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New West Symphony presents program of Russian music
As conductor Boris Brott explained, "This music speaks to my roots, for I am 50 percent Russian and 50 percent German." The program combined two elements of Russian music: romantic and historical, featuring works by two of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. Before beginning, Brott announced an "encore," a joyously spirited version of Gliere's "Dance of the Russian Sailors" from the ballet "The Red Poppy." The brief but rousing piece actually should have been called an aperitif, as it prepared the audience's musical taste buds for the feast that was to come. Sergei Rachmaninov wrote his Second Piano Concerto at a time when he had been suffering from severe depression caused by the abject failure of his first symphony in 1897. It took three years of treatment at the hands of noted psychoanalyst Nikolai Dahl to bring Rachmaninov to finally begin work on the concerto in 1900. It was premiered the next year with Rachmaninov himself as soloist. The rapturous success of the concerto, which was dedicated to Dahl, not only brought Rachmaninov out of his depression but established him as a pianist/composer to rival the likes of Chopin and Liszt. From the chimelike opening chords to the majestic climax, the concerto is one of prodigious complexity for a musician. Italian pianist Antonio PompaBaldi was more than up to the challenge, rendering the beautiful melodies in ways that were sensitive without being maudlin. (Those old enough might remember Frank Sinatra's 1946 hit of "Full Moon and Empty Arms," which took the most pervasive and lush theme from the concerto as its melody.) Brott wisely provided an explanatory introduction to the performance of Sergei Prokofiev's cantata, "Alexander Nevsky." Originally written as a score for a 1938 film by noted Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, the work is based on an actual 13th century event: the defeat of the Germans by the Russian prince Alexander Nevsky. The film came at a time when nationalistic feeling in the Soviet Union was at a peak, when the country feared an invasion by Hitler's armies. Prokofiev's score reflected this fervor, and after the premiere of the film, he reorchestrated the work into a sevenmovement cantata, taking four of the movements virtually intact from the film. The music has since outlasted the film; its vivid musical impressions enable the listener to create his or her own images of the ancient battle. The collaboration of Eisenstein and Prokofiev was a match for the ages. Both filmmaker and composer were noted for their pronounced use of rhythm and patriotic themes- Eisenstein as a master of montage, the rhythmic intercutting of images, and Prokofiev with his pulsating percussion and equally percussive pounding by the lower strings and brass. The highlight of the cantata was the fifth movement, "The Battle on the Ice," in which the slashing violins, the insistence of the lower brass and the martial rhythm of the snare and tambourine make this one of the most exciting sequences in 20th century music, coming as close to the sound of war that you can get without the artillery. Brott's animated movements on the podium even suggested the maestro himself was astride a Russian warrior steed, heading off the Teutonic invaders all by himself. The orchestra was accompanied by the 88 voices of the combined Los Robles Master Chorale and the Master Chorale of Ventura County and featured mezzosoprano Christina Wilcox, who intoned the "Field of the Dead," the haunting sixth movement that follows the battle scene, in which a woman seeks her betrothed among the dead and wounded. It was Eisenstein himself who said that Prokofiev's brilliance as a film composer enabled him to not just illustrate the films with music but to evoke the full meaning and emotion of an event. The New West Symphony's electrifying presentation of "Alexander Nevsky" made this an event to remember. |
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