Lawrence Golan, Conductor

Four recent reviews from www.opuscolorado.com

A tribute to a fine violin teacher
March 23, 2011, 8:20 am
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I found a very nice surprise the other day in a CD that I had never heard before, and one of the surprises was that it is not all that new. This is a CD which was released in 1997 and recorded by Dr. Lawrence Golan who, of course, is the conductor of the Lamont School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra, and who just happens to be (I’m sure, to no one’s surprise) a truly fine violinist. The collaborative pianist is Martin Perry. The name of the CD is Indian Summer, and it features the music of the late George Perlman who was one of the country’s finest violin teachers. Make no mistake about it: George Perlman was of the same ilk as Joseph Gingold and Yuval Yaron. Mr. Perlman taught in Chicago, and Yaron and Gingold taught at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. As a matter of fact, Lawrence Golan, who received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in performance from the Jacobs School of Music studied with both Gingold and Yaron. And, how many of you knew that Lawrence Golan’s father, Joseph Golan, was the Principal Second violinist with the Chicago Symphony? Both father and son studied with George Perlman. 

As I said above, this CD was recorded by Lawrence Golan and pianist Martin Perry, who is a graduate of the Juilliard School. He is a resident of Maine, and he has performed all of the works of Charles Griffis and Alan Hovhaness. He has appeared with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and chamber music performances throughout New England. 

I had no idea what to expect from this CD, but what a surprise. The music is very fresh, and all of it is enlivening. I might add that much of the music has a very intriguing story that provides the music’s foundation. 

Before I begin discussing the music, let me tell you a little bit about George Perlman. He was a violinist and composer, and dwell on this: he taught for seventy-four years. Amazing! Mr. Perlman died on June 23, 2000, at the age of 103. The other astonishing fact that you must understand is that he retired from teaching on April 15 of the year 2000. What a legacy he has left. He was born May 15, 1897, in Ukraine, and many generations of his family were rabbis. When he was four years old, his family left Ukraine and arrived in Chicago. He attended Northwestern University and DePaul University, and received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence (Can anyone count the number of composers and performers who were encouraged to practice law?), but abandoned the practice of law in order to perform and teach. And I state straight away, that we are all the better for his decision. 

The music on this CD, as stated in the program notes, is a celebration of Perlman’s Jewish heritage which gave him pride, and helped to cultivate in him a great interest in his Jewish faith. Indeed, the very first composition on the CD entitled Israeli Concertino, has that Israeli flare that is so typical of music that one hears in Israel. What am I talking about, and how can that be recognized? When you listen to Western music, one is almost automatically and subconsciously aware of the major and minor scale, both of which have pronounced tonal centers. But think of this: major and minor were “invented” by Gioseffo Zarlino in 1558 in his monumental treatise, Istitutioni Harmoniche. Before this treatise, the medieval church modes were used. However, that applies only to Western music. Modes continue to be used in Israeli music, especially for prayers and folk music. Much of the music in the Jewish tradition is based upon the Ahava Raba mode, which does not have a leading tone that “leads” our ear back to a specific tone. If any of you readers know the order of half steps and whole steps in the harmonic minor scale, you might hear a resemblance between it and the Ahava Raba mode. The harmonic minor scale has eight notes in it. There is a half step between two and three, five and six, a step and a half between six and seven, and a half step between seven and eight. All the rest are whole steps. However, in the Ahava Raba mode, there is a step and a half between two and three, a half step between six and seven, and a whole step between seven and eight. This gives the Ahava Raba mode a certain unsettled feeling to the Western ear. Most of the music on this wonderful CD uses the Ahava Raba mode. 

The first work on this CD is entitled Israeli Concertino. This is a three movement work, the first movement of which is entitled Hora-Hatikvah. The Hora is a type of circle dance which came from the Balkans, and eventually became the national dance of Israel. It is often danced at bar mitzvahs, for example. Hatikvah is the name of the Israeli national anthem, and it is translated as The Hope because the text emphasizes the hope of the Jewish people to be a free people in the land of Israel. The spirit of this opening movement is certainly that of a dance, and is absolutely captivating. The middle movement entitled Nocturne, is lush and romantic, and Golan’s performance is very passionate indeed. Golan is one of the most accurate violinists that I have heard for some time. He never scoops pitches, and his phrases are always well defined dynamically. Martin Perry and Golan work very well together, and they are very compatible with their sense of how each piece should be played. It reminds me of the old Gerald Moore/Fischer-Dieskau recordings. 

