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Orchestra of Indian Hill

Orchestra of Indian Hill: October 22, 2011 - Opening Night
Romanticism of Liszt, Brahms Captures Audience at Indian Hill Orchestra Opener
by McLaren Harris

“Auspicious” is a term probably overused to describe events such as Saturday night’s (Oct. 22) season-opening concert by the Orchestra of Indian Hill. But auspicious it was. Artistic Director Bruce Hangen chose Romantic-era works by Liszt and Brahms to warm a mid-autumn evening for a capacity audience at the Littleton High School Performing Arts Center. Two familiar works, Franz Liszt’s symphonic poem, Les Préludes, and Johannes Brahms’s beloved Symphony No. 1, framed the less familiar, less often-played A major Piano Concerto No. 2 of Liszt, with soloist Sergey Schepkin.

Which work brought the large audience to Littleton? The irresistible appeal of Brahms’s First Symphony, still considered by many the finest of his four? The rhapsodic, by turns tender and fiery “Les Préludes,” which puts the full resources of the orchestra on display? Or the reputation and memory of pianist Sergey Schepkin from his recital last season at Groton’s Kalliroscope Gallery?

No matter; any one would do, and they all did. Perhaps most enlightening was the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, revealed almost as the other side of the coin from the composer’s First Concerto in E flat. Whereas the First Concerto, especially the outer movements, is bombastic and full of virtuosity with the piano pre-eminent nearly throughout, showing off Liszt’s possibly unequaled keyboard skill, the Second Concerto is genuinely, intrinsically musical, with a well developed partnership between piano and orchestra.

The four sections of its single movement contain most of the basic elements of the sonata form, with plenty of opportunity for commanding, virtuosic bravado (Where would Liszt be without it?) as well as dynamically restrained lyrical passages and a more marked, march-like third section (thankfully not à l’hongroise). Schepkin’s solo performance verged on the superlative; he has power, dexterity and smooth tenderness within his grasp and transitions flawlessly among them, shaping both delicate phrases and entire sections with knowing intent and direction. He and the orchestra, under Bruce Hangen’s sensitive leadership, were excellently paired throughout, mutually supportive, seamlessly combining and exchanging roles.

What more can be written about the First Symphony of Brahms? Its performance gave full satisfaction to the audience, from the orchestra’s fulsome low strings to the sonorous, hymn-like trombone choir in the finale, tonal beauty from the winds, and exquisite, finely focused high notes from new concertmaster Alice Hallstrom (former concertmaster Ala Jojatu has moved on to a permanent position with the Boston Symphony). As the symphony progressed, one could sense a building excitement within the orchestra and conductor Hangen, as if they were aware of the aural gem they were crafting. The following ovation was deserved.

The other, opening Liszt work, “Les Préludes,” is well enough trod to be called an “old war horse,” but it still has the power to stir and excite with its episodes of softness, suspense, raw power and heights of heroic feeling. It is an orchestral tour de force and was given its complete voice by the Indian Hill musicians undaunted by and unafraid of its challenges. As with the program’s other works, there were many opportunities for individual recognition.

Finally, tips of the hat to Bruce Hangen for excellent preparation on an always-tight rehearsal schedule; timpanist Karl Seyferth for his consistently rock-solid timpani playing, always on point, as understated or as thunderous as required; and Scheffra Spirodopoulos, fourth horn, who filled out horn quartet passages in “Les Préludes” by bringing forth notes one never hears on recordings.

McLaren Harris is a former music and entertainment critic for the Boston Herald and a long-time writer in public relations and communications for high technology companies.

Read past reviews by Mr. Harris
Review by John Ehrlich, Boston Music Intelligencer

Chamber Music at Kalliroscope Gallery

Chamber Music at Kalliroscope Gallery: October 15, 2011 - Ryu Goto, violin
Varied Styles, Technical Prowess Mark Violin-Piano Program at Kalliroscope
by McLaren Harris

Musical styles from Beethoven to Prokofiev and lots of virtuosic dash rewarded a capacity audience Saturday night (Oct. 15), as Ryu Goto, violin, and Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta, piano, opened Indian Hill Music’s Kalliroscope Gallery chamber music series.

Ryu Goto, 23-year-old Japanese-American violinist and a recent Harvard graduate, already has an established musical career and a well deserved reputation for technical accomplishment. He handles traditional classical repertoire with ease and attacks the daunting demands of Paganini and his contemporaries without fear or hesitation. His body language while playing is telling and his interaction with audiences is appealing.

Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta was no less a master of style as his partner, matching his prowess with her own, her dynamic expression and keyboard dexterity giving their collaboration a true duet fullness.

One could look to works by Prokofiev and Ravel at both ends of the program as the most musically satisfying. The opening violin-piano Sonata No. 1 of Prokofiev, begun before but completed after his Sonata No. 2 during the 1940s, is dark and almost brutal in its seeming reflection of the horrors of World War II and the totalitarianism of Hitler and Stalin. Its performance is a challenge for the musicians and even for audiences unused to such stark expression, even from Prokofiev. The music switches from near-anger and despair to strands of hopeful tenderness across scenes of tragedy. The composer called the violin’s feathery, rising and falling scales at the ends of the first and final movements a “wind passing through a graveyard.” Well done, and well received.

At the other end was Maurice Ravel’s Gypsy rhapsody, “Tzigane,” a musical parody of the seductive reputation and personality of an acquaintance of Ravel. For all its apparent mocking and musical humor, “Tzigane” is no trifle. Besides its challenging and flashy fingerwork for both players, it has real and lasting musical value in its exploration of violin technique, its tonal variety from broodingly emotional to sul ponticello cackling, the almost orchestral quality of the piano role and the building of the frenetic climax. This was perhaps the most successful collaboration of the evening; Ryu Goto’s energy, virtuosity and tone were striking in their intensity; Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta’s pianism was brilliant with rushing glissandos and pinpoint keyboard accuracy.

Paganini’s Variations on a Paisiello aria, “Nel cor piu non mi sento,” for violin solo, followed the Prokofiev sonata. It is pure, technically ravishing Paganini, always threatening to destroy either the violin or the player, but again dispatched with bravado by Mr. Goto – proof of his formidable skill, even while causing a bit of sensory overload for the listener. Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata, Op. 24, brought some familiar and comforting Viennese classicism to the mixture and was well executed by Mr. Goto and Ms. Rodriguez-Peralta.

As the encore, Mr. Goto chose another solo, an adaptation by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, a Paganini contemporary, of a Schubert song, “Der Erlkönig,” based on a Goethe poem about a father’s vain attempt to save his son from deathly possession. The violinist kept up the mad chase with vigor to the end.

Finally, a bow to the instruments – Mr. Goto’s 1722 Stradivarius and the Kalliroscope’s Steinway grand – full-voiced and focused in all registers. What more could one wish?