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Gwinnett Philharmonic
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CONCERT REVIEW
Gwinnett Philharmonic, Tuesday at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth. www.gwinnettphilharmonic.org
In “The Wealth of Nations,” of 1776, Adam Smith flipped a central economic paradigm. No longer was a country’s total worth determined simply by how much gold was stored in the treasury; the real measure of national output was in its productivity, in the extensive web of infrastructure that connects all the goods and services that make a society livable.
Is it the same in the arts? Metro Atlanta has gold bullion in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, to cite one shiny example. It also boasts smaller organizations that function below the city’s marquee of officialdom and, in the process, proves that our cultural wealth is spread wide across the region.
The 700-seat Performing Arts Center at the Gwinnett Center was mostly full Tuesday evening, when the Gwinnett Philharmonic opened its 2004-05 season.
Conductor Monte Nichols, who founded the philharmonic and led its first concert nine years ago — Oct. 1995 — assembled here four beloved chestnuts. If the logic to the program wasn’t apparent, at least each work held exciting moments.
Beethoven’s “Consecration of the Houseâ€? Overture started the evening, just as it did for the philharmonic’s 1995 inaugural concert — a bit of nostalgia, a musical link of past and present. They made it sound like chamber music, with the players more cued into each other’s phrasing than to the conductor’s gestures.
Vivaldi’s super-pops Concerto for Two Trumpets in C featured high-spirited soloists Kevin Lyons and Yvonne Toll. They delivered a muscular, unified interpretation that flowed with the orchestra’s muscular, romantic accompaniment. It was the strongest showing of the night.
Holst’s “St. Paul’s� Suite was performed in the original version for string orchestra. Nichols couldn’t quite keep his players together in rhythmically tricky passages, but he kept the tempo swift. Holst’s message of urbane pastoralism came across clearly.
Yet what worked for the suite, which was composed for a student ensemble, pointed to systemic philharmonic shortcomings when it came to Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, a blockbuster nicknamed “From the New World.�
In the high-calorie Dvorak, a listener often had the sense that the players were galloping horses and conductor Nichols was the hapless rider, hanging on till he could get his foot back in the stirrup, hoping they didn’t run off a cliff.
There were no serious accidents and even a few virtues to this approach. As elsewhere in the concert, the players relied mightily on their own ears (attuned to their colleagues) not their eyes (on the conductor) for guidance.
They created a halo of sound in the achingly beautiful slow movement. They romped fearlessly through much of the finale. It was fun to hear.
In most respects, the philharmonic looks like its white-tie-and-tails in-town cousins. Significantly, the atmosphere is less formal. Nichols does not leave the stage between works but serves as affable emcee at the microphone, describing the upcoming music, introducing the soloists and the concertmaster by name, telling humorous anecdotes, putting a face — his face — on the organization.
After the performance, Nichols was there too, like a church pastor, standing at the lobby exit saying personal goodbyes to everyone in the audience.
The background is this: the Gwinnett Philharmonic Association is a presenting organization, not an orchestra. With a board and just two full time staffers — including conductor/founder Nichols –- and no office space, it hires musicians on an ad hoc basis. Three times a year it presents orchestral concerts. Other shows under its auspices are string quartets or brass ensembles.
The hired musicians come from the broad pool of Atlanta talent: from the full-time ASO or juggling various freelance jobs with the Atlanta Opera or Ballet or the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. From a professional musician’s perspective, the Gwinnett Philharmonic is one more potential employer — even if it’s only three shows a year. For the audience, it’s a chance to hear a community-based orchestra boasting professional players, adding cultural wealth to the region as a whole.
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