Here is an interesting point, which is mentioned in the liner notes, but, I think, needs emphasis. The first three pieces on this CD, Israeli Concertino, Elegy and Habañera, and Indian Concertino, are relatively easy pieces, albeit with good violin writing, which I think would be quite suitable for younger violin students. Even the piano score is somewhat simple, but nonetheless very effective. And this led me to wonder if these pieces were written by Perlman for pedagogical purposes. For example, one can easily recognize that the Six Sonatinas, Opus 36, by Muzio Clementi, were written for pedagogical purposes, and they also happen to be, in my opinion, the six best pieces that Clementi wrote. They are absolute gems. I was very impressed with the first three pieces on this CD: they are terrific pieces that are approachable by younger students, both violinists and pianists. 

After the first three compositions, there is an enormous change. The fourth piece on the CD, entitled Suite Hébraïque, is a very serious work, substantially more difficult in both the violin and the piano parts. The first movement which Perlman calls Yiskor: Hebrew Prayer, is full of double stops and notes in the extreme higher register of the violin. A Yiskor (should the spelling be Yizkor?) is a memorial prayer for the dead which is said four times year, and Golan and Perry impart an incredible sense of conviction and urgency to the performance of this work. This particular movement is dedicated to the composer’s father. It is absolutely beautiful. The middle movement is a light and airy dance which has an exciting accelerando, wherein Golan and Perry are so perfectly together that it sounds like one musician playing both piano and violin at the same time. The last movement is entitled Chassidish, and its definition and explanation are somewhat more subjective. It means enhancement, improvement, or a betterment of the status quo. Golan’s tone in this movement is incredibly sweet, and the depth of his sound is full of emotion. 

Another work on this CD is entitled Ghetto Sketches. Like every single piece on this CD, it is extremely evocative, suggesting many stories. It is enchanting. The performance from both of these artists is superb, though I must say that in this work, it sounded as though it had been recorded in a very small room, and that the piano could have used a little voicing. It was noticeably different from the excellent recording quality of the rest of this CD. 

The final work on the CD, Indian Summer, was inspired by a cartoon in which a grandfather is seated under a tree with his grandson. And here, I will quote from the program notes: “… The grandfather explains that Indian summer is when homesick Indians come back to play. He says that the distant colorful haze and the sky is actually the spirits of Indian warriors dancing around. When they get tired and rest in the trees, he says, their war paint sometimes rubs off on the leaves and that’s why they change colors.” The cartoon was drawn by John T. McCutcheon, and it appeared in the Chicago Sunday Tribune. After George Perlman composed this piece, he took one of his students, a child prodigy, to McCutcheon’s home, and the prodigy performed Perlman’s composition, Indian Summer. The child prodigy was seven years old, and he was one of the most gifted students that Perlman had. The prodigy’s name was Joseph Golan, who later became the Principal Second Violinist in the Chicago Symphony. This is a beautiful piece of music, and I cannot help but wonder at the thoughts that went through the head of Lawrence Golan as he played this piece which was dedicated to his father by the composer. 

The music on this CD is totally appealing, and the performances by Golan and Perry are as excellent as one would expect from such artists. The music is not at all cutting-edge avant-garde. Rather, it is a very personal and romantic style, and one almost has the feeling that one is sitting in a living room on an overstuffed couch listening to a live performance. Some of it is reminiscent of Rachmaninoff, but mind you, only reminiscent. Another work on this CD which is full of humor and good nature, A Clown’s Greeting to a Dummy, is reminiscent of Erik Satie, or perhaps early Debussy. But I draw these comparisons only to illustrate how some of this music sounds. Perlman has his own style, perhaps not overly sophisticated, but it is  thoroughly enjoyable. I truly believe that much of this music would be excellent for young violinists and pianists, and I truly believe that other works have a rightful place on a concert program. There is no question that they would make marvelous encore pieces. All of them are quite infectious and the musicians are beyond compare.

This CD is on the Albany label and its catalogue number is TROY239

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The Lamont Symphony + Madoka Asari + Janis Sakai: Incredible Artistry
March 12, 2011, 12:04 pm
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The Lamont Symphony Orchestra consistently presents outstanding programs which bear little resemblance to the concerts given by other university orchestras that I am familiar with. The concerts are so good that they encroach on performances given by professional orchestras. If any of you readers doubt that statement, start attending some of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra concerts. Thursday night’s concert, March 10, was an exception only because it was the best I have heard them do, and that is saying quite a bit. It is easy to dismiss this orchestra by saying, “Well, sure, they should be good because they are all music majors.” Yes, they are all music majors are, and yes, they practice all the time as music majors do. Nonetheless, these are students. They are not consummate concert level professionals, but mark my words, there are some who certainly will become that. 

