On Friday evening at Severance Hall, Guerrero led a program consisting of Aaron Copland’s “El Salón México,” Stephen Paulus’ “Grand Concerto” for organ and orchestra, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
I briefly met Paulus before the world premiere of his third violin concerto in 2012. He had a hard time explaining the technical details of his music. I remember being disappointed as a music student with no natural talent, hungry for musical facts I assumed would eventually help me write great music.
Paulus struck me as one of those remarkable people who just “got it” and didn’t feel any need to reverse-engineer his music for my benefit. But it wasn’t like the affected aloofness younger composers use to dodge admitting they don’t understand what they’ve written. Maybe Paulus, with his polite Minnesota upbringing, found the idea of pontificating about his own work sleazy and embarrassing. In any case, Paulus’ music shows a very clear and detailed thought process.
The pairing of Copland and Paulus in the first half revealed several similarities between the two composers. They’re both technically brilliant orchestrators. Neither of them shies away from using musical conventions for their own unique purposes. Gentle and triumphant moods are set in major keys. Minor keys are reserved for conflict, as in the climax of the organ concerto’s second movement. Chords playfully meander in lockstep to create fleeting modal shifts that perk up the ears. Both composers expertly walk the dangerously thin line between cloying and expressive. And they both have this remarkable way of writing fast music that still sounds slow; the contrasting rhythmic section of the organ concerto’s second movement sounds a little bit like the gun showdown in “Billy the Kid.”
Guerrero and Jacobs clearly work well together. (They collaborated last year on a fantastic recording of Michael Daugherty’s “Once Upon a Castle” for the Naxos label.) The orchestra and Jacobs were in perfect sync throughout, which is no small feat for an instrument that requires its handler to sit dozens of feet away from the pipes.
Jacobs was a dazzling soloist. From the hymn-like opening to the driving moto perpetuo of the final movement, there was a level of extra care and total commitment that musicians typically reserve for more canonical works. Jacobs describes himself as a “fierce advocate of new music,” and perhaps new music has no better advocate than Jacobs, who brought ferocity, passion and precision to Friday’s performance. The theatrical back-and-forth between the percussion section and the organ pedals in the last movement was a real show-stopper. The seemingly endless final chord of the piece, with roaring organ and full orchestra, was still ringing when the audience leapt to its feet.
Paulus’ concerto followed a disappointingly clinical reading of Copland’s “El Salón Mexico.” Overall, the performance was precise to a fault. The orchestra sped up and slowed down in perfect sync. Complex rhythms were perfectly executed at the expense of the raucous, earthy abandon the piece requires. Acting concertmaster Peter Otto briefly let down his hair for his solos, complete with sensuously warbling Latin vibrato. The piano, which primarily doubles the strings for color, was too prominent from where I sat and occasionally rushed ahead of the group. Daniel McKelway’s clarinet solos got a few chuckles with their waggish smears.
Tchaikovsky, the de facto headliner of the evening, was set off by an unexpectedly tame and rounded delivery of the famous horn introduction. It sounded less like the thunderous knocking of fate and more like the timid rapping of the milk man. Elsewhere, the various sections of the orchestra never really blended, as if they were playing in perfect sync from different rooms. The woodwind interjections in the first movement’s second theme got off to a sloppy start as some notes didn’t speak. The first movement was so slow that the normally unassailable forward momentum of the music, propelled by offbeat phrases and lilting rhythms, ground to a disappointing halt. If the slower tempo was an attempt to highlight the mad dash that caps off the symphony, it didn’t quite work.
The task of finding new meaning in familiar material — especially in an orchestra whose doddering management circulates standard repertoire with tasteless frequency — is admittedly difficult. Tchaikovsky’s well-worn symphonies are probably best left alone. The detached articulation of the winding countermelody in the second movement was a novel but distracting touch. Frank Rosenwein’s solos were refreshingly direct and full of expression. The decision to have the strings pick up their bows near the end of the third movement set up a satisfying, jolting blast in the fourth movement.
This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2017.
