Son, The Nut, but a performance this good makes it easier to banish thoughts of dancing ostriches and Camp Granada.

The first half concluded with the Chaconne in G minor for Violin and Orchestra, a work attributed to Baroque composer Tomaso Vitali, despite the fact that it contains some very un-baroque key changes. Whatever its origins, Second Associate Concertmaster Celeste Golden Boyer did a splendid job with the solo part, delivering all the dark passion inherent in the music.

The second half started with another winner, the prelude to Engelbert Humperdinck's 1893 opera Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck (the original German composer, not the 1960s singer who appropriated his name) was a protégé of Richard Wagner, and there's more than a hint of Die Meistersinger in the piece, especially in the big contrapuntal section towards the end. It's big, complex music and the SLSO musicians more than did it justice. A shout-out is due to Roger Kaza's horns for the powerful, burnished sound of their many exposed passages here.

David Robertson
stlsymphony.org

More images from Fantasia are inevitably summoned up by the next selection, Paul Dukas's popular 1897 tone poem The Sorcerer's Apprentice, partly because -- as Mr. Robertson reminded us -- the music so vividly depicts the story that Disney's animators put on the screen. It's a piece filled with brilliant orchestral details, from the delicate opening measures for flutes, clarinet, harps, and strings, to the comically animated broom depicted by the bassoons, to the massive orchestral climaxes as the hapless apprentice tries to bring that broom under control. This was another bravura performance by the orchestra, with tips of the hat due to (among others) Andrew Cuneo's bassoons and the flutes under Associate Principal Andrea Kaplan.

The new work was next: Cyrillic Dreams by cellist and composer Stefan Freund, an associate professor at the University of Missouri and co-founder of the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound. Inspired by a visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg, the work is essentially a short concerto grosso in which a solo string quartet consisting of the leaders of the first violins, second violins, violas, and cellos is set against the orchestral strings. The work opens with soaring, yearning opening theme on cello, which is then taken up by the viola, the violins, and eventually the full orchestra. Over the ensuing nine minutes the music rises to rapturous heights in a way that reminded me of the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams.

Stefan Freund

The solo quartet consisted of Principal Cello Daniel Lee, Assistant Principal Viola Jonathan Chu, Associate Principal Second Violin Kristin Ahlstrom (substituting for the originally scheduled Allison Harney), and (substituting for the originally scheduled David Halen) Associate Concertmaster Heidi Harris. They sang with their instruments flawlessly, as did the entire string section. If only the audience member with the nonstop cough had been polite enough to leave the auditorium instead of hacking all the way through the piece, the experience would have been ideal.

The evening came to an appropriately blazing finish with the horns and brasses in particularly fine form in Wouter Hutschenruyter's orchestral arrangement of "The Ride of the Valkyries" from Wagner's Die Walküre.

"Just look at this orchestra's recent birth rate," quipped Mr. Robertson at one point during the evening: "They are a happy group of active people." Indeed they are, and their joy in making music inevitably spills over into the audience.

Next at Powell Hall: David Robertson conducts orchestra with tympani soloist Shannon Wood on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., April 30 and May 1. The program consists of William Kraft's Timpani Concerto No. 2, "The Grand Encounter," and Schubert's Symphony No. 9. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand.

Symphony Preview: Somethig old / something new / it's new music / from Mizzou

You might have noticed that there's no Friday, April 29, performance this weekend of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concert featuring William Kraft's Timpani Concerto No. 2 and Schubert's Symphony No. 9. That's because Friday's "Storytelling" program is the last of the season's Whitaker Foundation "Music You Know" concerts. David Robertson is on the podium, SLSO violinist Celeste Golden Boyer is the soloist, and here's what you can expect.

Share on Google+:

Leonard Bernstein in 1971
en.wikipedia.org

Bernstein: Candide Overture -- Leonard Bernstein's 1956 operetta Candide, based on the satire by Voltaire, has been through almost as many changes as its titular hero. By the time it opened on Broadway, it had already gone through a string of lyricists (including Dorothy Parker and James Agee) and over a dozen revisions by Lillian Hellman of her original book. Various incarnations of the show continued to pop up for the ensuing decades, including a 1973 Harold Prince "revival" that jettisoned half of the score and (after moving to the Broadway Theatre the following year) ended up over $150,000 in the red despite a string of Tony and Critics Circle awards. Somehow, the lively and tune-filled overture has remained largely intact.

