The latest concert with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra Classics Series
titled “Red Hot Percussion” was an interesting mix of theater and music.
It is not every day that the percussion section of an orchestra gets more
than a passing moment in the limelight, and this program sought to redress the
imbalance.
The program opened with the "Carmen Suite; after Georges Bizet" by Shchedrin.
It was a dry sound world that the orchestra struggled to feel at home in,
particularly the lower strings at the outset of the second movement. Other
moments of nervousness crept in at sudden changes of tempo or at the beginning
of a faster movement. It always seemed to take a measure or two to settle.
The basic musical material was familiar to all who have heard the real
Carmen, yet Shchedrin created a new feel by juxtaposing themes from all over the
opera and interposing a vast percussion section.
The dry Victory acoustic allowed both the non-pitched and the pitched
instruments to stand out clearly. Occasionally there were problems with ensemble
from one side of the stage to the other.
The performance definitely improved as it went along despite audience
interruption (clapping between short movements) and disturbances
(cell-phones).
The short solos in the finale and richness of divisi low strings were the
highlights before the final chord.
The second half opened with the "Bachianas Brasilieras No.2," a suite of four
movements, by Villa-Lobos.
The first movement, "Preludio: The Song of the Countryman" was a sultry world
of dark urges, beautifully brought to life, though occasionally lacking a sense
of direction and clarity at tempo changes.
Ostensibly based on baroque structures, the second movement stood out most
clearly as tipping the hat to Bach and featured clear and confident solo cello
playing.
The accompanying string basses seemed to sound quite distant. (I think they
need more light back there.) The third movement had many of the players looking
quite worried as we heard aggressive cross-rhythms and angular trombone solos.
The woodwinds were super, spitting out their staccato rising scales. The
movement improved after an inadvertent baton-toss brought a new sense of urgency
to stick together.
The five percussionists, having rested since the start of the piece, stood up
to bring the "Toccata: The Little Train of Caipira" to life in a world of wild
sounds. The train needed a couple of goes, but once the cellos were happily
see-sawing away and clouds of added sixth chords swirled through the orchestra,
the train came to a safe stop with a squeak of the wheels and rapturous
applause.
Filippo Lattanzi joined the orchestra for the finale, the Concerto for
Percussion by Schwantner.
The visual drama of the evening was the four percussion “keyboards” (marimbas
and vibraphones) being played at the same time by Lattanzi and the orchestra’s
players.
The main material of the outer movements was a phasing of mixed-meter
minimalist elements underpinned by long, sustained chords occasionally
interrupted by antiphonal drum spasms with heavy brass.
Lattanzi moved to another section of his raised stage to play the second
movement and a different array of instruments, including a semi-submerged
tam-tam, pitched Alpine cowbells, and vibraphone played with a bow, as well as
more common percussion instruments.
The final movement was again an energetic mixed-meter affair which was
reminiscent of Holst’s Mars from “The Planets” though the percussion section had
taken stronger steroids. The improvised cadenza on a series of non-pitched drums
gave Lattanzi the opportunity to impress with his control of timbre and
tempo.
His encore, a marimba solo arrangement of Bach’s harmonization of “Passion
Chorale” gave a beautifully soft conclusion to what had otherwise been a
hard-hitting evening of energetic music-making.
