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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

The pairings were strange—Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht coupled with Mozart’s Requiem, performed by one of Munich’s four[!!!] orchestras with Gloriae Dei Cantores, a Cape Cod-based choir? Yet their transformative performance as part of the Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College was cohesive sonic bliss.

Led by honorary conductor Philippe Entremont, the Munich Symphony Orchestra opened with the string orchestra version of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. The explosive innovation of this piece is still jarring more than a century since its composition. Verklärte channels Wagner’s boundary-destroying harmonies but with Schoenberg’s knack of melodic control over vast sonic distances, the piece is a musical rollercoaster of shifting timbres and ideas through soft moonlight and frigid nightmares. Munich’s performance was gripping. Even in the iciest of passages, they played with an inner fire of musical passion. Their collective sound during the climaxes was powerful, expansive, and well balanced.

 Mozart’s Requiem is equally as boundary pushing as the Schoenberg. Whereas Verklärte Nacht was composed at the beginning of Schoenberg’s career, Mozart’s Requiem was his last, and ultimately, unfinished work. Joined by Gloriae Dei Cantores and soloists Valentina Fleer, Julie Cherrier, Eric Barry, and Benjamin Bloomfield, the piece was appropriately fiery, if at times over-romanticized, and captivating. Impressively, the choir performed from memory! Tempos were brisk throughout, with massive praise to the choral singers and trombones for not only keeping up, but making music through the speedy runs. The tempos danced that fine line between runaway train and vibrant, kinetic energy. Momentary lapses in rhythmic accuracy occurred between the orchestra and the choir during the “Confutatis,” and the final chords of “Lacrimosa” and “Domine Jesu” had the choir surprisingly over-balancing the orchestra. After the “Lacrimosa,” I always find the piece wears thin but is still appealing; this performance was no different.

Bloomfield was the strongest of the soloists with a rare, warm baritone that came naturally without pressing the low notes. His lowest registers had body and pitch focus without any distracting artificiality. Barry was a nimble tenor with a sparkling tone more suited to baroque repertory than classical. He connected the most with the text. Cherrier lacked projection and was outdone by her fellow soloists, especially in the ensemble singing. When audible, her sound, though small, was nice. Fleer was a technician, nailing every pitch and run with ease, but her hyper-focused stage presence did not suit the text.

Sunday evening’s performance at Yardley Hall was a great reminder of all the fantastic orchestras countries around the globe have to offer. I was extremely pleased to hear Verklärte Nacht live. Apparently, so was the rest of the audience, as they responded to the entire concert with enthusiastic applause. 

REVIEW:
Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College
Munich Symphony Orchestra with Gloriae Dei Cantores
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center for the Performing Arts
Johnson County Community College
12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS
For more information, visit http://www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series/

Top Photo: Munich Symphony Orchestra (Photo by Felbert Reiter)

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com