Ponchielli: "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda -- Fans of Disney's Fantasia will, of course, recognize this as the music that accompanies a zoological ballet, while fans of the late Allan Sherman will immediately think of his hit "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp)." Some of us think of both simultaneously, but that's another story. In Ponchielli's opera (which still gets performed now and then, especially in Italy), the title of which translates literally as "The Happy Woman," the ballet sequence comes towards the end of an otherwise dramatically grim Act III, the action of which includes the apparent suicide of the protagonist.

Vitali (orch. Charlier): Chaconne in G minor for Violin and Orchestra -- The chaconne is a series of variations on a repeating figure in the bass line. The form was popular during the Baroque period, which is when Tomaso Antonio Vitali (March 7, 1663 -- May 9, 1745) was composing. This chaconne is just about the only one of his works which is played with any frequency these days--which is somewhat ironic, given that it's not entirely clear whether or not he actually wrote it. This arrangement is by Léopold Charlier, about whom even less is known than about Vitali. Celeste Golden Boyer will be the violin soloist.

Not this guy

Humperdinck: Prelude to Hänsel und Gretel -- Engelbert Humperdinck (the original German composer, not the 1960s singer who appropriated his name) was a protégé of Richard Wagner, so it's not surprising that the prelude to his 1893 opera sounds more than a little bit like the one his mentor wrote for Die Meistersinger (note, in particular, the contrapuntal section towards the end). It's big, complex music for a modest fairytale story.

Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice -- Speaking of Fantasia, Paul Dukas's popular 1897 tone poem has, perhaps, become far too closely associated with a certain animated rodent for its own good, so it's always good to hear it live, in an environment in which those delicate opening measures can emerge from complete silence. The inspiration for both the music and Disney's animation was a 1797 poem by Goethe, Der Zauberlehrling. Dukas wrote other works that deserve at least as much attention as this one, by the way. His 1896 Symphony in C, for example, is a very dramatic and colorful piece that deserves far more attention than it has gotten.

Stefan Freund
music.missouri.edu

Stefan Freund: Cyrillic Dreams -- The "Music You Know" concerts always include at least one work that you probably don't know, but should. This time around, that work is by a composer who is an associate professor at the University of Missouri, the cellist and one of the co-founders of the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, artistic director of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, and the principal conductor and music director of the Columbia Civic Orchestra. Which is not a bad collection of accomplishments for someone in his early forties. The composer is quoted in Eddie Silva's program notes as saying that Cyrillic Dreams was inspired by a series of dreams in which he was surrounded by the daunting and foreign letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, as well as by "the colorful domes and clamorous bells of Moscow and St. Petersburg," which he visited in 2008.

As my friend Dean Minderman pointed out to me in a recent email, this is one of just eight works by living composers on this year's schedule, and marks the second time in three seasons the SLSO has played a work by a Missouri composer. The last time it was Stephanie Berg's entertaining Ravish and Mayem back in 2014.

Wagner: "Ride of the Valkyries" (arr. Hutschenruyter) from Die Walküre -- Maybe you associate this music with the words "kill da waabit." Or possibly with "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Or maybe just with the image of women in helmets singing very forcefully. It is, in any case, an integral part of the musical DNA of the Western world and an appropriately rousing final work for the concert.

The Essentials: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with violin soloist Celeste Golden Boyer on Friday, April 29, at 8 p.m. The performance takes place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand.

Symphony Review, January 22, 2016: A fine romance

Percussionist William James

Share on Google+:

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.

Symphony Review: Polished "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" highlights a "Music You Know" concert Friday, November 20, 2015

David Robertson
Photo: Dan Dreyfus

Share on Google+:

I have become quite a fan of the St. Louis Symphony's periodic "Music You Know" concerts, sponsored by the Whitaker Foundation. The series got off to a rocky start last November but quickly righted itself this past March. As David Robertson and the orchestra clearly demonstrated at this past Friday's concert, the series has settled into a very polished and pleasing groove.

