At the Schermerhorn...
Shostakovich at the Nashville Symphony: This is Why Art Matters.
As I write this, and most likely as you read it, we are both secure in the tacit knowledge that despite the imperfection, inequality, and division present in our current political climate, we aren’t in any real danger of being executed by our country’s leaders for our opinions on social issues, government, or art. For us, the Orwellian concept of “thoughtcrime” remains a cautionary tale from a literary work rather than a tangible threat to individual freedoms.
This seems like a fairly simple concept – especially in the ridiculously connected 21st century when even the most mundane facets of life (like the pronunciation of GIF) devolve into vigorous online debate. As we approach the third decade of the new millennium, perhaps we’ve become a little complacent in our capacity for dissent and our right to communicate it. But, as the Nashville Symphony’s programming this past weekend illustrates, freedom of expression isn’t a universal guarantee, and it isn’t always free. Sometimes the costs can be severe.
The Nashville Symphony’s presentation of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony this past Saturday began by inviting the audience to first understand the context (both historical and personal) surrounding the creation of the work via Beyond the Score® – a series originally developed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to provide audiences a deeper understanding and connection to composers and their works through a multimedia presentation featuring, video, musical excerpts, a narrator, and an actor.
The narration detailing the political climate surrounding the Russian Revolution and Stalin’s eventual rise was regularly underscored by musical examples, video footage, and portrayals of Stalin, Shostakovich, and his colleagues. The audience was invited to consider not only the political circumstances of the early twentieth century, but also the impact these conditions had on those whose work and art were used in defense and promotion of the ideals favored by the powerful.
Tying the narration, video, and commentary back to the piece itself was very effective. It was particularly helpful to hear musical excerpts that could be interpreted as either bolstering party ideals, or defying them. These kinds of references to external influences are not really a stretch. After all, Shostakovich used a factory whistle in his second symphony – a fact referenced in the presentation. But, in addition to the modern musical technique found in the fourth, these references begin to become much less overt and depending upon interpretation, these kinds of allusions may be dangerous. Much of Shostakovich’s output exists in this land of double meaning. For example, his String Quartet No. 8 of 1960 is publicly dedicated to the victims of the Dresden firebombing, but the grief expressed in the work is often attributed to Shostakovich’s own feelings at having been forced to join the Communist Party. With few exceptions, his orchestral works are also subject to multiple interpretations. Scholars sometimes debate his true intentions, but his musical prowess is rarely questioned.
Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony was written during 1935-36, but did not receive its premiere performance until 1961. Before he was denounced in an unsigned Pravda article in January of 1936, he had been held up as a kind of wunderkind and a Russian musical hero. Shostakovich had garnered international fame for his early symphonic output, but despite its success in Russia and abroad his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District displeased Stalin. The attack in Pravda accused Shostakovich of failing to represent the aims and truth of socialism and instead appealing only to the backward ideas of the bourgeois. During this time of social upheaval men had been jailed and even killed for much less.
After its completion, Symphony No. 4 was scheduled for performance in December of 1936. Its contemporary technique and musical language was sure to draw the same kind of condemnation leveled at Lady Macbeth, but the composer was determined to advance the work. Though the circumstances surrounding the decision are not completely clear, the piece was pulled from the concert with a press release stating that this had been done at the composer’s request. Shostakovich would have to wait 25 years to finally hear the work.
The opening of the fourth is nothing short of a wake up call. Piercing woodwinds and percussion supported by violent string tremolos immediately transition into an insistent pulse featuring brass fanfare gestures. From the outset the ensemble’s energy and attention to detail were evident. Though the fourth calls for the largest orchestra of any of Shostakovich’s symphonies, the meticulous and challenging writing is transparent in even the largest tutti sections – and the technique of the symphony was on full display. The dazzling and devilish quasi fugato string passage that occurs near the end of the development was a highlight of the movement. Maestro Guerrero’s bright tempo allowed the string section a chance to show off, and the clarity of the gesture as it descended through the section was impressive. Despite the fireworks and extreme dynamic shifts displayed in the opening and revisited at the recapitulation, Shostakovich ends the movement with what might be described as an anti-climax shepherded by a slowly expanding rhythmic statement in the English horn as the emotional intensity of the long first movement dissipates, but is not forgotten.
