The blog is going away but the reviews are not. You can find them here in the online print edition.
Home > ATLarts > Archives > 2008 > November > 14
Friday, November 14, 2008
ASO, Dame Evelyn and a New Percussion Concerto
CONCERT REVIEW Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Thursday in Symphony Hall. Program repeats 8 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday. 404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dame Evelyn Glennie, the superstar of her field, is playing with Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony this weekend. She’s the living embodiment of the fact that rhythm has pushed aside its rivals, melody and harmony, to become the dominant component of music.
Classical composers still typically deploy percussionists — who stand at the back of an orchestra — mostly for accent and spice. But a rock-steady beat drives 99 percent of pop music, and a heavy, discernable pulse gave modernism its freshness at the start of the 20th century (think “Rite of Spring”) and powers some of the most gut-pleasing music today (think “Ainadamar”).
But percussion up front? As soloist? How eccentric.
Glennie, a preeminent figure, has redefined her station. She’s the Yo-Yo Ma, and then some, of instruments that go thump! and thwack! and ting!
She has premiered dozens of major works. A few have already entered the canon: James MacMillan’s “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel” (1992), a percussion concerto, is among the strongest works composed by anybody in recent decades.
John Corigliano’s “Conjurer,” premiered by Glennie in Pittsburgh in February and played here Thursday, isn’t up to that standard, although its best moments held the magical sound when percussion takes the lead with violins in the back.
“Conjurer” is in three section, each introduced by a brief solo passage and each with a subtitle. “Wood,” involving a xylophone, marimba and smaller wooden instruments, starts with clicks like a cricket chirping, then watery drips then expands into spooky and mystical images that’s a Corigliano signature style.
At the end of “Metal,” a gorgeous section for gongs, bells and glockenspiel, Glennie struck a marimba note then stroked it with a bow, producing a rich, eerie, yearning sound accompanied by a halo of pure tones from the orchestra strings.
“Skin,” for drums of all shapes and sizes, showed Glennie’s theatrical, whole-body approach, where she telegraphs each bang on the drum so you anticipate what it’s going to sound like.
I usually respond to Corigliano’s music, and he typically excels when given a challenge. He was on hand to introduce his latest creation from the stage.
Yet I kept waiting for the 37-minute “Conjurer” to seize my attention. Surely Glennie and the ASO, skilled in contemporary styles, revealed everything in the score. I felt like the music remained distant, a very polished exercise in writing a percussion concerto.
Not lost among the battery of wood, metal and skin was Runnicles, the ASO’s principal guest conductor, making his first appearance of the season — the first of just four.
Before our eyes and ears, over the past eight years, Runnicles has matured into a sensationally good maestro. In Dvorak’s high-calorie “New World” Symphony, which closed the evening, he pulled from the ASO a sort of relaxed intensity, paying attention to detail while making cosmic sense of this familiar work.
They opened with Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” a zesty carnival of music from 1932. Compared with some of the authentically Latin music the ASO has played in recent years — works by Osvaldo Golijov, for example — Gershwin’s exoticism now sounds a bit four-square and cartoonish.
Still, it’s wonderfully fun, and the ASO played it gaily. And it packs a rhythmic punch that set the mood for the rest of the show.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Classical Music
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