As the title suggests, these are classical "greatest hits" concerts, consisting of relatively short works, most of which are likely to be familiar to regulars at Powell Hall. This time around there was also a brand new piece—"Radial Play," written last year by the thirtysomething Samuel Adams—but for the most part the music was tried and true.

The concert opened with Shostakovich's "Festive Overture," slapped together in just three days in 1954 in response to a last-minute request for a piece to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the October Revolution. The music has echoes, here and there, of Glinka's popular "Ruslan and Ludmilla" overture (without the tympani solo), but it mostly pure Shostakovich, with lots of flashy writing for brass and percussion. It's a potboiler, with none of the dark drama and sarcastic humor that marks Shostakovich's major works, but even so Mr. Robertson found some subtleties in the score I hadn't heard before.

Next was one of my favorites, Dvorak's "Scherzo capriccioso." Written in the spring of 1883 just after the birth of the composer's son, the music is clearly informed by both the joy of that event and the sorrow of the death of Dvorak's mother only a few months earlier. The alternation of light and darkness is characteristic of the composer's music in general, but the middle section of this generally giddy piece has some especially poignant moments. Mr. Robertson highlighted them in a performance that was a bit less playful than I would have preferred, but well done nevertheless.

"Radial Play" was next. In his spoken remarks, Mr. Robertson explained that the title refers to the notion of rays (radii) shooting off from the F-sharp key in the middle of a standard piano keyboard. The music started and continually returned to that pitch in a kind of kaleidoscope of sonic pointillism that reminded me of the highly compressed musical essays of Alban Berg, albeit with less darkness. It was composed for the National Youth Orchestra, who must be a batch of pretty fine players, judging from the virtuosity needed to play this piece. Fortunately, the musicians were more than up to the challenge.

The first half concluded with music that pretty much everyone knows: the overture to Franz von Suppé's 1866 operetta "The Light Cavalry." The titular cavalry, as Mr. Robertson pointed out in his introduction, is Hungarian, which explains the soulful "gypsy" music that briefly interrupts the overture's well-known galloping rhythms. This was another fine performance, distinguished, in part, by Scott Andrews's limpid version of the clarinet solo.

The second half of the concert began with another work firmly entrenched in popular culture: the overture to Rossini's popular comic opera "The Barber of Seville." Like Shostakovich, Rossini had the ability to dash off polished compositions on short notice, but in this case he simply re-used an overture he had used for two previous operas, "Aureliano in Palmira" and "Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra." Which is why none of the engaging tunes in the overture appears in the actual opera. Here, again, Mr. Robertson found little nuances in the music that I hadn't really heard before, including a very romantic approach to the first major theme in the violins.

Two brief Russian favorites followed: Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" from "The Tale of the Tsar Sultan," performed with brisk precision and featuring some impressive playing by the flute section, and Rachmaninoff's affecting "Vocalise." That latter got a melting, heart-on-sleeve treatment that felt just right.

The concert concluded with what was, for me, the highlight of the evening: Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" ("Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell"), Op. 34. It was written for the 1946 educational documentary film "Instruments of the Orchestra" where it was accompanied by plummy narration by conductor Sir Malcom Sargent, who introduced each section of the orchestra as it played its particular variation on the theme, which was taken from Purcell's incidental music for the 1676 tragedy "Abdelazer or The Moor's Revenge".

It's a brilliant showpiece and was performed with tremendous polish and panache. Each section made the most of its individual variation and the final statement of the theme was properly rousing. Mr. Robertson and his forces definitely earned their standing ovation with this one.

The "Music You Know" concerts are clearly intended to attract a wider audience to Powell Hall, so I was a bit disappointed to see so many empty seats Friday night. Still, there appeared to be a lot of folks in the house who were probably not SLSO regulars, so that bodes well. And if the concerts continue at this high level, the orchestra will certainly be putting its best foot forward.

Next at Powell: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, with double bassist Erik Harris, on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., 27-29. The program features Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf as well as the US premiere of Tan Dun's Contrabass Concerto: The Wolf. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Symphony Preview: A 'Fanfare for the Common Man' Friday, May 8, 2015

Share on Google+

You might have noticed that there's no Friday performance this weekend of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus concert version of Verdi's "Aida." That's because Friday is the last of the season's Whitaker Foundation "Music You Know" concerts. David Robertson is on the podium, SLSO cellist Alvin McCall is the soloist, and here's what you can expect.

