A clever start to the concert brought a smile to my
face. Now of course, I should let on
that I’m partial to this era of music and the one before it. So in my opinion Franz Joseph Haydn and his
contemporaries of the first Viennese
School hit that sweet
spot.
What I love about Haydn’s Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major,
“The Philosopher” is the cheekiness that
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Christoph König
(Photo from PittsburghSymphony.org) |
emerges amidst stuffy austerity, a
kind of Jane Austen feel. Guest
conductor Christoph König maintained the beautiful dichotomy of this piece in
every way. While the piece begins with
an adagio, it can sometimes, unfortunately, be almost dirge-like, but König
maintained the perfect and unyielding tempo.
With a continuo that oscillated between solid but not
plodding, delicate but not tentative, and firm but not harsh, the perfect
foundation was laid for the antiphonal cleverness that Haydn was known for. Soaring above, and woven into the continuo,
were the subtle blossoming of long arching swells in the Adagio, suspenseful rumblings both vivacious and robust in the Presto, and a delightful Menuetto that pleasantly whisks you
away. The Finale begins with an intense drive to reinforce control and above
it a beautiful call and response plight.
This work showcases the diverse spectrum of tone created by the French
and English horns, from warm to pungent tones paired with mellow but crisp
strings.
The concert then turned from flirting with danger to living
in danger. Richard Danielpour’s symphony
Darkness in the Ancient Valley
depicts the struggle of an Iranian woman living in an abusive relationship, choosing
to not respond to violence with yet more violence. Every night I watch the national news,
thankful that I live where I do. The
stories that Elizabeth Palmer reports are unfathomable to me.
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Hila Plitmann
(Photo by: Marc Royce) |
Danielpour created a beautiful cacophony of sound that dramatically
creates whining horn sirens of distress, a careless romp of tyranny, frantic
bells attempting to flee, brief melodies of hope, strings crying of agony and a
single violin pleading – praying. Then
the terror-filled pursuit continues, full of intense chases alternating with
very brief moments of relief, until finally being trapped with no where to
turn.
The final movement featured soprano, Hila Plitmann singing
an English translation of a 13th century poem by Rumi. Her voice soared gloriously above huge
orchestral swells of pain and doom. The Iranian
woman’s bewildering and dutiful perseverance are professed, along with ethereal
sounds of harp and bells and soaring strings of hope. And she stands there, takes the final blow,
and does nothing in retaliation. I was
baffled by her strength, grace and inner peace.
Her story was that of many who suffocate under an oppression most of us
can not fathom. PSO’s playing and Hila
Plitmann’s singing of Darkness in the
Ancient Valley left my heart and mind wrenched.
After intermission, a smile returned to my face with the familiar
and bombastic grand entrance of trumpets. Oh yeah, some Also sprach Zarathustra, Opus 30 by Richard Strauss! And while I do
like this work, what made me smile more was the young gal in front of me was
seat dancing – yes bee-bopping in her seat at the symphony, with her date quietly
giggling at her. And one might think
this reaction would be confined to young, inexperienced symphony goers. But oh
no, a woman a few seats down and probably 40 years her elder was head bobbing
rhythmically too – both beaming with smiles.
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| (Photo from PittsburghSymphony.org) |
PSO crushed this one.
From percussive wonderment to lush enveloping hope and ecstasy, the
curious pursuit of the unknown to exhilarating happiness, an unraveling dream
sequence to sounds tumbling into consequence and despair, tonal sonorities were
folded in one over the other, making it growingly more complex like home made
bread. The human quest for
understanding kept soaring with what seemed to have no tonal resolution, and
when we thought that guy in the front (Noah Bendix-Balgley) couldn’t play any
higher, so beautifully, so in tune ‑ it kept climbing and soaring and searching.
And then ‑ we were left hanging, wandering
As for the young gal in front of me, well I asked her if she
had ever heard the full work or just the opening. She had, in fact, never heard the whole work,
but I enjoyed the enthusiasm she had as she, without being prompted, told me
how even though the piece had lots of different parts that had very different
feelings that she thought it was cool how she could hear that recognizable
theme resurface at various points. I
loved that she enjoyed it and was there experiencing something that seemed
maybe outside the normal date-night activity.
That was a well crafted emotional roller coaster of
music. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
fully embodied the spectrum of human experience and emotion depicted in all
three works beautifully. Christoph König
was a delight to watch. He had stealthy,
clean and subtle gestures that commanded rich and accurate sound – and was cute
in a non baby ducks sort of way. Hila
Plitmann “shined bright like a diamond, shined bright like a diamond.” As a fellow soprano I’m probably most critical
in this area, but she was exquisite in both sound and performance.
My first night at the PSO #awesome! I’m putting the PSO on my list of favorites,
right up there with Jimmy and Nino Sunseri’s sfogliatelle (which tastes like
Christmas in your mouth). I love to hear
precision and passion in music and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has both.
Not to go all Eminem on you, but if you missed this concert,
“you’ve got one shot, so don’t miss you’re chance.” Its Sunday, January 19, 2014 at 2:30 PM.
Stephanie Curtice
The New Girl in the Burgh
PositivelyPittsburghLiveMagazine.com
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