This review of the September 25th concert written by William Hamilton appeared in the September 30th edition of the Myrtle Beach Herald.
Long Bay Symphony Orchestra begins 24th season
By William Hamilton
Sunday September 25 was the first concert of the Long Bay Symphony Orchestra’s 24th season, and conductor Charles Evans treated the audience to one of the most unusual and attractive concerts ever presented in this area. It’s typical for there to be three or four compositions in an orchestra concert, but this one had six, which were remarkably varied in their style and chronology.
Beethoven’s Egmont Overture began the afternoon, and listeners could sense clearly the emotional content of this celebrated work. Evans and the Long Bay presented its contrasts with well shaped phrases which were never ragged. The terse, compact accented beginning gradually changed into longer lines, and the shift into the final section, with its major mode bursting forth, was powerfully projected by the orchestra in beautifully blended harmonies with not a note out of place.
Wagner’s Prelude to his opera Tristan und Isolde is stylistically quite distinct from the Egmont Overture, and is a remarkable demonstration of how he extended the harmonic vocabulary and key sense of the Romantic period. The LBS unfurled Wagner’s “endless melody” with sure and subtle phrasing and perfect intonation in a supple web of sound projecting the richly blended chords which never quite arrive where you think they will – all of this creating the sense of “…longing, longing, insatiable longing…” in Wagner’s description, quoted by program annotator Richard Rodda.
Donald Sloan’s moving Nachamu is an example of true contemporary music by a living composer. Sloan, who is the chairman of Coastal Carolina University’s Music Department, provided an explanation of the title, which “…comes from the Hebrew text of a famous passage from Isaiah, Nachamu, nachamu, ami – ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people..”. This effective and affecting work was originally written in response to the September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. It begins with a quote from Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, and then Sloan proceeds with his own haunting and engaging musical ideas, as if each one represents the individual lives either lost or changed forever by that day. The LBS skillfully blended Sloan’s unusual orchestral colors, contrast of registers , and harmonies, carrying listeners on a journey of respectful remembrance .
The first half of the afternoon concluded with the featured soloist, violist Jennifer Stumm, in two compositions , Hindemith’s Trauermusik (“Music of Mourning”) and Weber’s Andante and Hungarian Rondo. Hindemith had originally been scheduled in London to play the viola solo in another of his compositions, but at the last minute was asked to write the Trauermusik because King George V had just died. Stumm’s beautiful reading of this unusual work showed her absolute technical security and perfect intonation, as she led listeners through the somber moods of the piece with warm, flowing lines. The Weber, written just short of 130 years earlier, provided Stumm with ample opportunity to show Romantic Era contrasts. The Andante’s melody was the vehicle for her engaging solo narrative, and the Hungarian Rondo was a carousing tavern dance which she tossed off effortlessly. This was first rate virtuoso playing, and one hopes she’ll return to this area before long.
The concert concluded with Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, written in 1943.The musicologist Donald Grout has written that Bartok wanted to combine Beethoven’s developmental technique, Bach’s counterpoint, and Debussy’s harmonic subtleties. All of this, plus Bartok’s lifelong interest in central European folk music, can be heard throughout the five movements of this big piece by one of the twentieth century’s greatest composers. Richard Rodda’s program notes include Bartok’s explanation that the title is because of the music’s “…tendency to treat single instruments or instrument groups in a ‘concertant’ or soloistic manner.” Evans and the LBS showed their complete command of the music with virtuosic playing either in the many solo passages or in the passages featuring a given section, and his sense of pacing, or timing, was spot on. A lesser orchestra simply could not have done this, but in the overall shape of the performance, and whether in tuttis or solos, the LBS brought it off, and the audience sprang to its feet with applause and bravos ringing through the house at the end.
Coming next: the “Halloween Extravaganza” on October 30. Don’t miss it!
*******************************************************************************************William Hamilton taught music for 28 years in the Music Department of Coastal Carolina University. He composed the music for CCU’s Alma Mater, wrote incidental music for several plays, and still actively plays jazz with the group U ‘n I.