The second movement begins with an initial thematic gesture that, along with a repetitive rhythmic statement, serves as the genesis for the majority of the thematic material. The theme begins in the strings and is eventually developed into an intervallic canon spaced across four registers of woodwinds before it explodes into a full woodwind tutti counterbalanced by soaring horns playing the secondary theme. While they aren’t directly connected thematically, the descending canonic treatment of this theme leading to the climactic statement of the horns recalls (at least for me) the blinding string fugato in the first movement.
The pace of the movement was well crafted by the ensemble, and the expansion of the woodwind canon (piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet) into what can only be described as a relentlessly driving woodwind reed organ, was masterful. The orchestration in this section is simply ingenious – creating a sense of cathartic arrival for the horn section’s emphatic theme. The climax quickly fades into another subdued ending featuring a “ticking” statement in the percussion and a soft but agitated reprisal of the original theme in the strings punctuated by a flutter tongue in the flute and piccolo and a single xylophone note.
Shostakovich’s final movement begins as a funeral march, but quickly defies any and all convention by featuring light-hearted waltzes, dance inspired passages, and even heroic statements – all in abrupt transitions of almost slapstick quality at times. Shostakovich’s bleak humor is on display in the movement, and the orchestra was agile enough to navigate these changes without sacrificing the individual character of any of these sections. According to the noted musicologist Robert Greenberg, satire and irony were “at the heart of Shostakovich’s secret expressive language” and this sense of irony is how “generations of Soviets maintained their sanity”. This ironic and sometimes satirical treatment is essential to Shostakovich’s music, and when required the orchestra presented the appropriate moments with the satirical whimsy or gravitas needed.
The conclusion of Symphony No. 4, like the ending of the first two movements, is somewhat subdued when compared to the bombast present in each of the individual movements. The impossibly soft sustain in the string section, and the repetitive arpeggiated gesture in the celeste, culminating in the final intervallic expansion of the celeste statement was nothing short of magical. Given the technical demands of the work and the soloistic nature of the writing, offering adequate praise to the efforts of individual musicians within the orchestra would require a much longer review than this one. But for me, the best moment of the evening was the slow musical exhale that constituted the end of the work. The audience was spellbound and sat in perfect silence for a full twenty seconds before acknowledging the ensemble.
To some, such a subdued ending may not square with the fear and rage that Shostakovich must have felt working under a repressive regime that threatened his life as well as his art. But in reference to the similar ending (also featuring celeste) of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, Yevgeny Yevtushenko (the poet whose work “Babi Yar” inspired the 13th Symphony) commented, “…there is power in softness, there is strength in fragility.”
This is significant as Shostakovich’s dissent was perhaps most transparent in his Symphony No. 13, written during the “thaw”, but his true expression has been apparent to careful listeners since some of his earliest works. Without the repression, censorship, and fear he experienced surrounding Symphony No. 4, the triumph of his later works, specifically the clear defiance of his Symphony No. 13, might not have been as poignant. To borrow from Yevtushenko’s comments – the power present in vulnerability comes from our ability for empathy and is enhanced by the communicative nature of music. Symphony No. 4 is a true masterwork, and the Nashville Symphony’s commitment to music that is emotionally and artistically adventurous is inspiring.
It gives voice to the voiceless and can stand defiant in the face of seemingly unconquerable authority.
