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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Traveling from city to country, from introspection to heartbreak to dancing, the Kansas City Civic Orchestra told quite a story during the course of their Remembering Mahler concert Saturday evening. The nearly packed crowd at Atonement Lutheran Church heard a range of evocative music as the ensemble performed Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, Gustav Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, with mezzo-soprano Jessica Goldring, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Pastorale” Symphony, led by music director Christopher Kelts. Kelts exhibited an exacting conducting style throughout, with responsive gestures that remained unobtrusive, yet effectively conjured the desired musical expression.

The genesis of Quiet City was as incidental music for a play by Irvin Shaw, aurally recreating the early morning calm of a slowly stirring city. Copland reworked the piece for strings and solo English horn and trumpet. The piece started calmly, with subdued playing from the strings creating ethereal chords. The English horn, played by Anne Sneller, came to the fore sensitively, with lyrical lines. The trumpet entrance was a tad hesitant—suggesting both warm-up figures and a distant fanfare—and became more forceful with each interjection. Trumpeter Brian Miller had a warm tone as he and Sneller interwove their lines with the strings. Though he was placed physically separate from the ensemble he also seemed emotionally removed; Sneller was seated within the ensemble and worked well as a link. The strings had tuning issues going into the forte section, especially in the climbing celli soli. After a messy cut off from the strings, the intervallic leaps in the solo parts lacked conviction. Though there were quite a few good moments during the piece, yet there was an overwhelming feel of restraint as opposed to outright expression.

Mahler’s Songs of the Wayfarer brought in the rest of the wind and percussion sections and featured mezzo-soprano soloist Jennifer Goldring. The four songs describe the emotional turmoil of unrequited love. The woodwinds began very strongly in the first song, with excellent entrances on their repeated motifs. The basses resonantly led the strings with very good section playing across the ensemble. Goldring started out well, but poor placement in the hall found the mid-range vocal line easily overpowered by the woodwinds. This continued with each song; she could only be heard clearly from my area when just a few sections played at a soft dynamic at best. She displayed strong emotional presence and variety between songs, and when I could hear her, she sounded great.

Besides balance, there were other problems. Though the third song began with an exciting entrance, and good brass throughout from the driving horns to the well-balanced low brass chords, the messy descent in the strings at the end marred the affect. The fourth song started with harsh entrances but became much gentler once the sections settled into it.  Intonation continued to plague the delicate feel, however. Fine flute-playing rescued the final moments.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” recounts a walk through the countryside, a frequent pastime of the composer’s. The programmatic movement titles describe what the music clearly emulated. “Cheerful impressions received on arriving in the country” began lightly, though the violin soli was not as boisterous as it could have been. The ensemble had excellent subtle growth with nice depth emerging from the bass section. This movement became full and expressive as the horns pushed through helping stabilize the violins and celli. “By the brook” began fuller, though became plodding in the intricate work of the inner voices. The tempo was deliberately slower than typical, to accommodate the mechanics of the continuous rhythmic figures, but that was at the expense of the melodic ebbs and flows. The solo voices came through very well, especially the oboe and flute and the bassoon/celli soli was smooth and full bodied. “Peasant’s merry-making” started off with an immediately stronger string presence, especially the depth of sound from the violins throughout a series of dance tunes. However, the run up from the 2^nd violins into “Tempest and storm” didn’t quite meet up to the explosive entrance of the brass and timpani, causing an image of scattering villagers. Throughout this passage and coming down from it the brass maintained an even balance. As the ensemble progressed into “The Shepherd’s Hymn – Thanksgiving after the storm” the drop in energy also gave way to squirrely intonation. A clear and beautiful celli soli came out of the too strident upper strings and led into a deep and resonant brass/bass line. The final treatment of the hymn tune came out gently before the final full, rich chords.

The crowd enjoyed the performance, rousing to a standing ovation at the conclusion. The challenging program, equally tempered with excellent moments and a few struggles, created an imaginative display of time-honored pieces.

REVIEW:
Kansas City Civic Orchestra
Remembering Mahler
Saturday, February 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Atonement Lutheran Church
9948 Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, KS
For more information visit www.kccivic.org

By Libby Hanssen

Traditional and New Classical, Theatre Contributor

Libby Hanssen holds degrees from University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) and Ball State University (B.M.) in trombone performance and also studied music education at Indiana University. She has studied trombone with Carl Lenthe, JoDee Davis, John Seidel, John Huntoon and Denis Wick, and music education with Brent Gault, Estelle Jorgensen and Katherine Strand.

While at IU, she taught classes in general music, focusing on listening skills and music fundamentals through practical music usage and exploring new sound constructions. During the course of her studies at UMKC, she performed with many ensembles, including the Conservatory Orchestra and Musica Nova. She has also performed with the Kansas City Puccini Festival, the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, the New Jazz Order, the Indiana Wind Symphony and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra.

In 2010, she was a fellow (one of 23 journalists selected from across the US) for the seventh annual National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University’s Journalism School in New York City.

Most of her free time is spent with her three boys (son, dog and husband) and camera, exploring the many fine aspects of Kansas City living. She enjoys listening to KKFI - Kansas City Community Radio and KCUR - Kansas City's NPR station, visiting Kansas City's fine collection of museums and galleries, and scavenging in thrift and antique stores to add to her collection of toy instruments.

She writes for the joy of words and the process of constructing a story, maintaining the blog Proust Eats a Sandwich (www.prousteatsasandwich.wordpress.com). She is working on her first book: Murray Goes to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.