Aaron Copland: "Fanfare for the Common Man" Although it would later become the basis of the final movement for Copland's patriotic "Symphony No. 3" (which the SLSO performed just over a year ago), the "Fanfare" was originally inspired by "The Price of Free World Victory," a 1942 speech by Vice President Henry Wallace hailing the "century of the common man." "When the freedom-loving people march," he said, "when the farmers have an opportunity to buy land at reasonable prices and to sell the produce of their land through their own organizations, when workers have the opportunity to form unions and bargain through them collectively, and when the children of all the people have an opportunity to attend schools which teach them truths of the real world in which they live-when these opportunities are open to everyone, then the world moves straight ahead." Sadly, the values Mr. Wallace extolled now seem to be in eclipse.

Charles Ives, 1889

Charles Ives (orch. Schuman): Variations on "America" (1891-92, rev. 1949) The "Variations" were originally scored for organ and written for a July 4th concert in Brewster, New York, in 1891—when Ives was only sixteen. The piece isn't so much a set of variations as it is a series of restatements of the classic tune in wide variety of musical styles. The orchestration was done by American composer William Schuman in 1949 and is very true to Ives' tongue-in-cheek original.

Edward MacDowell: "Romanze," op. 35 (1887) for cello and orchestra Edward MacDowell is known to generations of piano students (including me) as the composer of "To a Wild Rose," a lovely little miniature from his 1896 "Woodland Sketches." The "Romanze" for cello and orchestra is a bit of an outlier in his catalog, which runs mostly to solo piano works and songs. MacDowell was typical of a generation of American composers who went abroad to study (mostly Paris in his case) and returned to compose music heavily influenced by Continental trends.

Edward Elgar "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" in D major (1901) This, of course, is known to generations of college and high-school graduates, who marched down the aisle to it. In Britain, the march's noble second subject became the patriotic hymn "Land of Hope and Glory." A performance of the march—with the crowd singing along lustily—is part of the "Last Night at the Proms" concert in Albert Hall every fall. The other four "Pomp and Circumstance" marches are less well-known but well worth hearing. Numbers 2 and 3, in particular, are composed in minor keys and seem to suggest that the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war" from which they get their title (from "Othello" III, 2) were not viewed by Elgar as uniformly splendid.

Alvin McCall
stlsymphony.org

George Butterworth: "A Shropshire Lad, Rhapsody for Orchestra" (1912) I'm not sure that this really is music that many people know, at least here in the states. "A Shropshire Lad" is a collection of poems by A. E. Housman that had quite a vogue in England early in the previous century. Butterworth set eleven of the songs to music in 1911 and 1912, and then used two of the melodies— "Loveliest of Trees" and "With Rue My Heart Is Laden"—for the 1912 rhapsody you'll hear Friday.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on "Greensleeves" (1934) This, on the other hand, really is music you know. The original tune goes back to (at least) 1580, and there is even a persistent (but undocumented) story that Henry VIII wrote if for Anne Boleyn. Vaughan Williams' rich, textured setting for strings is irresistible.

Emmanuel Chabrier: "España" (1883) French composers seem to have a habit of returning from trips to Spain and then writing music about it, and Chabrier was no exception. This engaging little work inspired at least two "borrowings": Emil Waldteufel's "España Waltz" in 1886 and the pop song "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)," which was a bit hit for Perry Como in 1956. Chabrier's other works display a similar penchant for infectious melodies and are well worth a listen.

Georges Bizet
en.wikipedia.org

Georges Bizet: Selections from L’Arlésienne (1872) "L’Arlésienne" ("The Girl from Arles") was, originally, a short story by Alphonse Daudet. In 1872 the author expanded it into a play in three acts and five tableaux with music and chorus. The play tanked, running only 21 performances, but the incidental music Bizet wrote for it has remained popular ever since. Bizet used some folk tunes in his score, including the traditional Christmas Carol "Marcho dei Rei" ("The March of the Three Kings"), which is heard in the "Farandole" finale.

