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| Terrence Wilson |
Terrence Wilson and his
extraordinary technique brought the audience to its feet last night in a
performance with the Prince
George's Philharmonic at the Bowie
Center for the Performing Arts in Bowie, MD. Mr. Wilson's command of Sergei
Rachmaninoff's famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
(written in 1934 and premiered
at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 7, 1934) was technically convincing and a true tribute to the
great Russian composer and pianist so famous for his precision performance and interpretive
art.
Mr.
Wilson's playing of the Rhapsody was
an awe-inspiring, effervescent, explosion of musical mastery that was paired with the
Prince George's Philharmonic's partnering perfection. The orchestra supported
and highlighted Mr. Wilson's fantastic performance, and he in turn knew exactly
when to allow the orchestra to shine. The bravura elements of the Rhapsody
worked not only because of Mr. Wilson’s
and Mr. Ellis’
control and understanding of the music but because they allowed the moments
less technically demanding to sing out creating the emotional contrasts that
make the piece work.
Mr.
Wilson returned to stun the audience with his encore performance of Arcadi Volodos' (Russian:
Аркадий Аркадиевич Володось) brilliantly impossible piano transcription of
the Rondo "Alla Turca" from
Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 (300i). Listening to Mr.
Wilson play the unbelievably difficult solo piano music was like standing in
the middle of a pyrotechnical explosion. Mr. Wilson, like Rachmaninoff and
Gould, is able to make inner voices sound forth while framing the melodic
inventions with technically demanding rhythmic counterpoint.
The
second concert in the Prince George's Philharmonic 2012-2013 season showcased
the considerable talent and musical expertise of the orchestra's members. The
percussion section was on time in sync and right there every time the music
called for an exclamation point or subtle coloring that make special musical
moments. The poetic themes of the night's compositions highlighted music's
ability to transport a listener to a different time or place, and the percussion
section was there to ensure the effect and the feelings that the composers were
inducing.
The
entire program in fact seemed to be performed at a speed that allowed the
various sections to demonstrate their unique technical contributions in each of
the compositions that made up the November concert. The percussion and brass in
the Smetana and the Rimsky-Korsakov were heroic confirming
the first rate nature of the Prince George's County Philharmonic. The cellos
and contrabasses were solid and artful in the Barber as well. And the woodwinds
beautifully demonstrated their art throughout the evening, particularly in
Barber's challenging Die natali, Op.
37; Chorale Preludes for Christmas. Maestro
Ellis greatly enhanced the performance of Barber’s little-known Die Natali with an introductory
explanation of its construction - with parts of the orchestra playing several
illustrative selections from the piece.
A
symphony orchestra is held together by musical cloth made from the weft and
warp of the string section led by the violins and the violas. The violas were
especially outstanding in Barber's Dei
Natali. All of this goes to say that they are always in the bull's eye,
always dancing on the head of a pin most especially audible in the quiet simple
brief connective passages of any performance. After the briefest moment of
indecision in a transition section early in Smetana's From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields (Z českých luhů a hájů from Ma
Vlast), the string section performed is role as the very fabric of the
music well focusing when directed and supporting in a musical partnership when
called for displaying the art that makes the Prince George's Philharmonic the
wonderful orchestra that it is.
Mr.
Ellis laid out an interesting program for the evening which he explained in
detail in the Philharmonic's electronic newsletter,
Quarter Notes.[1] All of the technical challenges came together
in each of the evening's compositions. Each composition, taken as a stand-alone
performance, was great. Each performance showed the artistry of the many varied
contributions of the symphonic team. In short, the orchestra was in great form,
exciting, proficient and masterful, but somehow the entirety of the program
seemed to be risk averse,
Mr. Wilson's performance excepted. It
was if as though each piece was performed at the same tempo.
That
said the evening was a special reminder of the remarkable musical
organization that brings extraordinary performances to Prince George's County, Maryland. If you were not there,
you missed quite an evening. Prince George's County is so fortunate to have a
first rate orchestra in its midst.