Thursday night, they presented another performance of Silouan’s Song (the work was written in 1991, and this was the Colorado premiere) by the Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt. I have written about Arvo Pärt in previous articles, but please be reminded that Arvo Pärt is widely known as a minimalist composer, and his work between the years 1977 to 1992 can be described as “holy minimalism” because of his immersion in Gregorian chant and early liturgical music. He further describes this sound as “tintinnabuli” because it often sounds like the ringing of bells. Some critics have gone so far as to describe Pärt as a Western Confucius because of his mysticism and liturgical leanings. In Silouans Song there is not so much tintinnabuli, but there is certainly an influence of religious mysticism. Pärt found much inspiration in the Russian Orthodox Church, and was specifically influenced by his acquaintance with Archimandrite Sophrony, who was a disciple and biographer of St. Silouan. As a matter of fact, it was Father Sophrony who advised Pärt to stay the course and become a composer. Silouan’s Song is really Pärt’s orchestral interpretation based on words of St. Silouan, and some say that Pärt tried to create the mood of the words in the violins and the cellos. 

This work certainly is among the most serene that Pärt has composed. It is for string orchestra, and is in long phrases, really sections, that are separated by periods of silence. Most of the sections are subdued and positively shimmered under the hands of Travis Jürgens, who truly is a superior conductor. It seems to me that the difficulty with this piece are the entrances of each section. Almost all of them began at a piano or pianissimo dynamic level, and trying to get an orchestra to enter precisely, and I do mean everyone, takes a lot of attention on the part of all the orchestra members, and I would think much rehearsal time. The entrances were perfect. That confirmed the control that not only Maestro Juergens is able to make use of over the orchestra, but it also confirms the control that the orchestra members have in their own performance ability. As I have said before, this orchestra, and it seems this year alone, just keeps getting better and better. One of the reasons simply has to be that they have a great deal of respect for Travis Jürgens, and it is always easier to do well when you are cooperating with someone that you respect. I am always struck by how hard every single musician in this orchestra works for their conductor. I have seen and heard a lot of university orchestras in my life, and the Lamont Symphony makes many of them appear to be totally unconcerned. I know that this is an old cliché, but my hat is off to Travis Jürgens and the Lamont Symphony Orchestra. 

The next work on the program was the Beethoven Piano Concerto Nr. 2 in B flat Major, Opus 19. I would like to point out that somehow it was listed in the program as Opus 10, and that is incorrect. This Concerto is Opus 19, and it had its origins in Bonn before Beethoven moved to Vienna. There are sketches from this concerto that are from the year 1785, and it was first published in 1801. The publication dates of Beethoven’s first two piano concertos long confused the issue of when each one was written, but we have also known for a time now, that what is known as his Concerto Nr.1 in C Major, and carries the opus number 15, was written by 1798. This Concerto was also published and 1801, but one of the aspects of this work which indicates it was later than the B flat Concerto, is that the orchestration is much more advanced, and is for full orchestra. Beethoven was not completely satisfied with either concerto, and both are sometimes mentioned as extensions of Mozart’s piano concertos by several scholars. 

All that aside, be rest assured that the young lady who performed this Beethoven Piano Concerto, Madoka Asari, is absolutely breathtaking. She is the winner of the 2011 Lamont Solo Honors Competition, and she studies with Professor Stephen Mayer. Her playing is extremely clean and precise, and she shapes each phrase, making sure that there is a subtle highpoint. When there is a small two note phrase, which is such a cliché of the classical period, particularly in Haydn (Beethoven’s teacher) and Beethoven, she has a perfect wrist drop on the first note of each phrase, and plays the second note as she is coming off the keyboard. This consistency carried through to so many other details. I was a little surprised at how far back she sat from the piano, because her arms were comparatively outstretched. If she sat just a little closer, she might be able to relax her arms just a little more, which in turn will relax her hands. I did notice in a few places that her left hand was a little more tense than her right. I mention this only because she is young, and she has a whole lifetime of performing before her, and she must take care not to damage anything. And I assure you, she really does have a whole lifetime of performing in her future. The minute she began to play the first movement, her artistic concentration seemed to kick in, and she knew the piece so well that she could think about it to the exclusion of everything around her except the orchestra and Maestro Golan. That makes her an incredibly reliable musician: she knew the score, and she knew her entrances, and she clearly allowed the orchestra to help her with these aspects of performing. What do I mean? When you perform with another group of musicians, whether it is a chamber work or a concerto, you have to know every single note mentally. One does not learn a piece by practicing it so much that one’s hands can just “do it.” One has to listen to the other musicians, and be able to say to themselves, “Oh, yes. There’s the bassoon making his entrance, and I come in three measures later.” All of this means that one is reliable as a musician and can be counted on by the conductor. Madoka Asari is that kind of musician, reliable, and consummately musical. The last movement of this concerto has one thing in common with the C Major Concerto, Opus 15. Both are almost playful, and both begin to show Beethoven’s development away from Mozart and his teacher, Haydn. The second movements of both concertos are much deeper musically, and Ms. Asari excelled. And, guess what? She has ten more performances scheduled for the year. Keep in mind that she is only a junior at the Lamont School, and will play her junior recital this coming May. Ladies and gentlemen, that is impressive. 

