by Kevin T McEneaney
Under the baton of Dr. Leon Botstein, the Bard Conservatory Orchestra opened its March 15th concert with Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56A (1873). These variations on a theme by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (1757-1831) (who made many physical improvements to the piano and Chopin would not play any other piano if he could avoid it) were of an Austrian village processional serenade. This effort was an academic exercise in five measures. From the outset, Brahms establishes his characteristic voice.
The fifth Scherzo is lively with short staccato notes with off-beat accents from winds and strings, which made this variation stand out. The sixth is a galop where the horns stood out. The Presto eighth variation offers tour de force counterpoint that allows the orchestra to produce changing and exciting countermelodies with diminution and inversion. This was the experimental testing ground for his first symphony.
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491 (1786) remains an unusual work with some ambiguity about how the pianist interprets the work, especially in the cadenza, here composed by and played by Tianxiang (Tessa) Ni, who has recently won many prestigious awards. The opening orchestral ritornello with its twelve-bar theme is memorably arresting and establishes the orchestra’s confident credentials, especially the strings and bassoons played by Adelaide Braunhill and Chloe Brill. Trumpets and flutes enliven the scene and rescue the orchestra. The orchestra wanders with new digressive themes while the piano dutifully follows again with a fragile pianissimo, as if warning the orchestra to keep on track.
The Larghetto opens with the piano asserting that it is now in charge. Here, the piano gently (not vehemently as usual) announces it is in charge; the piano sounds like limpid running water trilling downhill. This is a confident feminist interpretation, the movement ending with transcendent grace. The piano once more leads in the third movement, which is inspired by an oriental Turkish march reaching an apex forte. Solo winds acclaimed the piano. The languidly floating cadenza ended with the solo piano shifting into a 6/8 variation on the theme with an extended coda. This feminist interpretation was energetically applauded by the ladies, who demanded several bows.
After Intermission, they opened with Six Bagatelles by George Perle (1915-2009), who won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for music. Perle was a noted twelve-tone serialist influenced by Alban Berg. The first two bagatelles were a mere thirty seconds. The second bagatelle featured Zander Grier on tuba and Ethan Young on cello. The third bagatelle ended stridently while the fourth bagatelle was exquisitely mysterious. The fifth bagatelle freighted high-pitched violins while the sixth bagatelle blared with an array of climatic horns, which was a most satisfying conclusion.
Leon Botstein noted that Symphony in D Minor (1888) by César Franck was once a staple of the concert program, yet today, it is rarely performed. This remains an exciting, marvelous masterpiece. The three movements open with the same four-bar theme. The first movement sounds quite Wagnerian, yet it is merely a reference to Wagner.
Franck’s cyclic technique is a refutation of Wagner rooted in the cyclic sense of time in which Baroque music often danced. That cyclic sense of time is rooted in medieval Celtic music. There is a troubled three-note bar that is the seed at the beginning, which blossoms in various ways with modulated waves of excitement that extend through the whole thrilling symphony which casts a hypnotic spell with dramatic variations of melody with levels of stormy sound. I don’t think I could ever tire of listening to this energetic symphony, which was impressively performed by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra with its array of violins, violas, bass, cellos, oboes, silvery flutes, percussion, and, last but not least, its thrilling horn section that lifted me from my seat with enthusiastic, manic applause!
