  |
|
September 6, 2007
|
A matter of balance Local orchestras aren’t motivated to stray too far from the traditional classics. Otherwise, they risk alienating their audience, which comes to the concert hall with certain expectations. But if nothing is played but the warhorses that everyone knows, things grow stale—not just for audiences but for musicians, too. And what’s the point of that? So a careful balance is needed to keep things anchored but also interesting. And that balance is at the heart of the New Hampshire Philharmonic’s upcoming season. There’s the best of the best—specifically, a performance next spring of the majestic Brahms Violin Concerto featuring local violinist Elliott Markow as soloist. But it’s balanced with a good selection of lesser-known scores that offer surprising freshness and vibrancy. Take Shostakovich’s uproarious Symphony No. 9, which the group will play in October, and which stands in my book as the ultimate thumb-your-nose-at-authority music. When’s the last time you heard it live? It’s a good time for the Philharmonic, a Manchester-based community orchestra made up almost entirely of New Hampshire players. Under the leadership of executive director Paul Hoffmann and music director Anthony Princiotti, over the past few years the group has steadily improved its musicianship on stage and its organizational strength behind the scenes. And that adds up to good news for local music-lovers. The 2007-08 season offers programs that mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar with the same flair that an expert chef employs in planning a memorable meal. The Philharmonic’s first course—er, concert—is Saturday, Oct. 27, at Manchester’s Palace Theatre. The program includes Grieg’s tuneful Peer Gynt Suite, with its instantly recognizable melodies that get used everywhere from car commercials to score for movies such as the 2001 goofball comedy “Rat Race.” Featured soloist for the fall concert is Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Owen Young, who will tackle Schumann’s late-in-life Cello Concerto in A minor. It’s a pretty impressive musician for a worthy piece not played as often as it should be. But for me, the real excitement is the Shostakovich Symphony No. 9, a small-scale but brilliantly dissident work that famously thumbs its nose (often making use of circus-like music) at the Soviet power structure in the years after World War II. The piece came after Shostakovich’s two massively tragic “war” symphonies, both written while Russia was under attack by Nazi Germany. In 1945, with the drawn-out conflict of World War II finally over, dictator Joseph Stalin expected Russia’s greatest living composer to produce a monumental Ninth Symphony (like Beethoven) to honor the nation’s victory. Instead, Shostakovich produced a symphonic raspberry—a work clearly aimed at making low comedy of the ruling elite, and got away with it. It’s a fantastically entertaining score, like cartoon music but with an undertone of tragedy and disgust. Bravo to the Philharmonic for making it come to life for all to hear. Other Philharmonic concerts include the traditional holiday program at the Palace on Saturday, Nov. 24, featuring guest narrator Scott Spradling of WMUR-TV Channel 9; family concerts in February in Portsmouth and Concord; and a spring concert on Saturday, May 3, at the Palace that includes the Brahms concerto and Mussorgsky’s massive “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Tickets for single concerts range from $15 to $50, with season discounts available. For more info, call the Philharmonic at 647-6476 or visit nhphil.org.
|
8/23/2007 The search is on
|
Navigation