This weekend, at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra ended their season with a concert of music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner and John Adams under the baton of conductor Melisse Brunet.
Brunet, the French-born conductor, opened the concert with a speech about the longtime favorite, the orchestral overture to Leonore No. 2 from Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera, Fidelo, which is among Beethoven’s finest achievements by talking about the history of the piece and what it is about which was a great help to better understand the mood of the music. She just gave a firm downbeat to start Leonore No.2. The Appalachian Symphony Orchestra responded with a dramatic chord and as the sound quietened to a tense hush for the dark opening theme it was obvious that we were in for some ‘real’ Beethoven. This attention to the importance of quiet playing was the feature of the day; to play truly softly takes considerable skill and Beethoven’s typically strong contrasts of dynamic were much enhanced. The slow, foreboding introduction forward in darkness without establishing a particularly strong melody, until the appearance of scalar figures in the woodwinds. While the initial slow material continues, these figures flip bar by bar from the top of the orchestra to the bottom. Heavy chords bring an end to this, after which the woodwinds introduce a cautiously more optimistic theme, with the strings dwelling on a rhythmic figure related to the scalar motif. Gradually, the orchestra builds up to the galloping main theme of the allegro. This and a broader, noble subsidiary theme dominate the second half of the overture, although at the climax the orchestra pulls up short for the offstage trumpet calls that, in the opera, announce the arrival of the king's representative, who brings justice to the imprisoned hero.
The second piece was the ‘Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin, WVV 75’ by Richard Wagner which I must have listened to 5 times before hearing it live. The lights dimmed, the audience quietened and the strings came alive. For ten minutes the music carried us to a different world. The orchestration of the overture's opening, featuring the violins, playing at ethereal heights of the register and colored by chords in the flutes and oboes, swaddles the main thematic idea in a gossamer web of shimmering sound. The theme unfolds over the course of the overture as though in a single extended breath, each potential cadence point diverted into continuation or reiteration of the theme, filling the timeless expanse of eternity. The Prelude unrolls at a slow, steady pace, and the brass section adds its power and brilliance to a stunning climax before the music again recedes to a hovering halo by the glistening violins to bring the overture to an end.
The third and last piece was introduced by Lisl Doughton, a first year graduate student that plays cello, which is The Chairman Dances by John Adams. The Chairman Dances set the tone for an afternoon of relatively easy listening. The piece was commissioned in the mid-eighties while Adams was at work on his opera Nixon in China, and is similar in subject matter – he has described it as “a youthful Mao Tse Tung dancing the foxtrot with… the future Madame Mao” to the sound of a gramophone. The orchestra’s playing here gave crisp enunciation to the punchy syncopations present throughout, and Maestro Brunet conducted a safe and exact interpretation, immediately locking the pulsing rhythms and holding tempos tight and did a great warmth out of her players in more Romantic and jazzy moments. The music is representative of a combination of minimalist iterations (and re-iterations) and stylized jazz inflections, chugging rhythms, and colorful orchestration and diatonic harmonies. The chugging and coloristic flashes that begin the work give way to the dance theme proper in the strings, the piano eventually emerging both as participant in and a source of commentary upon the proceedings. The work "runs out" instead of ending. The one thing missing from this performance was a special observation of the punchy accents, which result from the Adams’ orchestration, to emphasize the demented undertone of the story.
Under Brunet’s baton, the ASO gave the sublimely lyrical work an impressive, finely honed performance, bringing closure to a creditable, satisfying afternoon of surprisingly compatible repertoire. As with the pieces featured in this concert, the ASO again proved adept at handling the extreme variety of tempo, style, and color changes in the demanding work. From the outset, flutes, with their opening flourish, established an articulate and crisp virtuosity that was eventually demanded of all members of the orchestra. The bombastic moments provided delicious morsels of ear-candy, but most impressive was the measured breadth of the rewarding climaxes, both loud and soft. This was such an enjoyable performance. Brunet showed some sensitivity in the most tender of moments, but a more restrained and measured approach to the entirety of the work would have been welcome. Overall, the whole orchestra, admirably conducted by Melisse Brunet, delivered an outstanding performance, completely enjoyable and impressive. If you didn’t go to Sunday’s performance, I can assure you that you have missed a lot.