Opus Colorado

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that this had been a remarkable season so far, and that I have heard many fine performances. That trend has certainly continued with the performance Friday night, October 21, of the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra at St. John’s Cathedral on Washington and 14th in Denver. This was the first performance of the Pro Musica that I have heard – it is a relatively new group – but when I looked at the program and at the website for this organization, I was quite surprised at the quality of the musicians who perform in this orchestra. Some will say that I should’ve known better, but there are so many groups performing this season, and many of them are quite good. Pro Musica Colorado is no exception; in fact, they are on one of the higher rungs.

Maestra Cynthia Katsarelis is the conductor of this group, and I will quote from the website:

“She has conducted excellent professional, conservatory, youth and training orchestras. As Conducting Assistant with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops, Ms. Katsarelis worked with top conductors and guest artists, assisted with recordings for Telarc Records, and worked with James Conlon and the Cincinnati May Festival. Her professional activities include conducting the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Knoxville, Kansas City, Spokane, Flint, Georgetown and the Columbus Women’s Orchestra.  She made her international debut leading the Bourgas Philharmonic in Bourgas, Bulgaria. Ms. Katsarelis has served as music director of the Seven Hills Sinfonietta, Antioch Chamber Orchestra, Northern Kentucky Chamber Players, Dearborn Summer Music Festival and Hillman Opera. Critical reviews have praised her work as “[‘] a model of precision and spirit.[‘]”

“In Colorado, Ms. Katsarelis was invited to assist the Colorado Music Festival by conducting the offstage brass in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, the “Resurrection.” For three summers, she conducted the Young Artist Seminar at Rocky Ridge Music Center. Working with the Loveland Opera Theatre, Ms. Katsarelis led performances of Hansel and Gretel in 2010 and leads H.M.S. Pinafore in February of 2012. She has conducted the Longmont Ballet in the Nutcracker with the professional ballet chamber orchestra.

“Ms. Katsarelis studied violin and conducting at the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University, earning a Bachelor and a Master of Music degree. She was the first undergraduate ever admitted to the conducting program. At the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, she pursued doctoral studies in Orchestral and Opera Conducting. There she served as assistant conductor for both conservatory orchestras and the opera theater. She has studied at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling and also participated in master classes led by Neema Jarvi, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kenneth Kiesler, Yoel Levi and Marin Alsop. She began her professional career at the age of 18 as a section violinist in the Florida Orchestra.”

The Pro Musica performed two works Friday evening, and they opened the program with Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldiers Tale. Igor Stravinsky, of course, was one of the 20th century’s most innovative and important composers, and he had a far-reaching influence that dominated his art in a way that few other composers can match. He changed the way we think about rhythm and harmony, and he always was evolving into something new. I have written about The Soldier’s Tale in previous reviews, and I must say at the outset, that this is, perhaps, my favorite piece by Stravinsky. Because its original score involved music, narration, and dancing, it truly is a theater/chamber work, but, unfortunately, a production which makes use of the dancing is rare. The story involves a soldier who has deserted (this is not elaborated on, and is not stressed in the production), and is on his way home. He has a violin in his backpack which the Devil wins from him, and in the end, the Devil wins his soul as well as that of the Princess. The Narrator, aptly done by KVOD’s Charley Samson, the Soldier, and the Devil, are the speaking parts, while the Princess and the Devil are both required to dance in the original score. The performance Friday night did not include dancing, and this is a proper arrangement of the score. Some performances do not even include the Narrator, and that arrangement is thus listed as a “Suite.” Stravinsky, himself, made these three arrangements.

Aside from Charley Samson, who was the Narrator, the musicians were Stacy LeSartre, violin; Paul Erhard, Bass; Debra Marshall, clarinet; Joey Grimmer, bassoon; Bruce Barrie, trumpet; Carson Keeble, trombone; and Michael Tetreault, percussion.

Some years ago, I was able to speak to some performers immediately after hearing this work, and they raised a most interesting point. They told me – and keep in mind that this is a small ensemble – that if one performer listens to the other instruments rather than watch the conductor and count, all will be lost in a mass of confusion. Keep in mind that all musicians are trained to listen, but all reliable musicians must count. This is just another example of how the complex rhythms and their difficulties that Stravinsky employs can affect the musicians.