The next performer on the program was equally impressive, and here I speak of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra as a single performer, under the direction of Maestro Lawrence Golan. I truly think this is the first time I have ever heard a student performance of Richard Strauss’symphonic tone poem, Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). Of course such a huge work is possible because the Lamont Symphony is itself very large. Nonetheless several instruments were added to fill out the orchestra, for example, four harps. Not only is a large orchestra required for this work, but the members of the orchestra must be skilled: this work, like all Strauss orchestral pieces, is extremely difficult. That is why student orchestras seldom attempt such a piece. But Maestro Golan is so adept at pulling musicianship and skill out of this orchestra, that I am willing to bet that all he had to do was calmly tell them, “You can play this piece, its reputation for difficulty is exaggerated. Here we go!” Now it probably didn’t happen quite that easily, because every measure of this performance reflected intense work and intense joy of performing. 

The performance of this difficult piece has to be one of the finest performances I have ever heard the Lamont Symphony Orchestra give. 

Ein Heldenleben can often give conductors fits because of its difficulty, but you have to understand that the performance Thursday night again made obvious how much the orchestra members admire and respect Maestro Golan. I can remember when the great Hungarian conductor, Fritz Reiner, fired the entire brass section of the Pittsburgh (Was it the Philadelphia?) Symphony. My mother showed me the newspaper headlines. He was conducting a Strauss tone poem and became dissatisfied with the brass section, so he simply fired all of them: horns, trumpets, trombones, and tuba. The next day, the headlines said that he had hired them all back, because the Symphony Society threatened to fire him. But be aware that in those days conductors were often tyrants, and I am quite sure that the members of the Chicago Symphony, which he conducted for 10 years, considered Reiner to resemble Dracula. He led the Chicago Symphony from 1953 until his death in 1963, and many of the orchestra members predicted that he might even fire some of his pallbearers. 

I hasten to add that Maestro Golan would never suffer from comments such as these! The performance of Ein Heldenleben was spectacular. The opening is remarkably difficult. There is no time to collect your thoughts, or to even think, Yes, it gets hard in a few measures. It gets hard from the very first note, and the entire orchestra was ready to go and they did it. Maestro Golan took a perfect tempo, which is to say it was the tempo that would have suited the composer very nicely. Golan did not, obviously, think I’d better go slower. These are students. There is extensive violin solo work in this piece that the first chair violin, or concertmaster, performs. I was truly flabbergasted by the mature and artistic performance given by Janis Sakai. Her performance was as professional as any that I have heard, and when I say that, I am including performances done by professional orchestras, not only student orchestras. This young woman possesses remarkable talent (how I hate that word talent, because it does not begin to encompass what gifted individuals do). Janis Sakai is stellar. It was wonderful idiomatic Strauss. Golan conducted this work with the swagger that Strauss requires, especially since “the hero” that Strauss is referring to is himself, even as he takes a poke at his critics in this work. And it was clear that Janis Sakai played this work so brilliantly because she has the maturity to believe in every single measure. Her playing was opulent, and when it needed to be brooding, it was brooding. Those of you who were in the audience not only know what I am talking about, but I am sure that you consider yourselves fortunate for having heard this performance. 

Think of this: you audience members got to hear two young musicians who will make their mark on the world, and you got to hear a student orchestra led by Maestro Lawrence Golan support these young artists in a very professional way.

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The Lamont Symphony Orchestra: a Remembrance of 9/11
February 11, 2011, 8:50 pm
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Thursday evening, February 10, I sat, spellbound, in Gates Hall listening to the Lamont Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Lawrence Golan. It was A Bridges to the Future Event: the ten-year anniversary of September 11. The orchestra performed two works, both of them absolutely enormous in their own way. The first (which was a Colorado Premier) was a work entitled “This Thread” by J. Mark Scearce, which is enormous because of its emotive power. The second work performed on the program, was one of the great symphonies of the 20th – or any – century: Shostakovich’s Symphony Nr. 7, enormous not only for its emotive power, but for its remarkable length. The glue that held both of these works together for this program is the fact that both were created as a result of human conflict. “This Thread,” with a text by Toni Morrison, was a reaction to the tragedy of September 11, 2001. The Shostakovich Symphony was written as a reaction to the German invasion of Russia in World War II. 

