Yesterday's Concert - My fourth Ninth.
-
We attended the final performance of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra 2023 -2024 season on Sunday afternoon. Music director Chad Goodman had an interesting, and fun, program in store for us. Two choral works, and one symphonic.
The first choral work was a short (3 minute) piece by Mozart, Ave verum corpus. The piece ws "commissioned" while he was in the midst of writing Die Zauberflöte by a small church. Scored for string orchestra and chorus, this little piece evokes the style of late Mozart - the Requiem immediately came to mind. Being such a small piece, it was hard for me to really "get into" what was going on, and I just enjoyed the Mozart-like melodies. It was a simple, pleasant way to introduce the next, more challenging work of the "A-half" of the concert.
Without a pause, the orchestra went right into Grammy Award winner Jessie Montgomery's "Hymn for Everyone." This is a piece commissioned by the Chicago Symphony in 2021. Montgomery, at the time the composer in residence said that the theme came to her during a hike. It's a simple theme that pervades the entire 10 minute piece. Written for a large-ish orchestra, it evokes some of the uncertainties we faced in 2021. Throughout the piece hints of the theme come in, sometimes as a repetition of the theme, sometimes as a fragment - an ostenato - that shows itself as a skeleton of the melody. I found it to be disturbing. Disturbing, it seemed to raise more questions than it answered. Perhaps "provocative" is a better term.
An opening chime introduces the melody - a melancholy theme. The orchestra swelled into a quickly resolving dissonance. Bass drums punctuated the pizzicato of the lower strings. A feeling of loneliness continues throughout. A walking-bass line evolves into ascending keys until it eventually devolves into the ostenato I mentioned.
The orchestra seemed to be up to the task of some new music, and it was obvious that, although not technically difficult, parts were challenging - in the best way. It was provocative, as I said. At the end, I felt uneasy, uncomfortable, and somehow satisfied. I'll have to revisit this piece in the near future. CSO and Muti have a recording on YouTube.
These two pieces took about 20 minutes to perform. The closer was a performance of Beethoven’s symphony #9.
Without going into a lot of detail, just some random observations.
Goodman made the most of the contrasting themes in the first movement. The uncomfortable theme was stressed, and the quieter parts had a “lilt” to them that were a brief break from the stressful D-minor theme. He was able to make the most of Beethoven’s talent for taking the smallest musical idea (the dotted rhythm) and expanding it to fill the space.
The bouncy 2nd movement was again nicely contrast-full. Cues to the tympanist were added to really accentuate the “dum-da-dum” motif. The trio was appropriately “jaunty.”
I found the third movement to be really interesting. Goodman made a point, in the preconcert lecture of mentioning Beethoven’s tempo marking. Accordingly, it never dragged. Toward the end of the movement, the pizzicato section played by the basses and cellos lended an almost Viennese flavor to the movement. Also, the two points where the brass interrupt with a fanfare were startling, as I think Beethoven intended them to be.
Finally, the 4th movement. The soloists stood on either side of Goodman - the soprano and mezzo to his left, and the tenor and baritone on his right.
In his pre-concert talk, Goodman mentioned how the opening of the 4th, with the recitative-like passage, should not be hurried (and he played a recording where it is), but should be almost conversational in nature. He was certainly able to get the lower strings of the ESO to get that right.
With the introduction of the 4th movement complete, it was time for the soloists.
“Oh Freunde!”
The baritone was interesting. Picking up on the conversational nature of the recitative, he was able to get our attention by changing tempo and volume.
After the initial “Oh Freunde!” he went very quiet - “Nicht diese Töne!” was quiet. It was like “HEY GUYS! Let’s not enjoy these sounds. (Almost a whisper) “Instead, let’s sing something pleasant and joyful.” Then, again: “FREUDE! FREUDE!!” It was really really good. He was having a blast.
Another note. The tenor kept smiling through the first parts. Then, when that little march was introduced, I could see him tapping a foot. Then the other. It was almost like he was marching along. Once he stood, his powerful voice as able to make those huge jumps across the scale. I remember hearing a performance of this years ago, and the tenor slurred the word “Laufet”. If it were a piano, it would have been a glissando from high note to low note. Not yesterday. The notes were hit separately, and not in a drunken fashion.
The mezzo and soprano were both powerful and held up their end of the movement. The section where the male and female have a conversation was emphasized by having them on opposite sides of the conductor.
It was obvious that the orchestra was enjoying themselves. Lots of smiles, toe tapping, etc. After all, how often does a community based orchestra get to do the Ninth?
As I mentioned to my daughter, even a bad performance of the Beethoven Ninth is fun, and something to be remembered. This was not a bad performance, at all. Rich, musical, inspiring and fun.
This was my 4th time hearing this live. Probably the best, most memorable, was back in the early 1970s with Sir Georg Solti and the CSO. I’ll never forget Martti Talvela’s huge presence on the stage and his rumbling basso belting out “Freude!!”
-
As always, George, a welcome and well presented review. Have never attended live performance of the mighty 9th and can only imagine how exhilarating it must be to witness and feel.
Very fitting too. Tomorrow, 7 May, will mark the bicentennial of the symphony’s premiere in Vienna. To have been there!
-
I'm really quite jealous - and a very nice review, GK
-
Some criticisms...
The baritone was terribly engaging. I could have done without the man-bun, but that's just me. He swayed and was SO into the music. However, his vocal range, IMO, was not quite up to the task. Though he handled the middle range pretty well, he was struggling at the last notes of "Und freudenvollere."
The mezzo was good, but she seemed to be scowling at parts - like she didn't want to be there. It was only at a few points, but I noticed.
We were 7 rows back (row G) dead center.
There was one point where I was listening, and I found myself mouthing the words. Apparently the soprano saw me, looked RIGHT AT ME, making eye contact, and smiled.
The ESO strings, though competent, just don't have that rich, lush tone that a world-class orchestra like the CSO does. They're good, but they just sound a bit thin. Similarly the brass - when you hear the CSO brass you say, "Holy SHIT! It's the CSO brass!" With this orchestra, again, competent, no bobbles, but not overwhelming.
But considering that a drive out there is only about 40 minutes for me, and it's in safe neighborhood, I'll continue to go.
Next season has Bolero (which I'll skip), The Planets, Thaikovsky #6, Sibelius #5. Kind of bread and butter season, but hey, it's cheap and close enough.
-
Yes, another great review!!
-
-
Sounds great. I think I've seen the ninth once in San Francisco. (Does one say "see" or hear" when one attends a performance?)
I guess you thought it was good because the instrumentalists were accurately playing from the score. It's my understanding that classical music performances are judged by whether the score is accurately followed. Amirite @LuFins-Dad and @Aqua-Letifer ?
-
Sounds great. I think I've seen the ninth once in San Francisco. (Does one say "see" or hear" when one attends a performance?)
I guess you thought it was good because the instrumentalists were accurately playing from the score. It's my understanding that classical music performances are judged by whether the score is accurately followed. Amirite @LuFins-Dad and @Aqua-Letifer ?
@Horace said in Yesterday's Concert - My fourth Ninth.:
I think I've seen the ninth once in San Francisco.
The conductor of this performance was one of Michael Tilson Thomas' students/protege's.
From 2018 to 2023, Goodman served as an Assistant Conductor to the San Francisco Symphony, working alongside Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Daniel Harding, Pablo Heras-Casado, Simone Young, and James Gaffigan, among others
