Much More than Beethoven and Bruch

What a pretty sight! Snow is making an appearance, leaving no doubt that there will be a real winter this year. After our balmy December, it was beginning to look like winter was taking a sabbatical. My Oak Ridge students will get an extension for their assignments this week. I'm going to hammer out a few lines here, then go make a snow angel or two.

Our January Masterworks concert repertoire brings a variety of approaches to orchestral writing to the Tennessee Theatre this Thursday and Friday night at 7:30. The four works to be performed team up for an intriguing journey back through time, starting in 1995 with John Adams' clever Lollapalooza and finishing up with Beethoven's exquisite 7th Symphony. (My favorite Beethoven symphony!) In between, violinist Philippe Quint will solo on the Bruch Concerto (my favorite violin concerto!), and we will get a taste of the music of Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti's early folkloric phase in his 1951 Romanian Concerto.

Our guest maestro this month is Aram Demirjian, who is currently Associate Conductor with the Kansas City Symphony. His youthful energy, concise remarks and bold programming make this month's MW concerts a happy challenge. It came as a blessed relief to hear him say that all the notes whizzing by in the last movement of the Ligeti were to be thought of as an effect. It's always nice to hear what new things a conductor has to say about a standard like the Beethoven, while still letting the composer's genius shine through. Additionally, a lot is revealed about a conductor when (s)he leads a concerto or other work with a soloist. When a conductor is described as a “sensitive accompanist,” it has nothing to do with their skills as a pianist! A maestro who can keep the orchestra's playing on track despite unknown quantities of rubato on the part of a soloist, and often in a sight-unseen situation, makes the orchestra musician's job in concerto playing much easier and calmer.