I have heard of the composer J. Mark Scearce, but I must admit this is the first time that I have heard one of his compositions. But first, before I speak about his work, let me introduce you to him by way of a short bio statement taken from his website: 

“J. Mark Scearce is the Director of the Music Department at NC State. Prior appointments were on the music faculties of the Universities of Hawaii, North Texas, and Southern Maine, among others. With sixty active titles in his catalogue, including musical settings of more than a hundred and twenty texts, Scearce’s many works for orchestra, band, chorus, opera, chamber, and ballet have been performed throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. The recipient of five advanced degrees in music, philosophy and religion, including the doctorate in composition from Indiana University, Scearce has won six international music competitions and his music has been honored by the Wellesley Composers’ Conference, the Buffalo Festival, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Ucross, and the American Music Center. Scearce currently has seven works commercially available on compact disc on the Delos, Warner Bros, Capstone, Centaur, Albany, and Equilibrium labels, and on a Sony 4-channel SACD available online at frystreetquartet.com.” 

When Dr. Scearce was at Indiana University where he received his DMA in composition, he studied with John Eaton. Eaton is internationally known as an opera composer and for his work in electronic and microtonal music. Eaton’s composition teachers included Milton Babbitt (who, unfortunately and sadly, died just a few weeks ago at the age of 94) and Roger Sessions. After receiving BA and MFA degrees at Princeton University, he joined the Indiana University faculty in 1970. He is currently Professor of Music Composition at the University of Chicago. 

Scearce has also expanded our musical vocabulary by using microtonal technique. Instead of using a scale or a 12 tone serial technique where the notes are separated from themselves by the typical half step, the microtonal “scale” has “notes” that are separated by divisions much smaller than a half step. For example, a piano has 88 keys, and all of the notes on the keyboard are separated by a half step. The German piano manufacturer, Ulrich Sauter, has responded to the need of composers by building microtonal pianos. As far as I know, he is the only manufacturer to do so. On his microtonal pianos, instead of having 88 keys, there are 97 keys, and those 97 keys – the entire keyboard – encompass only one octave. From note to note, instead of a half step, there are eight divisions. 

In Scearce’s composition, This Thread, his use of microtonal technique gives his work the sound and feel of searing pain, especially when accompanied by the text which was written by Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature, and only the eighth woman to win the prize. The text was read by Kim Axline, Associate Professor of Theatre, as part of the performance. The work is written for orchestra, violin, and mezzo-soprano who sings the text that was read. Yumi Hwang-Williams performed the violin solo, and Judith Christin was the mezzo in Thursday’s performance. Both of these women were, of course, exceptional. It seems an odd thing to say, but the combination of text, violin, and the mezzo voice quality that Ms. Christin possesses, were integral in the overall sound and timbre of this piece. Christin has sung over 50 opera roles, and has performed with all of the major opera companies in the United States, Europe and in the Orient, and major orchestras in those countries. The quality of her voice matched this work so remarkably, that I wonder if Scearce chose her particularly to sing in this work. And, we all know that Yumi Hwang-Williams is consistent in her excellent ability to match her sound with whatever she is playing. And it is in this work that the timbre and resonance of the sound is so important. There were moments when I was reminded of Krzysztof Penderecki’s monumental work, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, in which Penderecki uses the same compositional technique as Scearce. And Penderecki even commented that he was surprised at this sound’s emotional impact. Scearce is exemplifying his hope that such an event as September 11 will never happen again, just as Penderecki stated that, “Let the Threnody express my firm belief that the sacrifice of Hiroshima will never be forgotten and lost.” 

In this work I was absolutely astounded at the very emotional, mellow, but intense tonal quality that the Lamont Symphony generated. I was also struck by how committed the orchestra members were in generating this sound. It was very evident that they were working very hard, and it was also evident that Maestro Golan was working them very hard to get the kind of sound that this composition demands. Christin and Hwang-Williams were in total partnership. I have never heard this orchestra play with such intensity and with such professional devotion to making music. As I said above, this was the Colorado premiere of this work, but it was also a premier of another rung in the ladder that this orchestra has taken. There is no question that many in the orchestra were quite young on September 11, 2001, but it seemed as though they had memories of it happening as if it were yesterday. This was a very somber and compelling performance of a very difficult work, and its beauty is undeniable. Yumi Hwang-Williams, Judith Christin, and the Lamont Symphony performed as if they were one instrument under the benevolent control of Lawrence Golan. What more could one ask for? During the intermission, I could only remain in my seat, and wonder at the emotion and the dignity of the music that I had just heard. 

