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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

This past weekend’s Kansas City Symphony program showcased French and French–influenced music from Berlioz to Barber along with two featured guest artists. The Lyric Theatre’s two–thirds capacity audience saw a program led by guest conductor Larry Rachleff, who spoke about the program’s cohesion citing Barber’s time in France and a witty quip characterizing Edward Elgar: “All English composers sound French.” The program also featured two authentic French works, Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, with guest soloist Ingrid Fliter.

The Allegro opening of Hector Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini was rousing and fresh–sounding. Rachleff, whose is currently the Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, led KCS with crisp baton work; for the most part achieving clean entrances and ensemble playing. The overture was, in turn, satisfyingly romantic and heroic. Coloristically, there was a noteworthy use of three timpanists performing simultaneous tremolos near the final climax, which added a subtle bass charge to the texture. The ending was quite electrifying with Rachleff turning the ensemble on a dime with impressive cutoffs and tempo maintenance.

Guest pianist Ingrid Fliter’s Ravel was characterized by alternate spans of poetic lyricism and electrifying, nimble virtuosity.  The performance was a collaborative effort, with the Argentine–born pianist shifting the piano’s angle on stage by about six inches during her first span of rests for a better line of sight to Rachleff’s baton. She produced a historic–sounding tone from the piano that made me think of my older recordings of Abbey Simon. The first movement shifted seamlessly between the distinctive Andalusian and jazz–infused stretches. Fliter attained an incredible iridescent energy in the final moments of the first movement which Rachleff effectively transferred to the rest of the ensemble.  

In the second movement, Fliter’s opening piano solo was poetic and multi–layered, bringing out counterpoint in the tenor and pedal points effectively without overpowering the languid melody. She took what could have become a meandering melody and plodding chords, and gave it a beautiful Satie–like aura. The solo wind passages were inspired–sounding, although the energy waned slightly towards the end of the extended English horn solo.  

The third movement was colorful and exotic with the wind section again showing well throughout. Ravel’s heritage as the son of a Swiss inventor and engineer came out in the clockwork virtuosity of Fliter’s dazzling piano part. She demonstrated a unique graciousness in response to the audience’s welcoming reception of the performance, cheering enthusiastically herself for the wind soloists and the ensemble as a whole.

In the second half, Barber’s famed Adagio for Strings suffered at times from what seemed to be an insurrectionist movement among the strings. Rachleff did dispense with his baton for this number, and despite taut fingers and precise movements, the first violins had several bouts of tempo disagreement in the opening thematic statement. Later, the conductor appeared to struggle getting a pianississimo volume from the first violins and celli. And then still later, the first violins seemed to hold back from Rachleff’s emphatic motions for more sound. However, uniformity did improve as the piece progressed towards its famous climax, and the intonation was for the most part stellar.

Rachleff explained before the last work, that it was Elgar’s desire to play tribute to friends and colleagues in the composer’s Enigma Variations. The fourteen miniatures were indeed unique, colorful expressions of the many personalities in the composer’s life, from his wife, to his publisher, students, friends, and others. Despite the work’s headline billing, it was certainly not the most memorable piece of the program. That distinction belonged to the Ravel. However, several soloists—principal clarinet, principal viola, and principal cello—did stand out. With some lovely moments, it was still a nice finish to a colorful and at moments dazzling program.


REVIEW:
Kansas City Symphony
Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Plus Ravel
Friday, March 25, 2011 (reviewed)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Lyric Theatre
11th St and Central Ave, Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit kcsymphony.org

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.