Franz Liszt: "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" (1847) Immensely popular and often parodied (most notoriously by Spike Jones in "Rhapsody from Hunger(y)," where it gets mixed with some Brahms), this solo piano work was arranged for orchestra by Liszt and flute virtuoso and composer Franz Doppler. That's the version you'll hear Friday, and if you know the original, you'll notice that the orchestral version isn't just an arrangement but an expansion as well.

The Essentials: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in "Fanfare for the Common Man," the last of this season's Whitaker Foundation "Music You Know" programs of popular classics. The concert takes place on Friday, May 8, at 8 p.m. at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Concert Review: 'Music You Know' and maybe some you don't

David Robertson

Share on Google+:

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson
What: Music You Know
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: March 13, 2015

[Find out more about the music with the SLSO program notes and my preview article.]

The schedule at Powell Hall was packed this weekend, with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony playing a Whitaker Foundation "Music You Know" concert on Friday and a pair of regular subscription concerts on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday's "Music You Know" event was the second in this series of classical "greatest hits" concerts. The first one last November, while entertaining, had a few issues: too many long stage resets, too much commentary from David Robertson (engaging and enlightening though it was), and not enough precision in the orchestral playing. This time around, none of that was the case. There were fewer stage resets, Mr. Robertson's remarks from the podium were both entertaining and concise, and the orchestra sounded great.

The programming was also a bit more adventurous this time. The bulk of it was, as expected, drawn from the classical Top 40: Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No. 5," Rosas' waltz "Sobre las Olas" ("Over the Waves"; trust me, you know the tune), Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances," and Alfvén's "Swedish Rhapsody No. 1." They all got the kind of intelligent and nuanced readings that I have come to expect form Mr. Robertson and the orchestra. I've heard all of these old chestnuts more times than I can count, but Mr. Robertson still managed to put his own personal spin on each one.

There were also works which, while every bit as immediately appealing, are not necessarily as familiar. That shorter list included two radically different pieces for violin and orchestra inspired by Hungarian folk music: Ravel's flashy "Gypsy music" pastiche "Tzigane" and Bartók's less glitzy but sill technically challenging "Rhapsody No. 1." The soloists for both came from the SLSO violin section: Assistant Principal second violin Eva Kozma for the Ravel and Second Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Silvian Iticovici for the Bartók. Both played well, although I thought Ms. Kozma had the fuller sound.

Larry Kaptain played the cimbalom (hammered dulcimer) in the Bartók beautifully and the instrument itself was quite handsome.

Friday's concert concluded with an electrifying performance of the "Four Dances from Estancia" by Alberto Ginastera. This suite drawn from the 1941 ballet the Argentine composer wrote on a commission from American dance impresario Lincoln Kirstein has only recently started to gain attention from music lovers here in the USA—somewhat surprising, since it's seriously exciting stuff. The expanded percussion section did themselves proud.

The "Music You Know" concerts are clearly intended to attract a wider audience to Powell Hall. Many of the audience members Friday night were dressed more casually than is usually the case, drinks were allowed in the auditorium, and the overall vibe was more informal. I hope that approach works. If the concerts continue at this high level, the orchestra will certainly be putting its best foot forward.

After the regular subscription concerts on March 14 and 15, the SLSO is off to Carnegie Hall in New York for an appearance on Friday, March 20th. They're back for a showing of "The Godfather" with the music performed live March 27-29, and the regular season resumes with a program of Mozart and Shostakovich April 10 and 11 conducted by Hannu Lintu. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Symphony Preview: Dancing the night away with music you know Friday, March 13, 2015

Share on Google+

This weekend local classical fans get a double header with two different St. Louis Symphony concerts: a Whitaker Foundation "Music That You Know" program on Friday, March 13, and music of Tchaikovsky, Debussy, and James MacMillan on Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15. David Robertson is at the podium for both.

The Friday program is "Folk Dances: Brahms and Bartók," and it features dance-inspired works with roots in the folk traditions of a half-dozen different countries. This is immensely appealing stuff that doesn't require a lot of advance preparation, so I'm going to limit myself to a few bits of background on each piece to supplement the Fun Facts SLSO blogger Eddie Silva provides in his program notes.