There is no way to under estimate the phenomenal impact that Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony had on the public when it was premiered in 1941. Shostakovich had left Leningrad as a member of the Russian Home Guards, and it seems an odd thing, but his main vocation during the war was writing patriotic songs, much the same way that the French troops during the French Revolution wrote patriotic songs which, to make a long story short, led to the establishment of the Paris Conservatory. Of course, this also says something about the inactivity that Shostakovich faced as a member of the Home Guard. Nonetheless he missed Leningrad, and he swore that if he finished this Symphony, he would dedicate it to the “beloved native city of mine.” After its premiere in Russia, there was a considerable rivalry between the conductors Toscanini, Stokowski, and Koussevitzky, to see who would be the first conductor to perform it outside of Russia. This seems unusual in a way, because after the war it had lost its popularity, largely, because Stalin derided the work as prosaic and banal. But you must remember, that in 1948, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Kabalevsky, were among the composers and other artists, including the great Russian poetess, Anna Akhmatova who were called before the Central Communist Committee where they were told that their art was worthless and not in the true Soviet tradition. Shostakovich truly feared that he and his family might suffer consequences. But this symphony’s popularity began to grow again and it received regular performances. This is a huge composition, taking on the average of 70 minutes to play. But be warned – there are some performances that take fifty minutes and there are some that take almost an hour and twenty minutes. The less time a performance takes, the more one feels one is being rushed through the performance. And, of course, the longer it takes, the more it seems to drag. 

Dr. Lawrence Golan took a perfect tempo at Thursday’s performance. And once again, the Lamont Symphony absolutely dazzled in this monumentally difficult work. Again the orchestra produced a very rich sound, and the opening theme after the introduction was well-nigh perfect in the violins. The woodwind section: (flute piccolo bassoon), all of them, performed exceedingly well. The second movement was almost ballet like in its grace and flow, and the pizzicato sections were perfectly together. The wonderful sound that this orchestra produced Thursday night was quite noticeable in the opening of the third movement. If one had their back to the stage so that the orchestra could not be seen, it would have been quite excusable to think that an organ was playing. The fourth movement, which begins without pause, was one of the most exciting live performances of this symphony that I have heard. I promise you that I am not exaggerating. You must understand that there are some performances where everything fits together almost miraculously. However, I hasten to point out that any miracle was made possible by the hard work of everybody in the orchestra, the podium included. The time it took to perform this piece went very quickly, even though I think it was about an hour and ten minutes. But, I assure you I was not counting because I was reveling in the music. As was stated in the program notes: “This symphony is the embodiment of the idea that despite the turmoil of war, the Soviet people would persevere in hope of freedom from oppression. The people of the United States of America certainly exhibited this same sense of unity and perseverance in the wake of September 11, and it is due to this correlation that Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony was chosen for tonight’s performance.” 

Was it a perfect concert? Perhaps not, but what performance is ever perfect? It was so amazingly well done, and the students, and the soloists, and Maestro Golan work so hard and produced so much beauty, that a wrong note here or there, or an entrance that was a nano second late or early was superfluous. The minute the concert was over, the audience literally sprang to their feet. Golan recognized every section in the orchestra during the applause. They deserved it. You have to understand that the students got a true lesson in stamina at this concert. Not just physical stamina, but mental stamina as well, and it is my sincere hope that the ovation they received is ample reward for lessons well learned.

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The Lamont School of Music shines (again)
November 20, 2010, 2:32 pm
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I have heard two remarkable concerts this week presented by the Lamont School of Music. I have already written about the choral concert that was presented on Wednesday evening, and it was truly inspired. Thursday night, November 18, was the second remarkable concert, and this one was presented by the Lamont Symphony Orchestra conducted by Steven Byess who is filling in for Lawrence Golan while he is on sabbatical. It was also conducted by the Assistant Conductor, Travis Jürgens. And, this concert also introduced to Denver the new Professor of Clarinet, Dr. Jeremy Reynolds. 

Both of these concerts were outstanding, and Thursday evening as I sat listening to Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger, I could not help but think that Prof. Joseph Docksey who is retiring at the end of this year, must be enormously proud of his faculty, and in addition, that performances such as these must be a very nice conclusion to his years as Director of the Lamont School of Music. 

