The Great Romantics

In programming for orchestral concerts, there are composers whose works go especially well together. I feel that the combination of Mozart and Richard Strauss always has the making of a fine programme.

The young musicians of the University of British Columbia’s Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Girard played just such a programme last night, with Strauss’s youthful Don Juan, Op. 20 and Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425, “Linz”, coupled with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, with faculty member David Gillham. The concert was given the title "The Great Romantics".

In August of 1887, young Richard Strauss visited his Uncle George Pschorr, where he met Pauline, the daughter of a certain General de Ahna. According to Norman del Mar in his biography of Strauss, the young composer was completely captivated by the young woman. The effect of this love affair, according to del Mar, “was electrifying, for he quickly translated the experience into musical terms, composing his first love music. “ And what beautiful love music he wrote in Don Juan!

Norman del Mar went on to comment that Strauss had chosen, “as a vehicle for the expression of his sexual desire,” the greatest lover and erotic subject of all time, the Don Juan legend. This music, for me, is as much a portrait of young Strauss as it is for the legendary lover – from the swagger of the opening theme, to the ardent, even erotic, love music, and to the grand and heroic theme for the horns, every measure of this music is a reflection of a young man in love for the first time.

For me, there is nothing more scary for violinists than the opening measures of Don Juan, with its upward sweeping theme. The violinists acquit themselves extremely well in this extremely exposed passage. The principal subject, itself a composite theme to be isolated and extensively developed throughout the work, presents the figure of Don Juan, with all his passionate glory and lust for life. I felt that perhaps the players leaned into the strings a little too much in this passage, and that they could have played this incredible theme with a little more lightness. The beautiful love music was played by the entire orchestra with great warmth and beauty, and the horn players of this young ensemble played the heroic theme with great confidence, even panache. In the great climax of the piece, I feel that the brasses could have been toned down a shade, so that the colours of the string writing could have been better heard. The musicians certainly responded to the youthful ardor of Strauss’s score, and gave a performance that excites as well as moves.

It is so wonderful and daring for Jonathan Girard to give his young players the opportunity to play a Mozart symphony. Again, the talented players of this orchestra rose to the challenge and played this, one of Mozart’s greatest symphonies, with the grandeur and majesty that the music calls for. Girard used a large body of strings for the performance, but kudos to the players for not falling into the trap of making the music ponderous, so easy to do with a “big band” performance of Mozart.

When listening to any performance of a performance of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, I always try to erase from my mind the sounds of past performances of this work and listen to it with open ears and mind. David Gillham certainly rose and surpassed the very considerable technical challenges laid down by the composer. For me, what was missing in last night’s performance was richness in the sound of the solo instrument, especially when the music was written in the lower register of the violin. I also miss a sense of daring that the music calls for. This is as much a piece for the conductor as it is for the violinist. Jonathan Girard was an impeccable accompanist. If he had “pushed” the soloist a little more, perhaps the performance would have really sizzled.

The orchestra played this piece extremely well, and Girard’s timing was perfect. I very much enjoyed how Jonathan Girard brought out the beauty of the colours of the writing for woodwinds in the Canzonetta movement.

So, bravo to the UBC Symphony Orchestra! And bravo to great music, and to youth. What a great gift and privilege it is for young musicians to play these great scores, and for us to be recipients of their love and effort.

Young Orchestra

Whenever I feel gloomy about the state of the world, a sure antidote is to hear young musicians play great music. Such was the case last Saturday evening, when this year’s University of British Columbia Symphony Orchestra made its debut concert under music director Jonathan Girard.  It was an exciting evening of great music played with great enthusiasm and polish.

The concert, featuring the music of Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, opened with Ravel’s beautiful Pavane pour une Infante Défunte. Ravel claimed to have chosen the title purely for its alliterative appeal – that there was no dead princess.

Although beautifully played (especially the haunting theme played by the French horn), I felt that the performance laced a sense of forward motion, perhaps as a result of the tempo chosen by the conductor. We should probably remember Ravel’s comment to Charles Oulmont, who played the Pavane for the composer too slowly: “Watch out, little one, it’s not a Pavane défunte pour une infant”, said the amused composer – it is not the Pavane that is dead!

Also on the programme was the same composer’s Ma mère l’oye, or Mother Goose. Both the Pavane and Ma mère l’oye exist in versions for orchestra and piano, but Ravel’s mastery as a composer was such that both works sound equally idiomatic and beautiful in both guises. Mr. Girard led the young musicians in a performance of great panache, combining the delicacy and sparkle the work demands.

Of greatest interest in the evening concert was perhaps the sole work after intermission – Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary Le Sacre du primtemps (The Rite of Spring). The work is celebrating its 100^th birthday this year, and orchestras all over the world are performing the piece to mark the occasion. To our 21^st century ear, accustomed to far greater dissonances and disorder in the music of the last century, Stravinsky’s watershed work sound positively tame today. This does not, however, take away any of the work’s originality and greatness. It is a piece that poses superhuman challenge to both individual players as well as the orchestra as an ensemble. It was indeed brave of Mr. Girard to have programmed the work in the first concert of year, with a new ensemble of relatively inexperienced young musicians.

As soon as the performance began with its now-famous bassoon solo, all my worries faded away. Mr. Girard, who clearly has a rapport with the young musicians, led them through this music with great confidence, at times almost reveling in the sound made by his players. There was never a moment that one worries about whether the players would “make it” through the many minefields scattered throughout the complex score.

During the well-deserved ovation following the performance, Mr. Girard raised the score in front of the audience, drawing our attention to this miraculous work and the genius that created it.

It was very touching to watch the young musicians as they played this music, with total dedication and commitment. For me, the concert certainly marks the beginning of a very good year for the UBC Symphony Orchestra.

I thank the young musicians for the hard work and their dedication, and eagerly await future performances by this talented ensemble.