[1] readers
may sign up to receive "Quarter Notes" on a regular basis by
sending an e-mail request to: pgphilharmonic@gmail.com
A note from the Music Director
Program building is one of
the fundamental tasks for any conductor, and one of my favorite parts of being
the Philharmonic's Music Director; the process of assembling our November 17
program was particularly interesting for me, so I think that a brief look back
at some of the considerations I dealt with in this particular case might shed
some light on the variety of factors which can influence the programming
process.
I began with two
"givens": first, that a concert program should consist of a minimum
of 60 and a maximum of 90 minutes of music, with the ideal model being in the
75-80 minute range; and second, that the removable floorboards which cover the
orchestra pit at the Bowie Center will not support the weight of a 9-foot
concert grand piano. From that point, I moved on to two strongly held
preferences: first, to present Terrence Wilson as soloist with the Prince
George's Philharmonic at the earliest possible opportunity, and second, to
perform Samuel Barber's Die Natali on a program which was scheduled fairly
close to Christmas. Mr. Wilson was unavailable for either of the dates in the
2011-12 season which remained open at the time I initiated discussions with his
management, and the Philharmonic had already agreed to host a winner of the
Johansen International Competition for this season's opening concert. A visit
to Mr. Wilson's website brought up the list of works which are currently in his
performance repertoire - the Paganini Rhapsody fairly jumped off the page at me
because it's been more than 20 years since the Philharmonic has performed it,
and because it is the perfect sort of dramatic showpiece needed to provide a
balancing contrast to the Barber, which is predominantly cool and quiet in
character. These two pieces gave me the core of our program, as well as the
first 40 minutes of music.
The next work added was the Smetana - it's a piece
which I have known and loved for many years, but have only performed once (with
another orchestra in 1990) - it is also a piece which has never been played by
the Prince George's Philharmonic. The final decision to add it to this program
came during my visit to the Czech Republic's Sumava National Park in 2010; my
own experience of Bohemia's woods and fields proved the decisive factor. I now
had a brilliant showpiece for solo piano and orchestra, a 20th century work
based on Christmas carols, and a tone poem which describes a specific geographic
location, all of which added up to about 52 minutes of music; it made the most
sense to me to make the showpiece the central focus of the program and balance
it with another "place" piece, plus another holiday-themed piece. I
gave very serious consideration to Maurice Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnol, but it
was at that point that the physical logistics of the Bowie Center came into
play. Because of the weight restriction on the pit cover and the depth of the
piano itself, I knew that we would lose the twelve feet of stage space closest
to the audience for this particular concert; unfortunately, the Ravel calls for
an exceptionally large wind and percussion section, plus a pair of harps, so I
reluctantly arrived at the conclusion that the requisite orchestral forces
would simply not be able to fit onto this stage. The Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio
espagnol, however, requires several fewer wind players, only one harp, and has
a somewhat smaller percussion setup; like the Ravel, it is a brilliantly
orchestrated piece which was inspired by the composer's own visit to Spain, and
although shorter by a couple of minutes, it certainly affords a rousing finale
for any concert program. This brought me to 67 minutes of music - on the short
side for a complete program - and I was still casting about for a second
holiday piece. After brainstorming with a couple of my colleagues, I discovered
that the solution was as simple as a look through my own library, where I
turned up the score to Britten's Men of Goodwill - I'd performed it years ago
when I took over a Holiday Pops program from another conductor on short notice.
I recalled thinking at the time that it was borderline too serious for a Pops
concert; but in one of those wonderful "Eureka" moments, I realized that
it was just what I needed to complete this particular program - it didn't
require any instruments which weren't already required for the other four
pieces, Benjamin Britten and Samuel Barber were almost exact contemporaries
whose compositional styles complement each other beautifully, and at 9 minutes'
duration, it brought the program right into the heart of the "sweet
spot" in terms of overall duration.
Hopefully, this little tale
will illustrate the multiplicity of considerations which can enter into a
conductor's programming decisions, and that you will enjoy the resultant
variety of music which we'll perform for you on Saturday.
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