A Look at Tomorrow and a Look Back

With Black Friday behind us, (wait, black for whom!?) we can now turn our attention to the more spiritual aspects of the Holiday season.  I trust that none of you “took chips” in line at Best Buy or Kohl's, or rammed the car that took the last parking spot at Walmart.  Having survived this commemoration of consumerism, you owe it to yourself to have your ears filled with the joyous sounds of the season, brought to you by the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra and the Webb School's Madrigal Singers.  I hope you acted in a timely fashion, though, because it appears that this concert, today at 2:30 at the Bijou, is SOLD OUT.

If you WERE lucky enough to be an early bird and score tickets to this concert, here's what you have to look forward to.  The Webb Madrigal Singers, under the direction of LeAnne Johnson, are in high demand this time of year for performances of sacred and secular music.  Their share of the concert is substantial; they will partake in the final nine selections.  Highlights of this involvement are the Hallelujah Chorus and Glory to God from Handel's Messiah, the “Shepherds' Farewell” from Berlioz' oratorio L'enfance du Christ, and a wacky a capella arrangement of The Twelve Days of Christmas. This arrangement, credited to the a capella group Straight No Chaser, reweaves the traditional Twelve Days text into a crazy choral quilt by incorporating quotes from five or six other carols, the Dreidel Song, and even Toto's 1982 hit Africa.  Instrumental numbers include Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on 'Greensleeves,' Tchaikovsky's Christmas Waltz and the Farandole from Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite.  I never knew the Bizet had lyrics!  You learn something every day.

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Let's take a look back at a couple fun November KSO events…

The Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestras presented their Fall concerts on Monday the 13th. 

Red scarves and neckties lent an extra touch of class to Kathy Hart's Sinfonia ensemble. The Philharmonia orchestra, directed by Nina Mikos, had teal accents. (photo courtesy of Sarah Gimbel).

James Fellenbaum's Youth Symphony did a tremendous job with Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol. I especially relished the performance because I played the work in my youth orchestra. (photo courtesy of Hahn Choo).

Sean Claire (far right) performed Mendelssohn's "other" Violin Concerto (in D) with the Youth Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Wesley Baldwin (far left). Center three (left to right) are Kathy Hart, Preludium orchestra director Erin Archer, and Jim Fellenbaum.

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The KSO UnStaged event on the previous Thursday was an unqualified success, with its diverse intimate performance stations across The Standard's wonderful facility.

Beer was the overture to this concert, with Knox Brew Tours meister Zack Roskop speaking on the brewer's art...

… and photo-bombing some musicians celebrating the triumph…

A new work by composer Annika Socolovsky (standing at left two photos up) was commissioned for the event. Here percussionist Bob Adamcik hones his bowed vibraphone technique prior to the performance.

Violinists Ruth Bacon Edewards, Robyn Quinette, violist Jennifer Bloch and cellist Ildar Khuziakhmetov perform The Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams Are Made of This.

Warm Tunes for Cold November Nights

The November Masterworks concert pair this Thursday and Friday at the Tennessee Theatre boasts three essential masterpieces.  Beethoven's Violin Concerto will be in the unusual lead-off spot, with two tone poems following intermission; Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration, and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.  Any of these works could either open or close a concert, and their content is gripping.

Beethoven's concerto for violin is a towering work in its genre, although it had a rocky start. Beethoven finished writing the solo violin part the day of the premiere, so that the soloist and dedicatee, Franz Clement, had to sightread parts of it at the performance!   Needless to say, these less-than-ideal conditions led to an unsuccessful debut, and the work lay in relative obscurity until 1844. At that time, 12-year-old Joseph Joachim resuscitated the work in London under the baton of Felix Mendelssohn.  Joachim would later become a close friend of Brahms, collaborating on the later master's violin concerto and contributing the work's cadenza.   Luckily, guest soloist Paul Huang will have had much more time to prepare than Franz Clement did back in the day.

Death and Transfiguration is a deceptively macabre title for a work that is chock-full of both energy and profound beauty.  Strauss's command of orchestration is just jaw-dropping, and guest maestro Joshua Gersen has his finger on the pulse of the composer's intentions.  The phrase “tone poem” has come to be a catch-all term for a programmatic work that is longer than an overture but usually shorter than a symphony.  It isn't that the music is particularly rhyme-y; it might as easily be called a “tone saga,” or “tone mural.”  Tchaikovsky's Overture-Fantasy “Romeo and Juliet” touches on all the moods and nerves of Shakespeare's drama, thanks to some of his most poignant coloristic writing. Check out the muted violas and second violins about 5 minutes in.  It is the most beautiful musical depiction of bullfrogs in the moonlight, serenading the two lovers. 

Performances are Thursday, Nov. 16 and Friday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre. Tickets found here.