This is why art matters. It gives voice to the voiceless and can stand defiant in the face of seemingly unconquerable authority. The art that we produce and consume is a commentary on our humanity and all of its triumphs and sorrows. This was as true for Shostakovich as it is today for artists all over the world whose work is censored, banned, or punished. The fear and artistic constraints that haunted Shostakovich should not be dismissed as a relic of the Cold War era. This species of censorship and intimidation in the arts is still alive – and it must be confronted. Organizations like the Nashville Symphony are aiding in this effort by continuing to raise awareness through the programming of works that tackle important issues directly, and just as importantly by providing education and outreach allowing audiences to fully appreciate this art in context.
And for this, I say BRAVO to the Nashville Symphony – not only for a wonderful performance of an excellent and often neglected piece of music, but also for shining a light on the importance of art and its vital contribution to a well informed and free thinking public.
Nashville Ballet Presents
Romeo and Juliet
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…
So begins the most renowned tragedy by William Shakespeare. Two brought so close by love yet ripped from the world they dreamed together by the reality of their family’s damning feud. The opening scrim of the Nashville Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet, an image that will remain as the link throughout the entire production, shows two angels- one in white with red accents, one in blue- intertwined by golden cloth. In typical Renaissance artistic style, the rendering depicts movement with their eyes looking down upon the earth as the flowing of their robes suggest their ascent toward the heavens. Already evocative of the play’s opening lines, this image sets the stage for what is to come.
When the orchestra begins the introduction to Sergei Prokofiev’s suggestive score, the lush sound of the Nashville Symphony’s string section fills the hall. The lights dim, and the heroic figure of our Romeo (Nicholas Scheuer) is illuminated. Thus, the opening ensemble number is initiated, a rambunctious exposition to each character. Romeo courts the elusive Rosalind (Mollie Sansone), Mercutio (Gerald Watson) the fierce Amante (Katie Vasilopolous). Many things happen concurrently, but the stage is arranged beautifully to accommodate the hustle. With two platforms upstage and a staircase linking them, the audience can view multiple moving parts without confusion on the scene’s focus. As more townspeople enter the street, tensions rise between the inhabitants of Verona. Romeo remains unaware of anything but Rosalind, even when Mercutio and Benvolio (Luca Sportelli) begin to engage with Tybalt (Owen Thorne) and his Capulet counterparts. An elegant fight scene commences, and Romeo finally joins the fray.
Red-clad Capulets and blue-robed Montagues duel in group features before breaking into individual brawls. Clamor and chaos ensue, and within the thick of it, a child is killed. When the Prince arrives, the two families are forced to make peace, and the scene closes on the two patriarchs (Jon Upleger, Capulet; Shabaz Ujima, Montague) shaking their fists at one another from afar. From there, the story plays as expected. An exquisite Juliet (Kayla Rowser), donned in white, is introduced with choreography that exhibits her joyous naïvete as the Nurse (Emily Ireland-Buczek) prepares her for the party. The Capulet party allows a few wonderful spotlights. Not only is the ensemble opening to the “The Dance of the Knights” both raucous and stately, but the sultry dance between Tybalt and the Lady Capulet (Julia Eisen) highlight an unusual relationship that doesn’t appear in all Romeo and Juliet interpretations (the play on the Medieval idea of courtly love here is intriguing). When the Montague boys take the stage in taunting trio, Benvolio steals the show with impeccable grace and a round of pirouettes. This particular combination of dancers is an absolute delight to watch, sold by Scheuer’s dynamic charm, Watson’s sharp wit, and Sportelli’s stunning movement.
At this point of the production, it becomes abundantly clear that the color scheme is an entire character unto its own. The use of the detailed costuming is brilliant- in their meeting, Romeo is in the lightest possible hue of the Montague blue, and Juliet remains in a pure white with gold accents. Gold appears to be the most neutral of colors, with both Paris and the Prince enrobed in it. Tybalt sports the strongest red of the Capulets, furthering the point that his fire for the family feud burns brightest. However, the color is not just utilized in the costuming; the lighting and set design will change to reflect the side to which we should be paying attention. The starkest instance of this occurs at the beginning of the third act, when the scrim is illuminated with a fractured blend of red and blue. Romeo has just killed Tybalt and been sent to exile by the Prince. It is notated in our program that the next scene will take place in Juliet’s bedroom after they have just consummated their marriage, and as the orchestra begins to play, the shards of blue dim while the red remain vibrant.
