Pushing It
Classical Review
Just as there has been a gradual, but positive acclimation to the acoustics of Verizon Hall, it will take some time for soloists and ensembles to figure out how best to utilize the mighty new Fred J. Cooper organ. The premiere of an organ concerto, by Eric Sessler, demonstrated both virtues and challenges in this process. The problems of how to integrate the sounds of this magnificent beast with the other instruments were all too apparent in the first movement, as the organ tones swamped the orchestra. Surely all concerned were aware of the dilemma, but their efforts to deal with it led to a kind of cyclical dynamic aura, rather like watching waves crashing onto the sand. Our protagonists were the superb organist Alan Morrison, and David Hayes at the podium, both Curtis faculty members. Morrison certainly seemed to be having a good time at the console, and Sessler gave him a dazzling feet-only solo.
The middle movement, titled "A Child's Night Journey," avoided the balance problem by virtue of the softer soundscape. This was the most effective music in the new work; exotic clouds of harmony wrought from strings and billowing organ tones, with, perhaps, a distant storm sounding in the timpani. Mahler's Symphony No. 4 is considered the composer's most accessible and compact symphony, but this is relative. By any other measure, this is a massive work. It still manages to encompass a world of emotional and dramatic vistas, and these forces expressed this expansiveness with tremendous spirit and awesome skill. One hates to quibble with such incredible young talent, but the second movement, with its quirky retuned violin solo, lacked astringency; the opening of the slow movement was a bit of a schlep; and some of the voicing seemed overly fussy. But in that slow movement, which seemed molto adagio rather than poco adagio: my oh my, what gorgeous string tone, delivered in washes of luxurious, silky sound. Curtis alum Rinat Shaham was the captivating mezzo soloist in the last movement.
The concert closed with the irresistibly gaudy Pines of Rome by Respighi. This music is far less intellectually demanding than the Mahler, but at least as dependent on the technical facility of the orchestra. Hayes and his crew delivered the goods with a precision in dynamic shading and lucidity that equaled any major orchestra performance I can recall.
The evening opened with a dedication to the memory of Richard Doran, a great citizen of Philadelphia and longtime leader at Curtis, who died on Jan. 22. Roberto Diaz, the new director at Curtis, played the viola part, with concertmaster José Maria Blumenschein, violin, in a luminous and moving rendition of the slow movement from Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante.
Curtis Symphony Orchestra
David Hayes, conductorKimmel Center,Feb. 4
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