The program opened with the Wagner that I mentioned above. It has probably been ten years since I’ve heard this performed live, but I must also tell you that this work will always have a prominent place with me. When I was an undergraduate at Indiana University, piano performance majors such as myself, were used to fill out opera choruses. Therefore, I was in the chorus of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, so I know the Opera well. As I recall, Tibor Kozma conducted these performances, and I can remember the members of the choir commenting on the tempos that he took – they all thought it was fast. Travis Jürgens conducted the Prelude on Thursday night, and the tempos that he took reminded me very much of the tempos that Tibor Kozma took, and the tempos Thursday night were perfect. Maestro Jürgens infused the orchestra with a remarkable and urgent sense of direction that I truly haven’t heard since I left Indiana University. This is an incredibley complex piece, as all Wagner is, because of all of the themes (leit motifs) that keep reoccurring, and which are woven like fabric throughout. What this means, of course, is that Travis Jürgens, in spite of his young age (Please don’t be upset with me Mr. Jürgens – I can say that because I’m really old.), has a depth of understanding of music that few individuals his age have. In addition, he has the ability to communicate that depth to the orchestra in front of him, and in addition to that, he has the ability to convey to them the excitement that he feels about the music. Maestro Jürgens truly leads and controls the orchestra with clear, concise, and sharp movements that convey, without question, what the orchestra must do for the sake of good Wagner. It was very exciting to see this orchestra, comprised of students, albeit music majors, work so hard. There was not one person in this orchestra simply sitting in their chair passing the time. It was very easy to recognize the fact that they loved the music they were performing. Mr. Travis Jürgens is going to make a name for himself. 

After the Wagner, the LSO performed the Clarinet Concerto, Opus 57, by Danish composer Carl Nielsen. The soloist was Dr. Jeremy Reynolds, newly appointed to the Lamont faculty this fall of 2010. I will quote from the program notes: “In the fall 2010, Dr. Reynolds joined the faculty of the University of Denver Lamont School of Music as Assistant Professor of Clarinet after serving as the Principal Clarinetist of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra where his performances consistently brought high praise from critics and public alike. As printed in the Tucson Citizen, ‘… Jeremy Reynolds has been one of the TSO’s finest recruits able to infuse his solos with such delicacy, exquisite tone and liquid lines as to draw the listener close enough to touch.’” 

“A native of New York, Dr. Reynolds holds degrees from Ithaca College, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. At the Thornton School he was named Doctoral Student of the Year and was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. His principal teachers include Yehuda Gilad, Monica Kaenzig, Michelle Zuovsky, David Howard, Richard Hawley, Bil Jackson, Ted Oien, Michael Galvan, and David Minelli.” 

In the interest of saving space, I have left out many of his awards and much of his professional experience. His remarkable ability to perform is a culmination of all of that. 

Carl Nielsen had enormous success with his six symphonies, and over the course of composing those, gradually changed from neo-classicism to using very progressive harmonies, often switching from one key to a very remote key. The opening theme of the Concerto begins in the cello and bass section of the orchestra, and is then played in the clarinet. The opening theme is in F major, then switches to the distant key of E major. The “B” theme is in C major. The the concerto is in one movement with four distinct sections. Many consider this unusual, and I suppose it is, when applied to concertos. However, the concerto, as a genre, gets its basic form from the sonata-allegro, and this one movement concerto brings to mind the enormous one movement Sonata in B minor (which has three distinct sections) written by Franz Liszt. So, perhaps, it is not that unusual after all. This beautiful piece puts the clarinetist on his mettle right away because of its technical demands. It switches abruptly from low register too high register, and switches tonal demands just as abruptly. The cadenza to the first movement is not so terribly long, but it is terribly demanding. Following a short recapitulation after the cadenza, the second “movement” emerges, which is much more lyrical and warm. In the second movement there is additional support by solo instruments in the orchestra, particularly the French horn, to the point where one initially wonders if this is going to be a double concerto. There is a scherzo section followed by an exchange of ideas between the clarinet and the orchestra. It is in this fourth section that some of the difficulties of this work are noticed, i.e., extremely high pitches for the clarinet. But Dr. Reynolds hit every single one squarely and seemingly without much effort. This left the distinct impression that there isn’t anything on the clarinet that he cannot do. His playing is full of aplomb and grace and consummate musicality. And perhaps the most noticeable aspect of his playing, is the supreme confidence. Make no mistake about it, that confidence comes from hours of work and preparation. As a matter of fact, as I was headed backstage during the intermission, I heard one of the students from the orchestra comment, “Man, can you imagine the hours that he practices.” In hearing Jeremy Reynolds perform, I was left with the thought that he could teach and perform at any institution that he chose, be it Indiana, Juilliard, Curtis, or Eastman. We can all thank our lucky stars that he is here. 