The multiple pas de deux that occur between Romeo and Juliet are entrancing conversations that highlight Juliet’s excitement and Romeo’s exuberance. They are an endearing match with Rowser’s lithe playfulness and Scheuer’s eager passion. Scheuer plays a different Romeo to the smoldering tortured soul of DiCaprio- he feels each emotion so fully and so genuinely that watching him come to the realization of what he’d done to Tybalt in the second act, this strong and elegant figure breaking as he fell under the weight of it all, was truly heartbreaking. Rowser’s own fluidity between the confidence of an en pointe stance to a lowered and meek posture when in the presence of her parents only adds to her incredible technical performance. Another standout was the death of Mercutio. His preceding pas de deux with Amante (which becomes a humorous trio with Benvolio) is delightfully twisted through Vasilopolous’ strength in movement and Watson’s charisma. Watson then commands the stage through his joking about his wounds (I could almost hear the infamous “Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch”) to his powerful fall in the sign of the crucifix (the symbolism of the cross was rampant throughout the performance) as Tybalt watched on in jest. Thorne carried the role of villain well, smugly brushing off the errant booing from an audience member during the curtain call.
Prokofiev’s score plays like a narrator, giving the audience auditory cues to follow. He seemed to write in the dramatic irony that was rife throughout the third act. Unprecedented interjections and dissonances at cadential points of phrases during the love duet of Romeo and Juliet and the violin glissandi in the flute melody during Juliet’s brief pas de deux with Paris were especially sardonic. Also of note is the Russian composer’s experimentation with instrumentation- it’s not common to hear tenor saxophone or mandolin in an orchestral pit. The musicians of the Nashville Symphony achieved much in the almost continuous two hours of music: the musicality of the woodwind section in the introduction, the bassoon soli as the street livens, the principal flute’s delicacy when representing the innocent Juliet, the demanding horn fanfares during both the wedding and the funeral scenes, the Concertmaster’s beautiful solos throughout the ballet, and so many more.
In the introduction video to the production, artistic director Paul Vasterling speaks to the difficulty of adapting a show based on words into a nonverbal representation. “What we strive for in a ballet like Romeo and Juliet is to be able to tell this story through movement. There are no words. I want the audience to forget about that- to forget that there are no words.” From realistically stylized fight choreography to gorgeous, period-driven costuming, Romeo and Juliet succeeds in its mission. The marriage of the dancers’ emotive technique to a score dense with meaning, wrapped in beautifully crafted lighting plan and set design leaves the Nashville Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet a voice to speak for itself.
The Nashville Ballet returns on October 10th through the 14th with a production of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.
At OZ Arts Presents
Instant Standing Ovation: “Electric…Profound…Beautiful”
Experiencing contemporary art can sometimes feel like stepping foot into the unknown: one must be patient
and open your mind to the possibilities of what humans can create. Avant-garde Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda brought to OZ Arts an unabashed contemporary presentation that feels like a fluid, sensorial experience mixed with fierce commotion that breaks the boundaries between body, light, and sound. Patience and open-mindedness are a virtue here. This is artistic director Mark Murphy’s first international guest to visit OZ Arts, and Umeda is truly an artist that encapsulates today’s contemporary art field.
Umeda began the evening with ‘split flow’. He is small, compact, and very still. A slow build, the dance begins with movements of various speeds. These eventually grow to something greater, while he is also expressing his velocity with light. How Umeda can fill the space and create an experience that pulls the viewer away from reality is striking. And the piece, ultimately, is exploring two distinct physical conditions – one that is dynamic and one that is static. With the intervention of body into static space, a different reality can be created with every stroke that the artist makes, every variation of light that paints the artist, and every sound that infiltrates the space.
