Last
week, Matthias Pintscher served
as guest conductor at Severance. This
week, Pintscher was present in spirit if not in body as one of the featured
composers. More on that in a
moment. This week’s guest conductor was Alain Altinoglu, the featured soloist the
orchestra’s principle flautist, Joshua Smith. The hall was nearly sold out, no doubt mostly
due to the popularity of the program’s final work, Ravel’s Bolero.
The
program opened with Altinoglu’s own suite from Debussy’s opera Pelléas and Mélisande. The orchestra has some familiarity with this,
one of the composer’s least played works, having performed the complete opera two seasons ago. They also recorded excerpts in the 1940s
under then music director Erich Leinsdorf.
Some have complained that Pelléas and Mélisande lacks a hummable tune,
which is valid as far as it goes – it eschews many of the features some opera
lovers thrive on: epic spectacle, stratospheric arias, elaborate plot twists. But the composer’s stream of consciousness
creation has benefits for those who are willing to listen on a more elevated
level. The suite – partly based on
incidental music the Debussy had to write at the last moment to cover for stage
changes – was convincingly presented by Altinoglu. The transparent, shimmering textures alone
were a delight, along with the most delicate tone painting.
Pintscher’s
“Transir”, a de-facto flute concerto, was even more challenging. While there are those who did – and some
still do – regard Stravinsky’s music as avant-garde, the Russian composer used
the orchestra in a rather conventional manner.
Not so with “Transir”. Numerous
instruments were altered to some extent, including the use of paper clips in
the strings to create a unique sonority.
Further, each string player often had an individual line to play, which
would challenge any ensemble. To say
nothing of flautist Joshua Smith’s task, who’s technique included “multiphonics”
(creating multiple notes at once), tapping on the instrument, “jet-whistle”,
flutter-tongue, and breath effects.
Everything that could be perceived as unusual for both soloist and
orchestra. I simply had no idea a flute
could be made to sound this way – yet it remained musical. Altinoglu proved an excellent collaborator,
with the orchestra demonstrating its mettle in a highly detailed, but mostly
quiet accompaniment. Smith was rightly
awarded with a standing ovation.
The
program’s second half was dedicated to Ravel.
The Spanish Rhapsody featured
sensitive use of dynamics yet seemed somewhat sectionalized. Pavane for a Dead Princess
was beautifully paced and somewhat muted – a grief observed rather than
experienced. What can one say about Bolero that hasn’t been said before? It’s probably the best example of an
orchestral crescendo this side of Rossini.
Altinoglu established a sensible pace, kept the balances in check, and
let the soloists do their thing. The
individuality of various solos, in particular a flirtatiously sexy saxophone solo
from Steven Banks enhanced, but never distracted from, the
musical line and inevitability.
My
enjoyment of Bolero was dampened by a woman in front of me humming along with
the main tine, and several audience members trotting out their cell phones to
tape parts of the proceedings – in defiance of Severance’s strict policy
against doing so. The head usher tried
to intercede several times but eventually gave up. Poor man.
