There was a little something
for every classical taste last night at Strathmore Music Center - modern, folk (as in Brazilian), and romantic - which the
Orquestra de São Paolo with conductor Kazem Abdullah and percussionist Evelyn Glennie offered up to a small but enthusiastic
audience. The ninth stop on their 12-city, 2-week U.S. tour, on this the third visit to our country, it showcased their
expressive and expansive sound, alongside 29 year-old musical phenom Kazem Abdullah and mega-star Ms. Glennie.
It
was a curious programming juxtaposition to place avowed anti-serialist Carmargo Guarnieri next to the atonal work of James
Macmillan, perhaps they were looking for a synthesis of sound or progression of musical ideas in the arrangement. The
program began with Guarnieri's "Encantamento," a short elegiac piece that was light, rhythmic, and understated.
The orchestra's top-heavy string section - roughly 40 violins draped across the front of the stage, with a similar total
number of violas and cellos placed centrally and basses and harps (to the sides) - was used to good advantage in the Guarnieri
works here and later, in those of Brahms.
The evening's principal attraction, Dame Evelyn, next arrived to perform
MacMillan's "Veni, Veni Emmanuel" or "Come, Come Emmanuel," a work that musically interprets the Advent
and, as described in the program notes, was written expressly for Ms. Glennie who premiered it in 1992. Wearing a long
royal blue dress and taking the stage barefoot - Ms. Glennie is profoundly deaf and feels the "sound" through her
feet - the soloist has a unique stage presence. But the range of her percussive instruments - and she uses them all
- is truly astonishing. Just in front of the string section, a battery of vibes, cymbals, drums, marimbas, gongs, congas,
tam tams and more covers the entire front stage, which she moved about; while another large tone bar sits to the back, to
which she repaired at the end. This is more of a percussion concerto, with the orchestra relegated to an accompanying
role, at times sounding like it was underscoring the soloist's performance. Ms. Glennie demonstrated purposefulness
in her playing; there was none of the flamboyance I saw years ago in the Schwantner Percussion Concerto with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, but then there were fewer instruments to impede her movement.
The MacMillan work itself is a tough
nut to crack. It is decidedly otherworldly and strange, possibly ahead of its time, but definitely a work for the 21st
century and perhaps beyond. I'd need to hear it a few more times, perhaps many more, before I could offer a definitive
assessment. It is dissonant, discordant, and jarring to the ear; avowedly about Easter, it sounded less about the awaiting
of a Risen Christ than His Apocalyptic return, on the Day of Judgment. The unusual finale - a slow fade out of sound,
with the conductor poised motionless in freeze frame - suggested, to borrow from T.S. Eliot, that the world ends "not
with a bang, but a whimper."
Mr. Abdullah's conducting I thought was a little tentative - as was the orchestra's
performance - during the "Encantamento" and distanced during the "Veni, Veni Emmanuel," as if acknowledging
to Ms. Glennie "This is your show." There was no such hesitation in the second half. Everyone came out
charging in Guarnieri's "Three Brazilian Dances for Orchestra," and the conductor expertly applied the reins
to evoke a lively, big beat sound that had you swaying in your seat.
Progressing logically to "Symphony
No. 2 in D Major by Johannes Brahms," Mr. Abdullah had the audience right where he wanted them, in the palm of his hand.
The conducting was riveting and spirited, the orchestra responding fluidly - at times with restraint, at others, particularly
the horns, with a sense of urgency. The audience seemed as caught up as well, applauding the end of each movement.
Brahms' essentially endless variations on a simple theme sounded heavenly throughout and I can only describe the finale,
which was expertly built up to and executed flawlessly, as electric.
The appreciative audience elicited an encore
with their applause, a lively Brazilian dance number from Cesar Guerra Peixe's "Mourão." The piece,
in which orchestra members stomped their feet to the beat, and everyone got into the act, was just the right sendoff for this
percussive, upbeat evening of music.
The concert will be repeated at Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park, PA on
10/23 @ 7:30 PM and New Jersey State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ on 10/24 @ 8 PM with works of Nepomuceno, Villa-Lobos, and
Bartok, in place of the Guarnieri and Brahms works, respectively.
Sound check: The MacMillan Concerto
will engage your startle reflex
Program notes: Excellent, with artist bios and descriptions of all works
Applause
meter: Recommended, 3+ hands
Copy right by John F. Glass October 22, 2009
All rights reserved