Eventually, the listener can discern that the sounds are of different mass – whether it be water, oil, or air. And
that is just how sound can influence the space it enters, the body can also influence the space around it. The bursting yet tranquil light will make itself known and stop a scene in its tracks. Meanwhile, the glaring sounds will fight back and alter reality once more. And the dance of it all is just that: several mediums encountering, coexisting and influencing each other into totality. It’s satisfying knowing there’s no plan or motive to be had – but instead, various realities that pull the viewer in because of this entrancing dance.
These same workings are explored in the harmonious second piece, ‘Holistic Strata’, where “the common denominator of all movement is expressed in the distortion of hundreds of pixels.” The work is daring even by
contemporary standards. It’s as if Umeda has this entire dance coursing through his veins, and the utter cool factor of it all is what Nashville’s contemporary scene truly craves. Engulfed in swarms of pixels, the dancer’s
physicality is ultimately influenced by the varied world that the pixels create throughout the space. But the viewer perceives that the dancer’s body can just as easily manipulate the universe around him even as it is influencing the dancer.
This back-and-forth between chaos and synchrony can be interpreted in numerous ways. Ultimately, Umeda is creating a living organism that challenges the senses, and the result is chilling. Yes, the viewer can easily sit idly by and not give the pandemonium much thought, but what’s the fun in that? Just as Umeda creates and alters this mysterious world he created, he also challenges us: to experience sensations preceding the materialization of emotions. This is the oddness of it all, as well as the beauty.
Nashville Symphony News
Nashville Symphony Presents Beyond the Score®: Shostakovich’s Fourth – Is Music Dangerous?
The Nashville Symphony’s 2019/20 Classical Series resumes on September 27-28 at Schermerhorn Symphony Center with Beyond the Score®: Shostakovich’s Fourth – Is Music Dangerous?, a program centered around Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony that uniquely blends history and music for newcomers and aficionados alike.
Developed and licensed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Beyond the Score® offers audiences a look into some of the classical repertoire’s most important composers and works through a multimedia experience that weaves together theater, music and video to tell the compelling stories that helped shape the music’s creation.
The Nashville Symphony’s performances open with a presentation exploring how the social and political climate in the Soviet Union influenced Shostakovich as he was composing the Fourth, complete with a live actor portraying the composer, a narrator, on-screen photos and videos, and musical excerpts performed by the orchestra. Following intermission, Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Nashville Symphony’s first-ever full performance of the entire Fourth Symphony.
About the Program
The Fourth is considered Shostakovich’s most experimental and profound symphony, and it still shocks to this day with its ferocious power and bleak honesty. Strongly influenced by Gustav Mahler, the work features the largest orchestration Shostakovich used in any of his 15 symphonies. But the music is only part of the story of this masterpiece, which came about during a dangerous time in Soviet Russia, when artists and intellectuals faced the threat of Joseph Stalin’s purges.
Shostakovich was already an international sensation before the Fourth. He composed his First Symphony as his graduation piece from the Petrograd Conservatory when he was only 19, and his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District became a smash hit in Moscow and Leningrad in the mid-1930s. Despite its public success, the opera drew the ire of Stalin, who reportedly walked out of a performance two years after it premiered.
A January 1936 article about the opera, titled “Muddle instead of Music,” appeared in the official Communist Party newspaper Pravda further exacerbated Shostakovich’s plight, labeling the composer an example of a “dangerous trend” in Soviet music that was “distorting” the ideals of true Socialism.
From Victor Seroff’s translation:
“The composer apparently never considered the problem of what the Soviet audience looks for and expects in music. As though deliberately, he scribbles down his music, confusing all the sounds in such a way that his music would reach only the effete “formalists” who had lost all their wholesome taste. He ignored the demand of Soviet culture that all coarseness and savagery be abolished from every corner of Soviet life. Some critics call the glorification of the merchants’ lust a satire. But there is no question of satire here. The composer has tried, with all the musical and dramatic means at his command, to arouse the sympathy of the spectators for the coarse and vulgar inclinations and behavior of the merchant woman Katerina Izmailova.”