Johannes Brahms
en.wikipedia.org

Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor (1873) – Part of a set of 21 dances that Brahms wrote originally for piano four hands and then later orchestrated, this particular dance has become so popular that it's almost a cliché. It has, as a result, been the butt of a lot of musical jokes, such as Allan Sherman's "Hungarian Goulash No. 5" and the "Rhapsody From Hunger(y)" by Spike Jones (where it gets mashed up with Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2").

Brahms thought he was basing this dance on a Hungarian folk tune (as he did for all but three of the other dances) but, in fact, he was using a czardas by Hungarian composer and conductor Béla Kéler. Ah, those carefree days before copyright law!

Juventino Rosas: Sobre las olas (Over the Waves) (1891) – A true "one hit wonder," Mexican composer Juventino Rosas was an Otomi Indian who became a prominent purveyor of salon music in Mexico City. He died at the age of 26 from a fever contracted while touring in Cuba. In his liner notes for a 1981 recording of this piece, the late music critic Andrew Lamb tells us that Rosas dedicated the waltz to a young lady whom he wooed in vain. Fitted up with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, the main theme became the song "The Loveliest night of the Year". Mario Lanza introduced it in the 1950 film "The Great Caruso."

Ravel: Tzigane (1924) – The title is French for "gypsy," and while this fiercely difficult piece for violin and orchestra doesn't use any actual Hungarian folk tunes, it certainly conjures up the feel of that kind of music. The slow, smoldering romanticism of the opening eventually gives way to a wildly energetic finale that will test the skill of the best violinists.

Hugo Alfvén: Midsommarvaka (Midsummer Vigil), Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, op. 19 (1903) – This is the first of a set of three "Swedish Rhapsodies" from a composer who, while well known in his native land, is rarely heard elsewhere. In his notes for a 1994 recording of the complete rhapsodies, Swedish composer Lennart Hedwall notes that the first rhapsody is an "impression of one of the most important national feasts in Sweden, when the people celebrate the longest day and the brightest night of the year with almost ritual intensity." In 1957 the great Chet Atkins had a major hit with his solo guitar arrangement of the first theme.

Borodin: Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor (1869-70, 1874-87) – Left unfinished at the time of the composer's death in 1887, "Prince Igor" was eventually completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. Fortunately, you don't need to know anything about the opera's complex plot to appreciate these colorful dances. Three of the melodies were used by the songwriting team of Wright and Forrest for their 1953 musical "Kismet," where they became "He's in Love," "Not Since Nineveh," and "Stranger in Paradise."

Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra (1928-29) – And now for something completely different: Hungarian music based on Hungarian folk tunes collected by a Hungarian composer. Bartók's two rhapsodies were originally written for violin and piano and then later orchestrated. This first one packs over a half-dozen different folk tunes into its roughly eleven minute run time. Like Ravel's "Tzigane," it demands real virtuosity.

Alberto Ginastera
en.wikipedia.org

Alberto Ginastera: Four Dances from Estancia, op. 8a (1941) – In 1941 American dance impresario Lincoln Kirstein commissioned Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera to write "Estancia" ("ranch" in Argentine Spanish), a ballet based on the music and dances of Argentine cowboys, for his company. In April of 1942, celebrated choreographer Agnes de Mille called Aaron Copland and asked him to score a cowboy ballet for her company. Kirsten's company folded in 1942 and the ballet wasn't performed until 1952. De Mille's company did not fold and Copland's "Rodeo" was a huge and immediate hit.

Both "Estancia" and "Rodeo" are now better known for four-movement suites excerpted from their scores. Copland's suite is part of the standard repertoire here in the USA, but Ginastera's didn't get much traction with American audiences until its 2008 recording by Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under Gustavo Dudamel began getting airplay on classical stations.

Which is a bit surprising, as it's seriously exciting stuff. If you can sit through all twelve minutes of it—especially the exuberant "Malambo" final movement—without getting energized then (to quote a Louis Jordan lyric), "Jack, you're dead."

The essentials: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with violin soloists Eva Kozma and Silvian Iticovici in a Whitaker Foundation Music That You Know concert on Friday at 8 p.m., March 13. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.