“Doddering”? Is this reviewer some type of meta-joke? If not, Scene, you are hurting you value by publishing this self-important and ridiculous rot. I attended the Saturday performance and the Tchaikovsky presentation was brilliant, I felt engaged throughout, a standout for me and I attend 1/3 of the subscription series every year. I never know which pieces I will find truly enjoyable, may be old or new, and this was a surprising delight. The emotions driving the composition were apparent in the work, aided by the context provided by the excellent program notes. Granted they are relatively expensive for a regular commitment, but I encourage your readers to coffee-up and attend occasionally, if not regularly, much better than spending similar $’s on aging boomer pop tours. Please don’t waste further time indulging the efforts of Philip de Oliveira, life is too short. Wait, let me save you some time and make a prediction: in the next review, Philip de Oliveira will find significant portions of the next Orchestra performance terrible, clueless and/or trite.
Here’s my take on the concert from my blog, which I am unable to link to:
Copland, Paulus, & Tchaikovsky at Severance
Giancarlo Guerrero returned to Severance Hall this weekend for a concert which mixed the familiar and unfamiliar. Dan was out of town visiting family, so I was a solo attendee. Owing to my continuing recovery from surgery, I was tempted to pass my ticket on to a friend despite some discomfort, Im glad I went.
The concert began with a work that has become not only familiar, but maligned by some as Pops concert material: Aaron Coplands El Salon Mexico. Guerrero eschewed garish colors in favor of an approach that balanced the works bracing rhythms with Coplands skillful orchestration each of the repeated chords toward the end of the piece was played with precisely the same tonal value with each section sounding perfectly balanced from my seat in Row W. In my estimation, the performance was far superior to Coplands own recording.
The unfamiliar consisted of Stephen Paulus Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra. This weekend marked the first time the work, composed in 2004, had been presented at Severance. Despite clearly being a work of the post-modern era, the Concerto is somewhat traditionally structured and resolutely tonal. Its always a pleasure to hear Severance Halls Norton Memorial Organ the restoration of which was one of the key factors in Severances extensive renovation at the turn of the century. This was especially the case last night, as Paul Jacobs performance was a hallmark of musical virtuosity, where thrilling technical acumen never distracted from the musical argument. His physical demeanor during the performance was modest focusing the audiences attention on the auditory splendor of the music. Well, with one exception: an extended section for foot pedals only, where the audience craned their necks to view Jacobs footwork. Not that Jacobs was showing off, merely that his hands were placed on the bench while his feet did the work. Guerrero was a cordial and sympathetic collaborator. The crowd leaped to its feet for a standing ovation, and Jacobs was brought back for an encore: the Prelude from the Violin Partita in E major, BWV 1006 presumably in Jacobs own arrangement. I hope Mr. Jacobs is invited to Severance again. Oerhaps the orchestra can be persuaded to present the Poulenc Concerto?
Following intermission the audience was treated to Tchaikovskys Fourth Symphony one of that composers most frequently abused works. Its all too common for conductors to tear the works structure into shreds for the sake of dramatic effect. A certain former Musical Director of the Cleveland Orchestra was particularly guilty in this regard. Not so Guerrero. Every moment of the Symphony, from the opening brass fanfare to the final crashing coda was placed in context. The performance lacked the sentimentality which is too often poured all over Tchaikovsky interpretation like chocolate syrup. This is not to say the performance was lacking in emotion: Frank Rosenweins melting oboe solo in the second movement was particularly striking. The third movement was a delight, as the string pizzicatos which dominate the movement were perfectly balanced, with beautifully gauged crescendos and decrescendos, and never sounded garish which is too often the case.
The concert was preceded by one of the finest pre-concert talks Ive witnessed, Fateful Encounters, hosted by Meaghan Heinrich. Her engaging presentation traced how Copland was able to capture the flavor of Mexican folk music, without blindly imitating it; how Pauluss skillful orchestration melded the orchestra and organ; and the structural underpinnings of Tchaikovskys Fourth Symphony. Remarkably, she gave the entire presentation from memory. I certainly hope to hear her again.