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concert review: Symphony Silicon Valley
Mar. 15th, 2009 12:51 pmSan Jose's California Theatre started life as a 1920s movie theatre, with a 1920s movie theatre Wurlitzer organ. Performers have been annoying entertaining concertgoers in the lobby before concerts and at intermission with pop tunes on this thing for most of this season; now was the chance to haul the console on stage and play something classical with it.
Even people who know the great French organ composers Vierne and Widor aren't necessarily familiar with Felix Alexandre Guilmant, and now we know why. His "Organ Symphony No. 1" (a confusing title: Vierne and Widor wrote multi-movement works for unaccompanied organ that they called symphonies; this one is for organ and orchestra) is a show-off piece for the organ with little heft or interest, with the orchestra superfluously (but more agreeably) chiming in. Soloist Jonas Nordwall demonstrated where the metaphor "pulling out all the stops" comes from, playing heavily and extravagantly. Oh well, good taste is a commodity that would have been out of place in this work anyway.
His encore was a throbbing, goopy rendition of "that song" from Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, intercut with excerpts from the organ part of the slow movement from Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, which jostled together with it most painfully. What I actually liked was the second encore, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" played with energy and wit.
How ironic, then, that the rest of the program should consist of two of the most tasteful works in the repertoire: Barber's Adagio for Strings and Schubert's Great C Major Symphony. Guest conductor Paul Haas is young and was new to me. He'd clearly given both these chestnuts considerable thought. The Barber was slow and flowing; the Schubert (no repeats: it's long enough without them) fast and chipper. Despite a tendency to be one of those conductors who likes to change gears abruptly, Haas has command over more subtle things as well, being particularly concerned with tone color - even in the strings, though the winds piping away in Schubert's third movement, like a superior organ, was a highlight.
As usual under good hands, the orchestra responded well. The strings have been re-seated, with the cellos buried on the middle left, which is probably a good place for them. The number of players has beefed up a bit since the orchestra's earlier lean days, which is good. If the sound lacks anything, it's richness, because it's plenty full and supple enough.
Pre-concert lecturer had to guess (wrongly) why it's called "The Great", but the program notes knew the answer (actually it isn't; it's called "The Great C Major", because Schubert had already written "The Little C Major" Symphony some years earlier; ask a silly question, get a ...). Also the true story of its composition, still denied in some quarters (the manuscript has the wrong date, which confuses a lot of people). However, a typo in the program listing gave a much wronger date, 1878, fifty years after the composer's death, a neat trick.
Even people who know the great French organ composers Vierne and Widor aren't necessarily familiar with Felix Alexandre Guilmant, and now we know why. His "Organ Symphony No. 1" (a confusing title: Vierne and Widor wrote multi-movement works for unaccompanied organ that they called symphonies; this one is for organ and orchestra) is a show-off piece for the organ with little heft or interest, with the orchestra superfluously (but more agreeably) chiming in. Soloist Jonas Nordwall demonstrated where the metaphor "pulling out all the stops" comes from, playing heavily and extravagantly. Oh well, good taste is a commodity that would have been out of place in this work anyway.
His encore was a throbbing, goopy rendition of "that song" from Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, intercut with excerpts from the organ part of the slow movement from Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, which jostled together with it most painfully. What I actually liked was the second encore, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" played with energy and wit.
How ironic, then, that the rest of the program should consist of two of the most tasteful works in the repertoire: Barber's Adagio for Strings and Schubert's Great C Major Symphony. Guest conductor Paul Haas is young and was new to me. He'd clearly given both these chestnuts considerable thought. The Barber was slow and flowing; the Schubert (no repeats: it's long enough without them) fast and chipper. Despite a tendency to be one of those conductors who likes to change gears abruptly, Haas has command over more subtle things as well, being particularly concerned with tone color - even in the strings, though the winds piping away in Schubert's third movement, like a superior organ, was a highlight.
As usual under good hands, the orchestra responded well. The strings have been re-seated, with the cellos buried on the middle left, which is probably a good place for them. The number of players has beefed up a bit since the orchestra's earlier lean days, which is good. If the sound lacks anything, it's richness, because it's plenty full and supple enough.
Pre-concert lecturer had to guess (wrongly) why it's called "The Great", but the program notes knew the answer (actually it isn't; it's called "The Great C Major", because Schubert had already written "The Little C Major" Symphony some years earlier; ask a silly question, get a ...). Also the true story of its composition, still denied in some quarters (the manuscript has the wrong date, which confuses a lot of people). However, a typo in the program listing gave a much wronger date, 1878, fifty years after the composer's death, a neat trick.