The article – published when composer had completed the bulk of the Fourth Symphony – put Shostakovich in a perilous position. People crossed the street to avoid him, and he allegedly kept a suitcase packed with warm clothing and sturdy shoes in anticipation of being shipped off to a gulag in Siberia.
Despite the Pravda attack, he pushed on and completed the Fourth in the spring of 1936. The premiere was scheduled for that December with the Leningrad Philharmonic, but Shostakovich pulled the piece during rehearsals. There is rampant speculation surrounding the withdrawal, the prevailing theory being that the state exerted pressure on the Leningrad Philharmonic and forced the orchestra’s manager to cancel the premiere.
Underlying this belief, biographer Laurel Fay noted that “given the political and aesthetic climate of the time, there seems very little doubt that even in a flawless performance the massive…work would have been construed as…an act in arrogant defiance of the Party’s benevolent guidance.”
Shostakovich did earn a temporary reprieve from the overbearing political pressure with his triumphant Fifth Symphony in late 1937, but the threat of making a false step remained throughout his career, and the state’s “disappearing” of the Fourth deeply affected him: “I was afraid,” he recalled years later. “Fear was a common feeling for everyone then, and I didn’t miss my share. The danger horrified me, and I saw no way out…. It was a low that wiped out my past. And my future. The terrible pre-war years. That is what my symphonies, beginning with the Fourth, are about.”
It was not until December 30, 1961, well after Stalin’s death, that the Fourth finally premiered.
Tickets for Beyond the Score may be purchased:
- Online at NashvilleSymphony.org/BeyondTheScore
- Via phone at 615.687.6400
- At the Schermerhorn Symphony Center Box Office, One Symphony Place in downtown Nashville
Full program notes, a Spotify playlist and video of Giancarlo Guerrero discussing the program, can be found at: https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/beyondthescore.
At the Schermerhorn...
Nashville Starts the Season with Tchaikovsky, Barber, and Hailstork
On Friday, September 13, the Nashville Symphony opened their 2019-2020 season spectacularly with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, Samuel Barber’s piano concerto with guest soloist Garrick Ohlsson, and Adolphus Hailstork’s An American Port of Call, all conducted by Maestro Giancarlo Guerrero. While these pieces appear to be musically unrelated, their composers are tied together through their issues with cultural identity. Both Adolphus Hailstork and Samuel Barber focus heavily on “the singing line” in their compositions, with Barber borrowing heavily from the Russian piano style to do so. Barber’s involvement in both the singing line and Russian piano tradition provided an excellent segue to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, as it grapples with using distinctly Russian sounds in a world dominated by the western European tradition.
As is customary in many American symphonies, opening night began with a drumroll leading into “The Star Spangled Banner.” Both the orchestra and the audience stood and joined together in song, and quite honestly, it was one of the better sing-alongs I’ve heard! Although traditional, it was a pleasant way to start the season.
Adolphus Hailstork composed An American Port of Call in 1984 as a commission from the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the piece has since become his most popular orchestral score. Growing up, Hailstork played the violin, piano, and organ, but notes that first and foremost, he came up as a singer. Because of this, he states, “the vocal line, the singing line, is absolutely fundamental to my artistry.” Hailstork also describes his composition style as “a double cultural experience, that of my standard European-oriented education and that of my ethnic heritage.” As an African American composer, Hailstork feels that African Americans have been so long left out of the western classical tradition, and powerfully declares that now is the time for them to make an impact on the American repertoire.
This piece certainly kicked off the evening with a bang! The dissonant, brass-heavy opening was quite lively and energetic, and engaged the audience from the very first note. The piece had a great number of wonderful section features, which highlighted the technique and musicality of the woodwinds, low brass, and percussion beautifully. Even through all of the dissonance and excitement, the “singing line” intended by the composer was always appropriate emphasized, making the piece pleasant to hear and accessible to all members of the audience. The symphony (and composer, as he was present!) received a standing ovation after this first piece, which was certainly well-deserved.