The performance Friday night was absolutely superb. Stacy LeSartre, the violinist, and Debra Marshall, the clarinetist, amazed me with their punctuation of the rhythms which is so important to this work. They were implacably accurate and their accents were completely together. But when I say that, I am not ignoring the other five in this ensemble. Joey Grimmer, who performed on bassoon, was the standout musician, if I had to vote for one. But it is so wonderful to hear a performance of a small group of musicians where everyone is so evenly matched. This piece requires the musicians to perform with a great deal of vivacity, and that they certainly did. It was wonderful. In the opening, there were moments when the instruments slightly covered Mr. Samson, even though he had a microphone. It did not happen often, and it did teach me to become very attentive to the narration. Samson’s approach to the narration was one of almost, and I stress almost, casual conversation. Every time I have heard this piece, every narrator has his own style, and that is the way it should be, though, for my part I am accustomed to a little more drama and mysteriousness. The only aspect that grated on my nerves was when the Devil is trying to convince the Soldier that he can have anything he wishes in trade for the violin, Mr. Samson ad-libbed “a loaded iPod.” Granted, the audience chuckled, but I am of the opinion that this is (in spite of the almost cheerful music) a serious “tale,” and in addition, why change or modernize such a successful and original composition? It draws attention away from the work itself.

Bruce Barrie, trumpet, has remarkable tone. It was warm even when it was lively. But you must understand that the entire ensemble was truly excellent. This piece is so difficult, in so many ways, that it takes superb musicians to perform it.

Maestra Katsarelis gave the piece remarkable life (Do you see how many times the word remarkable appears?), and she conducts in a very vigorous fashion, with large movements, so as to insist that the ensemble count, and not be lured by the temptation to just listen. I am quite sure that Stravinsky would have been very pleased with this performance.

Following the intermission, the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra performed Mozart’s Symphony Nr. 25 in G minor, K. 183. As Maestra Katsarelis pointed out, Mozart wrote only one other Symphony in G minor, and that, of course, is Nr. 40, K. 550. The use of minor keys was rare in the 18th century, but Mozart did use minor keys in the Piano Quartet, K. 478, and the String Quintet, K. 516.

There are several works by Mozart that are unfinished, and yet have the name “Symphony,” and some are almost serenades. But this Symphony, K. 183, is a full-blown four movement Symphony in the style of Haydn, and not at all related to the three movement structure of the Italian overture.

Curt Sachs says of K. 183: “One can seek in vain for a typically German or natural Italian characteristic element. In a fortunate moment in history, these two extreme stylistic components merged together in Mozart’s being, in beauty and spirit, drama and music, vocal and instrumental parts, and melodic line and instrumentation, merged together into a harmonic unity.”

It is my opinion that this is the first truly forceful symphony that Mozart wrote, and much has been made of the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) that exemplifies this work. Maestra Katsarelis pointed out to the audience the nervous energy and syncopation that opens the first movement. When she began conducting, her movements were indeed forceful and extremely energetic. It sets the audience on notice that the musical statement made is very strong. In addition, it helps to accentuate the B theme group of this sonata-allegro first movement, because the B theme group is in a major key, and yet, in the recapitulation, the B theme comes back in a minor key. In some ways, this is not unusual, because one must end in the key one began (in the sonata – allegro structure of a first movement, there is an A theme, a B theme, a Development section, and then a Recapitulation, where the main themes return). But it certainly does add a forbidding aura to the entire first movement.

The orchestra was truly sensational in the performance of this entire symphony. Aside from the drive and energy and frantic feel of the first movement, the most outstanding attribute was the very well done dynamics. Cynthia Katsarelis is a very good conductor and she knows how to gesture and cajole the orchestra into doing exactly what she knows Mozart wants. She obtained from this chamber orchestra so many levels of piano and forte that I was amazed. Her conducting, especially in the second movement, was active, and yet, extremely sensitive. Again, I was struck by the quality of the bassoon playing in the second movement (they must figure out a way to keep Joey Grimmer in the orchestra permanently). I was also struck at how well balanced the entire ensemble was.

I do not have a score to this symphony, so I cannot check to see if the third movement has any label on it aside from Menuetto. But it is very terse and very stern, which is totally unlike any menuet danced at court. Beethoven was only three years old when Mozart wrote this work, but it almost seems as if Mozart was anticipating a new direction the symphonic style might take in someone else’s hands. In some ways, its spirit resembles his Symphony Nr. 38, “the Prague,” which is still in the future. The fourth movement of this work has as much drive and energy as the first movement, and Katsarelis never wavered one bit in her ability to draw this from the entire ensemble. I am full of wonder as to how this orchestra was able to get such a fine violin section, simply because some of the community orchestras here in Denver seem to have such difficulty. All of the strings in the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra are excellent, and they have a fine concert master in the person of Stacy LeSartre.

In the program, only five board members are listed, and one of those is Maestro Katsarelis who is probably ex officio. There is quite a list of volunteers which is absolutely terrific, but I would humbly suggest that they try for a larger board, so that they have more people to concentrate on publicity and fundraising. Publicity is what this organization needs. This is a fine group of musicians that performs at an incredible professional level.

They demonstrated Friday evening that they can make everything musical a very special case. They need to be heard.