Symphonies & Scorpions: PC, or Not PC?
WELCOME! THIS IS THE ELEVENTH DAILY INSTALLMENT OF SYMPHONIES & SCORPIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL CONCERT TOUR AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CITIZEN DIPLOMACY.
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PC, or Not PC? Wednesday, April 23
Another reason to play safe tour programs: One of my young colleagues told me of performing with an American youth orchestra that played in China not too long ago. They had planned to play a Shostakovich symphony but weren’t allowed to, as it was considered too revolutionary. Dmitri Shostakovich, during his lifetime, was often criticized by Stalin for being anti-revolutionary. Go figure.
Fantastic fantastique
We have two grueling rehearsals of the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique today, but it’s well worth the effort. Like the Arc de Triomphe, which was coated by soot that accumulated over the decades, Symphonie fantastique is an iconic French monument that benefits from occasional sandblasting. To remove the grime, Dutoit painstakingly rehearses balance and dynamics that often are overlooked. Having performed it more times than I can remember, the symphony is one of those rare pieces that always retains a fresh vitality. Perhaps one reason is that, unlike much of the tried-and-true repertoire, you’ve got to stay on our toes. There are so many rhythmic and ensemble traps, starting from the very first measure in the woodwinds and continuing through the Witches’ Sabbath in the last movement, that attempting to perform it by rote can exact a terrible toll. Like a football team that gets fumblitis after that first contagious bobble, in Symphonie fantastique, a split-second miscalculation can snowball in the blink of an eye.
Next, consider Berlioz’s astonishing creative imagination and confident craftsmanship, amazing for anyone composer. But just think, Berlioz was a mere stripling of twenty-seven when he composed the piece and Josef Haydn had died only two decades earlier! As creative as the Mahler Fifth may be, it seems to me a product of its time. Symphonie fantastique feels as if the ink on the page is still wet.
The most memorable performance I’ve been part of was with Sir Colin Davis, who had a special place in his heart for Berlioz. Davis wrung every drop of fiery passion from the score and the orchestra, and at one performance he almost catapulted himself off the podium as he drove the orchestra through the last four measures of the piece.
Dutoit’s interpretation is in the same league. Though somewhat more measured, his sense of timing, balance, rhythm, and structure evoke a controlled yet powerful narrative. Fortunately for musicians and listeners alike, every conductor brings a different bag of tricks to the podium, from the grand conception down to the smallest detail.
For example, until Dutoit made an explicit point of it at the rehearsal, I had never heard the portentous, low A-flat in the third tympani at the end of the Scène aux champs that clashes dramatically, if subtly, with an F Major chord outlined by the cor anglais. You might chuckle at what seems like such an obscure detail, but believe me, it makes an unsettling difference that you’ll feel, if only subliminally. Literally a stroke of genius by Berlioz, it still took me almost four decades of orchestral playing for this revelation. I eagerly anticipate the possibility—make that the likelihood—of discovering more such gems in the future.
With its vivid musical imagery, from shepherds calling to each other on the mountainside, to the hysteria of the March to the Scaffold and the decapitated head bouncing off the guillotine, Symphonie fantastique translates exceptionally well into anyone’s musical language. And with that diabolically frenzied coda, it’s impossible for listeners anywhere not to be lifted out of their seats.
[image error]Witches’ Sabbath by Louis Boulanger, 1835. Inspired by Symphonie Fantastique?
Face the Music
The tail end of the second rehearsal is devoted to the very popular and very familiar Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla by Mikhail Glinka, which was one of Arthur Fiedler’s favorite Boston Pops program openers. In fact, there’s a big, red BOSTON POPS stamp on the front page of my second violin part. Along with the Rachmaninoff and Night on Bare Mountain we have, in fact, the makings of a full-fledged Fiedler Pops program. All that’s missing is I Wanna Hold Your Hand. And this was for an international tour? Are tastes changing everywhere or is the musical world simply dumbing down? Or am I just getting crotchety? (What do you mean, getting crotchety, my kids would say.)
Typically, repertoire is determined by a meeting of the minds of the conductor, the artistic administrator, and the music director. For a tour, the various presenters’ requests are also considered. Some general considerations are: the merits of a given piece, and how the pieces within a program “fit” together. For example, putting Offenbach and Bruckner on the same program would be an artistic no-no. [Former BSO managing director, Tom Morris, and I used to have a contest trying to come up with the most ridiculous programs imaginable based around a “theme.” One of his was Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea), and Bizet’s Symphony in ‘C’. Another was a program of Bach and Boccherini on the first half, and after intermission, Berio followed by the immortal but nonexistent composer, Beriorini.] Other considerations are how a given program fits into the rest of the season; when the last time, and how often, a particular piece was performed; and the particular strengths of a conductor’s repertoire.
In the case of the Asia tour, the BSO artistic staff had worked on the program along with the Asian presenters who, Tony Fogg conceded, had a better idea of what would work in China, partly because Tony had never been there. Though the “meat and potatoes” programs were not the most adventurous imaginable, they at least satisfied everyone’s needs, and so the BSO gave them its imprimatur.
I was also told that the programs, including the encores, were “Maazel’s programs,” dating back to his days as music director in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and New York, and were consistent with his strengths. That made it all the more impressive there wasn’t a single change in the three concert programs or encores when the baton was passed to Dutoit.
On previous tours we performed encores that were local favorites: Johann Strauss’s Pizzicato Polka in Vienna, and Chinese folk songs for the 1979 tour. But it also can backfire if the orchestra misjudges the style of music that’s part of the indigenous population’s cultural DNA. Personally, I would rather hear the Vienna Phil perform the Blue Danube than Rhapsody in Blue. So, more often than not, the main consideration for programing encores is simply to show off the orchestra with short, virtuoso pieces that don’t need all that much rehearsal time. It’s the maestro’s discretion which encores to play on a given night. For the 2014 Asia tour we had several on tap, including the Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 1 and Bizet’s Farandole, fan favorites anywhere in the world.
Life Isn’t Always Fair
After finishing our arduous rehearsal of the Berlioz, there’s a reshuffling of personnel before diving into the fleeting Glinka overture. The musicians who played both pieces will have rehearsed for four-and-a-half hours, those who played only the Berlioz for four hours and twenty-three minutes, while the lucky handful who play only the Glinka rehearse for a mere seven minutes and don’t even break a sweat. The personnel manager assures us that it all works out evenly in the long run.
The BSO contract permits no more than two rehearsals in a day, but that evening I indulge in a third, of sorts. As a rehearsal for Asia I head for dinner in Chinatown, where I’m joined by my nephew, Danny, and his wife, Jackie. The restaurant’s lobster dishes have come highly recommended by BSO harpist Jessica Zhou and, always taking my colleagues’ opinions very seriously, I give the dinner my full attention. One can never be too prepared.
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NEWS FLASH: MY FIRST POLITICAL THRILLER, THE BEETHOVEN SEQUENCE, IS SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 8! A MENTALLY UNBALANCED MUSIC TEACHER BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! PREPOSTEROUS? STAY TUNED.
