Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Chris Thile, Copland, Four Moments Musical, Gershwin, Jeffry Kahane, Mandolin Concerto, Rhapsody in Blue, William Hill
The matinee performance given by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, the 20th, was truly enjoyable. It was an all-American program featuring Aaron Copland’s Suite from Billy the Kid, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Four Moments Musical, by Denver’s own William Hill, and a mandolin concerto entitled Ad astra per alas porci by Chris Thile.
The program opened with the Copland Suite, which was last performed by the CSO in 2002. Billy the Kid is infinitely more satisfying than Copland’s Rodeo, and in some ways more satisfying than Appalachian Spring, which is certainly his most popular piece. It was well received in Chicago when it was premiered in 1938, and Copland always seemed a little bit surprised that it remained a favorite of the concert going public for the rest of his life. Copeland uses almost sixty percent of the original score in his Suite and that is one of the reasons this piece is so popular when it is performed in a concert hall. It has been a long time since I have heard this piece performed with such vigor and enthusiasm. There are eight different sections which tell the story of Billy the Kid. Among them are the Open Prairie, a Street in a Frontier Town, in which Billy the Kid’s mother is killed by an outlaw, and leads us through a uncontrolled gun fight with its punctuations from the percussion. The seventh is Billy’s Death, and the eighth is the return of the Open Prairie theme. This was a fine performance of an underrated piece with some very difficult rhythms that each section of the orchestra must deal with, because Copland gave important solos to each section in a way that is reminiscent of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra.
Next on the program, the CSO performed Rhapsody in Blue with Jeffrey Kahane as piano soloist, and conducting from the bench. The version chosen for performance was the arrangement by American composer Ferde Grofe, which he completed for Paul Whiteman’s orchestra in 1924. Kahane sat with his back toward the audience with the nose of the piano pointed into the orchestra. This is fairly common when conducting from the piano bench. This performance was full of life, full of energy, and was in many, many ways beyond compare. The tempos that were taken in some of the quicker sections were astoundingly fast, and therein lies the problem. You must understand that Jeffrey Kahane is one of the most gifted musicians to ever conduct the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He is also a remarkably fine concert pianist. But, you must also understand how incredibly busy this man is with the orchestra and all of the responsibilities that he carries on his shoulders. I bring this up because on Sunday, at the performance that I attended, in the fast sections it sounded as though he simply had not the time to practice enough. Keep in mind that this is a very difficult piece, and there are many concert pianists who never perform it in their lifetime. I don’t doubt that Kahane has the ability to perform this entire piece as cleanly as most of it was played. Jeffrey Kahane has fingers of steel, but one must have the ability to focus on this piece with undivided attention prior to its performance. I’m relatively sure that he has performed this piece before, judging by the wonderful musicality that he imparted to this performance. But, there were some spots where the finger work lacked the articulation that the rest of the piece possessed. There is not one concert pianist alive who has had a mistake-free performance of any piece you care to mention, but their work does sound practiced. It did sound to me that some of the tempos that were taken were a little fast. Had he been responsible for only this one work, instead of conducting the entire concert, and had he a little more time for preparation, it would have been flawless.
After this performance, came three encores, richly deserved, with Jeffrey Kahane at the piano and Bil Jackson, the CSO’s preeminent first chair clarinetist, in an arrangement of Gershwin’s Three Preludes, originally written for piano but arranged in this case for clarinet and piano. Outstanding.
After the intermission, the CSO performed William Hill’s delightful piece entitled Four Moments Musical. This piece was last performed by the CSO in 2003. For those of you who do not follow the CSO, William Hill is the principal timpanist and an exceedingly underrated composer. This piece was premiered in 1995 by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra with Mr. Hill conducting. It is scored for brass, timpani, and percussion. There are four movements entitled Fanfare, Invention, Aire, and Dance of Ecstasy. It begins with a brass fanfare which is thoroughly invigorating. Some individuals that I have spoken with compare the fanfare with Copland’s Fanfare For the Common Man. Those individuals do not listen very closely to what they are hearing. It is very different. The second movement is an invention in the style of J.S. Bach, and it demonstrates, incredibly, how one skilled composer can begin an invention subject in the percussion and carry it around the ensemble which includes brass instruments (rhythm to sound). This invention is almost humorous, and it is totally delightful to listen to. It reminded me very much of one of John Cage’s Imaginary Landscapes (I think, Nr. 2). It had a very ambulatory sound, in which one could imagine bizarre machines moving and walking across a landscape. The third movement, Aire, was lyrical and honeyed with very subtle rhythmic jabs. It made great use of ninth and thirteenth chords. The fourth movement, Dance of Ecstasy, was energetic but flowing, and used to study ostinato in the bass drum and tuba. The rhythmic complexities were quite reminiscent of Stravinsky. I would love to hear this piece performed more often.
The last work on the program was a Mandolin Concerto by the young, but very gifted composer, Chris Thile. This young man is without a doubt the finest mandolin player I have ever heard. There is no question that he belongs in front of a concert audience. His concerto was excellent, especially considering it was his first work for a symphony orchestra. The first movement, a March, a Waltz, and a Jig, was a very complex work with very persistent rhythm and an astounding amount of very fast finger work, which must have been exhausting. There was excellent writing for the woodwind section. The Waltz truly exhibited what a mandolin in the right hands (no pun intended) is capable of. Thile made the instrument soar. It was very harp-like. The cadenza to this movement was breathtaking, because one could finally hear some solo work from the mandolin. I say “finally hear” because the mandolin is a relatively soft instrument, and all the detail work, and technical facility which this young man possesses, became very obvious – and that is what a cadenza is supposed to do. The second movement, Air on the F Train, was very lyrical and had a pleading quality that was almost mournful. The third movement, entitled The Fifth Glass, was full of drive and contrapuntal imitation. What was impressive was that this movement showed the depth of understanding of what a symphony orchestra is capable of, and that is unusual from a composer who has just written his first orchestral piece. I am convinced that we shall hear more of Chris Thile. There followed several encores which were truly earned.
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