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Written by D.S. Crafts
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Saturday, 01 October 2005 |
Friday (corrected from Thursday) night at Popejoy hall was a celebration of youth as much as it was of Russian music. In a concert featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra hosted the Albuquerque Youth Symphony along with 18-year-old Russian pianist Natasha Paremski.
To begin the program the NMSO graciously afforded the stage to the Youth Symphony to perform the Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien. Beginning with a well-played fanfare from the brass, leading into a tuneful presentation of the folk theme by the woodwinds, conductor Amir Kats led the group leisurely through the opening section, then briskly through the more Tchaikovsky-like development, and ultimately to an effective full-ensemble conclusion. It may be just me, but I've always felt the main theme here sounds more American Western than Italian -- perhaps a lost fragment from the Grand Canyon Suite.
Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini is in effect his fifth piano concerto. The work is a series of twenty-four variations based on the famous theme used by so many composers. Liszt thought it purely daemonic and indeed many of Rachmaninoff's interpretations are thoroughly devilish.
Pianist Natasha Paremski virtually exploded onto the keyboard, hardly to be restrained as her hands eagerly flew across the keys. Maestro Figueroa and the orchestra could not help but catch her spirit. The initial fury eventually calmed to a more lyrical mood as Paremski gave a beautifully passionate rendition of the famous eighteenth variation, familiar to virtually everyone.
The final variation uses the Gregorian Dies Irae tune. Sung by the stentorian brass, it brought the entire ensemble led by Paremski charging to a fiery climax. Here was an action-packed, electrifying performance which brought the entire house not standing, but leaping to its feet to salute what it had just heard. She obliged us further with a Chopin Etude which she made seem like the easiest of pieces to play. Already this was one of the outstanding moments of the young season.
The final work was yet another celebration of youth. The First Symphony of Shostakovich, written as a graduation exercise when he was 19, could not help but foreshadow an outstanding career to come. Full of the kind of self-referencing musical motives which were to become a hallmark of his style, the work dialectically poses traditional against new tendencies in Russian musical development.
The thinly-scored opening movement came through as an exercise in sardonic irony, with its quirky and catchy opening theme. The galloping Allegro gave way to the fervency of the slow movement lento which featured some excellent solo work. The theme is first given by the oboe, passed to the cello, then returns near the end in the solo violin passing to the trumpet. Full-orchestra climaxes are few, but when they came, they were thunderous, especially in the final movement when ornamented by a short, but dramatic tympani solo by Douglas Cardwell. Violinist Krzysztof Zimkowski and cellist Joan Zucker too had extended solos devoutly wrought. A brilliant performance all round, especially as this is a work outside standard repertory.
Exhilarating for adults, this concert should prove an inspiration to any young, aspiring musician.
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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