And by the way, for all you doctoral students: sometimes Nielsen’s works are referred to by DF numbers, and sometimes by FS numbers. The “DF” stand for a catalog compiled by Dan Fog and the “FS” numbers stand for Dan Fog and Torben Schousboe. So you see, it’s not quite as complicated as the Vivaldi numbers! 

After the intermission, Travis Jürgens conducted  Strut for String Orchestra, by American composer Michael Daugherty. Daugherty, who was born in 1954, is Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater & Dance in Ann Arbor. The work is a tribute to Paul Robeson (1898-1976), who was an attorney, an All-American athlete, a vitally important racial activist, linguist, actor, and baritone. Again, Jürgens inspired the orchestra to make the most out of the extremely complex rhythmic motives in this work. The orchestra played with great energy and imbued the piece with great excitement. This is a very exciting piece of music, and it was clear that the orchestra was working very, very hard. 

The Lamont Symphony Orchestra concluded their program with Franz Joseph Haydn’s great Symphony Nr. 104, which is the last Symphony that Haydn wrote and it is the last of the London Symphonies. It was conducted by Steven Byess, a truly fine conductor, who, I hope all of you remember, conducted the final concert of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra last spring. I reviewed that concert as well, and I will quote some biographical information from that review. 

“Steven Byess is Music Director of the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra and the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, Cover Conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Ohio Light Opera, and Conductor at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

“He is a former faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Michigan School of Music. 

“Mr. Byess received his Bachelor of Music Degree in classical performance and jazz studies from Georgia State University, and his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Louis Lane and Carl Topilow, bassoon with George Goslee and David McGill, violin with Carol Ruzicka, and piano with Olga Radosavljevich. He also attended the Pierre Monteux Memorial School for Conductors under the tutelage of Maître Charles Bruck. In addition to his conducting studies with Louis Lane, Robert Shaw, and Carl Topilow, he has worked under the auspices of the American Symphony Orchestra League with such noted conductors as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, and Otto Werner Mueller. Mr. Byess was an assistant to conductor Robert Shaw at the Shaw Institute in Souilliac, France.” 

As I stated above in the first paragraph, Maestro Byess is replacing Maestro Lawrence Golan while he is on sabbatical leave from the Lamont School of Music. The choice was very fortunate. 

Haydn has often been referred to as the Shakespeare of music. And, why not? And before all of you stammer, “But… But… What about Beethoven?”, let us remember, with great reverence, that Haydn was Beethoven’s teacher. And, as Maestro Byess said at the performance, this really is Haydn’s ultimate work. And Maestro Byess proved that he knows Haydn very well. In the third measure of the slow introduction, the violins have some portato notes which recur throughout the slow introduction  – their last occurrence is bar 16 – but every time Haydn wrote them, the orchestra played them exactly the same length. That, folks, is attention to detail that makes one look up and stare at this orchestra which is comprised of students. This fine conductor is helping them be professional musicians, and I do not mean professional in the sense that they belong to a union. The other spot that drew my immediate attention, was the fermata in bar 25 of the Andante movement. Maestro Byess approached it, and then held it with incredible grace and exactly for the right length of time. I know that Haydn had to have been nodding his head in agreement. The tempos of the entire symphony were wonderful. And why is it, do you suppose, that most in the audience were a little afraid to smile at the gently humorous two measures of rest that Haydn writes in the third movement in bars 45 and 46. This is so typical of Haydn, and one can find examples of similar humor in almost everything that he wrote. I have performed a great many of Haydn’s sonatas, and those that I did not perform, I have read through several times. His humor is everywhere. As I have sometimes expressed to my students, if I eventually go to the same place where Haydn is now, he is one man that I would like to have several conversations with: there is just so much to learn from him. In the last movement of this work, Steven Byess was able to bring out an almost pastorale character in the first few measures of the opening theme, even though it is marked Allegro spiritoso – a tempo which is far removed from a pastorale character. Now, that is consummate musicianship. 

Several thoughts ran through my head as I listened to this concert. Number one) I had just attended a marvelous choral recital the night before at the Lamont School of Music. Number two) what must it be like to conduct a student orchestra that works so hard and with such great energy. Number three) what is it like to be the director of a school where even the replacement faculty is as outstanding as the permanent faculty. Incredible.

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