Home  Entertainment Reviews Review: New Mexico Symphony (Oct. 6)
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Review: New Mexico Symphony (Oct. 6) |
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Written by D.S. Crafts
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Saturday, 06 October 2007 |
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The concert might have been titled "Alice Through the Looking Glass." With a tip of the cap to Lewis Carroll, the program presented this weekend by the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra was completely backwards in order of presentation from what we have come to expect at symphony concerts.
Opening the program was the big symphonic work, the Seventh Symphony of Dvorak. The seventh has too often gotten short-changed in comparison to its younger brothers, the well-known “New World” Symphony and even the Eighth. Yet the Seventh has a wealth of high drama and memorable melody. It has a Czech or Bohemian flavor though there is clearly still the influence of Brahms especially in the outer movements, though Dvorak was the more imaginative orchestrator. Indeed, there are good parts for the excellent NMSO wind section, not only opening the second movement, but many lovely tunes throughout. Maestro Figueroa brought that Adagio to a formidable climax, not purely in dynamic but in sheer intensity of momentum. The spirited Scherzo is the most ethnic sounding of the four movements and the most clearly identifiable as Dvorak. The Finale contains a clear homage to the same movement of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. The second half of the program was comprised of three relatively short works. Barber’s famous Adagio was arranged for string orchestra from its original life as the second movement of his string quartet and has since remained an American masterwork. Far more pungent harmonies were all the rage when Barber wrote the piece but ironically (or actually not) he achieves something far more original with far more understandable sonorities. The lines twist and turn about each other continually intensifying the harmonies until the piece crystallizes white hot. Former University of New Mexico Dean John Donald Robb was both composer and ethnomusicologist (a fancy term for collector of folk music). His Dances from Taxco is a colorful orchestra arrangement in three movements of authentic melodies from that region of Mexico, between Mexico City and Acapulco, one of the “silver cities.” Concluding with the overture, Figueroa led an explosive reading of the Festival Overture by Shostakovich written to celebrate an anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The piece finds Shostakovich in a tuneful, even “pops” mood—Russian “pops,” that is. Opening with a splendid choir of brass, the work never relaxed its driving, effervescent energy, supplemented with yet more brass playing up in the wings, virtually bouncing the happy Popejoy audience out the doors. WHAT: New Mexico Symphony Orchestra presents Barber’s Adagio and Dvorak's 7th Symphony WHEN: 2 p.m. today (October 7) WHERE: Albuquerque Journal Theatre at the National Hispanic Cultural Center HOW MUCH: $18- $57 at the NHCC box office or Ticketmaster outlets
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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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