By Lily Olason
This afternoon, the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra treated
patrons to a performance unforgettable. Celebrating forty years of making
music, and also the success and beauty of this particular season, the group offered perhaps their most daring feat yet: the megalithic works
of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in
E-flat major, Op. 73, “Emperor”
and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D
major, “Titan.”
In the spotlight was piano virtuoso Alessio Bax. Native of
Italy, his solo history is prodigious and illustrious; he’s appeared before the
Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Japan’s NHK Symphony and the St.
Petersburg Symphony to name just a measured few. From the first bars of “Emperor”'s first movement, Allegro, the scrolling resume isn’t hard to understand. Alessio
is indeed an emperor, or at least a presiding force, of the keyboard. He
plays with a sensitive and mechanical precision—hands (filmed by a camera fixed
to the ceiling, and projected above the stage) spill like paint across the keys
and infuse a vibrancy and resonant hue to a fabled score. Bax remains faithful
to the ink but his delivery is a work in and of itself, hands locked into a
delicate tether, right and left marching in tandem up and down and up tones and
stairs. Rests punctuate sometimes wild, sometimes peaceful passages, underpinned
by a receptive and talented symphony. Watching the screen was hypnotic—Bax’s hands
were almost computer-esque in accuracy, yet retained the piercing glimmer and humanity
of music. The second movement, Adagio un
poco mosso, began slow and feathery, and by the end of the third (Rondo: Allegro ma non tropo), the work
reached an acrobatic pitch, all the while the twisting and turning of
Beethoven’s historic concerto helmed by a masterful soloist.
After a standing O (naturally), and Bax’s gift of his
ensuing bouquet to a WSO violinist (really nice!), the symphony broke,
wordlessly, for intermission.
The Orchestra rounded a magnificent, explosive season with a
piece of the same nature—Gustav Mahler’s Symphony
No. 1 in D major. According to Dr. Ryan Dudenbostel’s ever-informative program
notes, the piece was initially dubbed “Titan” because it was modeled after Jean
Paul’s four-volume novel of the same name. Over a decade-long editing process,
most of the “programmatic references” to the novel ended up on the cutting room
floor. Which is okay, because we ended up with such a (still) massive triumph.
Divided into five unique movements, the enormous piece stretches from an
ominous and disparate beginning through magnificent and regal horn passages, to
churning darkness and back again to brassy power. Mahler goes from a running theme to tangential passages, from quoting (as Dudenbostel notes) Beethoven's (Ninth Symphony) and his own work (Songs of a Wayfarer) to paying homage to Austrian folk. Jewish folk and Frere Jacques are also found within. Technically demanding, the
work is an assemblage; not only are the movements of their own, but the piece
contains several features and solos: clarinet, oboe, trumpet, double bass,
horn, and flute.
Playing this so beautifully
well is indeed a triumph, to both individual acumen of the players and the
teamwork needed to make it all fit together. I couldn’t think of a better way to end a historic season.
The WSO returns on October 16th with "All Tchaikovsky", featuring violinist Simone Porter. The list of next season's concerts will be available soon on the Whatcom Symphony website.
No comments:
Post a Comment