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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
NMSO Alive With More Than Beethoven at Festival
By D.S. Crafts
For the Journal
The opening entry of the New Mexico Symphony's two-month-long Beethoven Festival was as much French and Hispanic as Beethoven. Decidedly non-Germanic works by Maurice Ravel and Roberto Sierra balanced Beethoven's “Emperor” Piano Concerto Friday night at Popejoy Hall, with Christopher O'Riley as the piano soloist.
Originally written for piano in six movements, Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin was whittled down to four for the orchestral version.
Modeled after the short character pieces of the French Baroque composer Francois Couperin, Ravel's work ultimately became an homage to friends who died in the Great War. The sunny music itself belies no such deeper intent.
A crisp and brisk Prelude set the tone for the entire work. There could hardly be a better showcase for the excellent woodwind section of the NMSO. Playing was exceptional but oboist Kevin Vigneau must be singled out for a masterful execution of this unusually difficult part. An appropriately quirky Forlane movement gave rise to a Menuet, alternately both sweet and slightly lugubrious. The final Rigaudon bristled with the pristine energy of Ravel's masterful use of the orchestra.
The first movement of Sierra's Symphony No. 3 “La Salsa” is great fun. Alive with rhythm, Sierra feasts on orchestra color, but the harmonic movement never strays far from its native roots and thankfully never degenerates into obnoxious “modernism.” Somber and moody, the Habanera is a complete contrast in spirit and color.
Despite the title of the movement, one is hard-pressed to find any ethnic influence here. The Danzas section returns to the Caribbean influence starting light and bouncy but also exhibiting a darker side, and never seems to settle on either mood. The final Jolgorio gives a jaunty cock of the symphonic hat, then proceeds to more raucous rhythms, spotlighting the trombones in several places. This was a tour de force of playing for the entire orchestra, presenting this new work with polish and authoritative vitality.
O'Riley is as well-known as host of National Public Radio's “From the Top” as he is as a concert pianist. Beginning with the Concerto's three introductory piano flourishes, each more elaborate than the last, O'Riley assumed authority of the keyboard, which only intensified throughout.
Beethoven is often played with jarring transitions from soft to loud, and that may well have been exactly what the composer intended. However, O'Riley and conductor Guillermo Figueroa seemed to make a point of minimizing the extreme effects of light and dark. Louds remained loud and softs soft, but the abrupt transitions seemed not only logical but inevitable. The boisterous opening Allegro has few soft moments, but they were carried off with subtle magic.
The lyrical Adagio was truly golden in its shimmer, and the Rondo with its characteristic hesitating rhythm jumped from the keyboard with a thrilling ferocity, the orchestra matching the initial impulse splendidly. An exemplary performance of one of Beethoven's greatest works.
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