ASO opens new season with sluggish performance, surprise fanfare

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra opened its 66th season with a roster of familiar names -- “the Star-Spangled Banner,” Mozart, pianist André Watts, “the Symphonie fantastique” -- and one brief gem that was kept a mystery from the audience.

In a beefy, brass-heavy, Oktoberfest arrangement by Walter Damrosch, the national anthem seemed of a mood with the harvest moon glowing orange above Symphony Hall Thursday evening.

The delightful, two-minute mystery work -- not printed in the program nor announced from the stage -- was the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ “Une Certaine Joie de Vivre.” It’s the first in a series of fanfares, 10 in all, commissioned by the ASO to celebrated Robert Spano’s 10 years as music director.

Spano will conduct nine of them across the year; ASO principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles, who was appointed at the same time as Spano, will lead one. With the season already under way, however, the list of composers still isn’t finalized.

Along with Theofanidis and the other members of the so-called “Atlanta School” of composers -- including Jennifer Higdon, Michael Gandolfi, the young Adam Schoenberg -- we might hear fanfares written by Spano and Runnicles themselves, by chorus master Norman Mackenzie (involving the ASO Chorus) and by Atlantan Alvin Singleton.

What’s sweet is that all these musicians have deep and ongoing relationships with Spano and the ASO. Their sincerity in celebration should be evident.

In Theofanidis’ score, the opening is marked “Grandma friendly,” perhaps alerting the musicians to phrase the music like it’s a front-porch singalong. After an introduction of tolling bells, we get the sensation of bagpipes, of a drone in the cellos and basses and a folksy, lilting, Scottish-sounding tune up above. There’s lots of air and sunlight in the music and a radiant optimism. In the category of two-minute fanfares, it strikes many perfect notes.

The rest of the concert didn’t meet these high standards. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, nicknamed “the Jeunehomme,” received, to my ears, a dry and inelegant reading by pianist Watts. His tone at the keyboard was silken yet his phrasing lacked lyricism -- despite the operatic melodies -- and he never searched below the surface. Yet Watts is a star because he puts the audience in the mood to enjoy his playing, with theatrical mannerisms and a certain panache.

Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique” is a core classic, although Spano didn’t offer a convincing point of view. The dream bits in the opening movement were thoroughly modern-sounding and strikingly weird, yet the overall interpretation wasn’t especially probing or psychological. Missing was an overarching coherence. In the final two movements, where our hero’s dreams of (unrequited) love turn to drug-overdose nightmares, Spano went for loudness, which can be thrilling, instead of concentrated power, which is both exciting and satisfying.

Still, this orchestral showpiece pushes the audience's buttons almost automatically -- it’s the kind of music that Spano calls “performer resistant” --  and it received tumultuous cheers at the end.

Pierre Ruhe is classical music critic of www.ArtsCriticATL.com.

Concert review