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November 15, 2007
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A musical ‘to-do’ list... For my research paper back in Mrs. Wells’ 10th-grade English class at Nashua High, I picked American composer Charles Ives, who lived from 1874 to 1954. His ideas about music and art opened my mind. For a rebellious teenager interested in music, Ives and his iconoclastic approach to everything proved an inspiration. Now, much later, Ives comes to Nashua, as — for the first time I know of — one of his pieces is part of this weekend’s Nashua Symphony program. “The Unanswered Question,” is just a few minutes long, but it has emerged as the standard Ives work to give audiences a taste of the composer. It’s a trumpet solo repeatedly posing a musical “question,” answered in various ways by the other instruments. Ives heard cacophony in his head, and his music reflected that. The son of the town bandmaster in Danbury, Conn., Ives grew up surrounded by music. His father encouraged experiments such as placing two bands side by side and having them play different marches, just to see what it sounded like. Ives studied composition at Yale and was a promising church organist, but, realizing his own music wasn’t commercial, he pursued a lucrative career in the insurance business in New York. He composed on the side. Critics eventually discovered Ives near the end of his life, long after he stopped composing. Some then proclaimed him America’s greatest composer, at least in retrospect. To me, his life serves as a powerful example of the value of creating art while living in the real world. Ives used to say his art helped him in his business and his business helped him with his art. See for yourself on Saturday, Nov. 17, when guest conductor Jed Gaylin leads the Nashua Symphony in “The Unanswered Question,” featuring Richard Watson in the prominent trumpet solo part. Also on the program, dubbed “Unfinished Business”: Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B minor, a two-movement masterpiece that remained undiscovered for nearly four decades following his untimely death in 1828, and Mozart’s Requiem, also unfinished because he died while trying to complete it. They’re both incredible scores. Gaylin, a candidate to succeed former Nashua Symphony conductor Royston Nash, is the third of four guest conductors to lead the group this season, after which a decision will be made. The concert is Saturday, Nov. 17, at 8 p.m. in Nashua’s Keefe Auditorium. Tickets cost $10 to $47 and are available at nashuasymphony.org or by calling 595-9156. A lean, mean ‘Lucia’: For its season-opener, Granite State Opera staged an economical but effective production of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” with one performance each at the Portsmouth Music Hall and the Capitol Center for the Arts. The Portsmouth performance, staged Friday, Nov. 9, showed an abundance of strengths, chief among them the voices artistic director Phil Lauriat assembled for the lead roles. In the demanding lead role, soprano Barbara Kilduff was outstanding. Kilduff’s agile voice brought all aspects of the part to life with passion, and her amazing rendition of the opera’s signature “mad” scene in Act 3 brought prolonged and thunderous cheers from the crowd at the Portsmouth show. I have never heard or seen this part sung better. Other leads were equally good. Tenor Eric Fennell made a compelling Edgardo, while baritone Jimi Jones dominated any scene he was in with his rich, commanding voice. Local singer Mark Cleveland was a fine Raimondo, while Brent Wilson as Normanno, Jacques Wilson as Alisa, and Seven Carpenter as Arturo contributed solid work. The famous “sextet” in Act 2 was a wonderful blend of beautiful singing and fine ensemble work. Lauriat led the production at a crisp pace. This “Lucia” moved along with the snap and crackle of a Verdi potboiler. Lighting and costumes were fine, helping to overcome one noted lack: set design seemed not up to the company’s usual standards. Too often, it was simply a bench or two and a backdrop, which might have been intended to help us focus on the music or necessitated by the small stage space. But if opera is a total fusion of all theater and musical arts, then the visual aspect of this ‘Lucia’ fell a bit short.
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11/8/2007 Fingerprints, please 11/1/2007 A night at the symphony
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