Looking back ...

October 27, 2012

Before our 2nd concert (November 4th) is upon us, I wanted to post a few parting comments on our season opener on September 30th.

Those of you who attended will recall, I'm sure, the exquisite French PASTORAL writing----- airy, delicate, wistful, joyous, somewhat sentimental--that was present in each of the works we played.





In the Carillon movement from Bizet's L'arlesienne  incidental music,
we worked on producing a gorgeous, "billowy" sort of string sound, so that
the main melody soared over the repeated BELL-ringing motif played by the
horns. Nothing too aggressive here, just lovely, plush "pastel" sound quality.

Next was the delightful Basque Rapsodie by Gabriel Pierne which, you may
recall, was also written for a stage production; this time, it was from the novel
RAMUNTCHO by Pierre Loti, the guy who wrote a story called "Madame
Chrysanthemum", which ultimately became a rather famous opera by another
composer.  But "Ramuntcho" tells of the escapades of the Basque region's most
famous smuggler and Pelote player....sort of a rural French/Spanish Jai-alai.

What really matters, of course, is the music, and the Basque Rapsodie seemed to
me, in some ways, the SURPRISE "HIT" of the afternoon.  Absolutely lovely music,
which our audience embraced immediately; I'm sure the composer would have been
thrilled. What's also amazing is the way in which the Northbrook Symphony typically
plays a totally obscure piece of music such as this---which no one had EVER heard
a single note of before our brief rehearsal period began---as authoritatively and
convincingly as if they have known it all their lives. 

AFTER INTERMISSION.....
the mighty SYMPHONY NO. 3 of Saint-Saens awaited us, a challenging and terrifically
rewarding work to play. Again, the orchestra outdid itself, with finely nuanced,
expressive playing, clean, precisely articulated rhythms in the scherzo movement and
plenty of big, brassy, declamatory power in the finale.

Perhaps the most rewarding for me was the CLARITY which we brought to this
work; it's easy to pound your way through it, like most orchestras do. But Saint-
Saens was, above all, a classical  thinker, who delighted in finely-crafted, meticulous
writing that requires very careful balancing, lest it become too thick and muddled.

It worked beautifully.

And how about those two pianos, playing their heavenly harp-like figuration during
the finale's radiant string chorale? My favorite passage in the work, which I learned
during my junior year at The Cleveland Institute, and have been waiting a LONG
time to perform!  

Incidentally, the keyboard part is supposed to be performed by two players on the
SAME piano ("piano, 4-hands" as it's known), but our big 9-foot Bösendorfer
has been in the shop all summer and wasn't ready for its close-up yet....so we
used two upright pianos instead. I liked them because they produced a slightly
"music-hall" type of sound......not entirely inappropriate for this work.

And let's not forget the fine artistry of Patricia Lee, our organist; Saint-Saens was
very judicious about his use of the organ in this work but Pat, who has played the
symphony several times, knew exactly how to gauge each entrance to produce the
maximum effect.

A thrilling, fun-to-perform concert...but enough for one day's work, thank you
(we also played through the entire concert at our 1pm dress rehearsal before
the performance!). Recovery time for me---about three days.


 NEXT-----
                        COUNTDOWN TO NOVEMBER 4th! 


Thank you for reading,
Larry R

Welcome - new Maestro blog

Welcome to the new Northbrook Symphony Maestro Blog, for lack of a better name.

I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts and insights about our concerts with you, so please continue to follow along, especially as we approach our next exciting program on Sunday, November 4th.

BUT FIRST---- I couldn't start this blog without mentioning our big SEASON OPENER, theSeptember 30th concert entitled Joie de Vivre -- "The Joy of Life", which anyone who attended will, I hope, remember fondly.

I love French music, and always look for an opportunity to program it. Of course, most
orchestras and audiences seem to favor the "Meat and Potatoes" repertoire (question: does
potato have an "e" at the end?---it does when it's plural), so an all-French program
is a bit dicey; but what else is new with the NSO? We're always looking for new and
exciting---and fun, accessible--- music to present to our very appreciative audience.

The September 30th program opened with a Suite of dances by Jean Phillipe Rameau,
the French Baroque composer whose music has become something of a sacred icon for
me during the past few years; it's one of those things you can't explain---I've never
considered myself much of a Baroque-kind-of-guy in terms of knowledge and experience..
but Rameau's music has caused me to reconsider.

The problem is finding performance materials for his music, and I was very lucky indeed
to have access to the Suite from Rameau's pastorale NAIS, which, as you will recall,
contains much sublimely beautiful, haunting, dream-like music. We worked very
diligently at it, and in great detail.  It's odd, but in attempting to perform Baroque music
in an authentic, 18th-century style, you almost have to stop and re-teach yourself
how to approach and play it, since almost everything has to be re-thought: phrasing,
tone color, tempos and how they inter-relate, the incessant, lavish ornamentation
(all those trills, etc) that is so much a part of Rameau's melodic writing.....

Anyway, I was THRILLED with the orchestra's playing of the Rameau Suite, and
feel that we recreated that unearthly, shimmery, vibrant, intoxicating aura of the
music, especially the gorgeous MUSETTES---the shepherd pastoral dances which
featured the choir of reedy oboes and bassoons, the pounding of the
ceremonial bass drums (when was the last time you saw TWO of them in an
orchestra?), the low ORGAN pedals and---of course--- the unique, rustic sound
of the hurdy-gurdy, expertly played by our own resident lecturer, Jim Kendros.

My next blog entry will cover the rest of the September 30th concert, but I
wanted to give a full "report" on the Rameau Suite from NAIS, since it was such
a rarity, a perfect example of what the NSO does best, and a fitting choice
as the very first work to be played in our new season. I think it was one of the
NSO's highpoints of recent years, a true GEM from the ancient musical past
that was brought to brilliant life on our stage; it was as exciting to
present as it was challenging to prepare and perform.

If you missed it, well........ I'll be looking for more possibilities to present
Rameau's incredible orchestral music in the future (we actually did a short,
4-movement ballet suite by Rameau in February of 2011; there will be more).

Larry R