Samuel Barber composed his piano concerto between the years of 1959 and 1962, as a commission to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his publisher, G. Schirmer. Barber was heavily influenced by the great late-Romantic composers, like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, in the composition of this concerto, and while he incorporates more modern harmonic language and rhythms, the influence of the Romantics can always be heard.
This technically and emotionally demanding concerto was performed with absolute ease by soloist Garrick Ohlsson. He boasts an impressive career, including winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, collaborating with chamber ensembles around the world, and a current project of performing the complete solo piano works of Brahms in four different programs.
The concerto started with a bold statement from just the soloist, and from those first chords, it was clear Mr. Ohlsson had masterful command over this piece. He beautifully ducked and weaved in and out of the orchestral textures, knowing just when to be heard and when to blend. It was a nice change of pace to hear a concerto with quite a lot of involvement from the orchestra, with many prominent wind and string solos throughout. As always, these soloists played their passages with laser-like precision and such emotional complexity.
The second movement was perhaps one of the most beautiful moments of the entire concert. It showcased more of the emotional side of Mr. Ohlssons playing rather than his technical, and created such a lovely dialogue with the rich, low flute line. This movement also provided a nice contrast from the otherwise upbeat repertoire so far.
The third movement picked up the pace yet again, but this time with even more energy. Mr. Ohlsson flew through some of the most technically difficult passages of the program with absolute ease, never once giving the audience any indication that it challenged him at all. The audience was propelled to their feet in the second lengthy standing ovation of the evening, which was certainly well-deserved by both the symphony and the soloist. I’m not much of a fan of Barber, but this was truly a remarkable and enjoyable performance, and a perfect way to end the first half of the evening.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed his Fifth Symphony extremely quickly, between May and August of 1888. This symphony exists in an in between space of Tchaikovsky’s emotional openness (symbolized by his Fourth) and later desire to be more private (such as his Sixth). Some of the only writing Tchaikovsky left about his Fifth suggests that the opening motto of the symphony is a “resignation before fate,” creating a bit of a connection with Beethoven’s Fifth. Tchaikovsky utilizes a wide range of orchestral textures, colors, and dramatic contrasts throughout, making the piece quite interesting and exciting to experience.
The symphony opened with the soft, but powerful line from the clarinets, which was executed flawlessly by the Nashville Symphony. The line rose and fell in dynamic so naturally and effectively, truly capturing the emotions that Tchaikovsky intended. I’m sure it’s just a matter of personal taste, but I wish the beginning had just been a hair more sustained to create a sense of continuity. With that being said, all of the releases in these opening passages were done with such elegance and care, and it was still enjoyable to hear. The first movement carried on with all of its dramatic dynamic, style, and tempo changes, and the Symphony did it all beautifully at every turn. It was truly a wonderful performance of one of my favorite movements of all time.
The second movement once again highlighted the emotional side of the symphony, with one of the best performances of the horn solo I’ve yet heard. The “slow movement” certainly did not drag on, and provided a welcome breath of fresh air after the symphony’s intense beginning. The third movement continued this reprieve with a short, more lighthearted waltz, adding even more variety to the wide range of styles exhibited in this one work. As always the orchestra emphasized the differences in character beautifully.
The fourth movement was a triumphant return to the major (no pun intended) theme of the first movement. This movement brought more impressive features of the high and low brass sections, which filled the hall magnificently. The false stop near the end of the piece was done so convincingly that a few members of the audience prepared for applause. The REAL applause (and third standing ovation of the evening!) came after the energetic rush to the end, which the Nashville Symphony performed with such enthusiasm and excitement. It truly was a great performance of a fantastic symphony.
All in all, it was a successful opening to the season! The Symphony played beautifully, the house was nearly full, and everyone seemed genuinely excited to be there. The Nashville Symphony has certainly set the bar high for themselves, but I’m excited to experience everything else the season holds.
A New Season in Music City
The 2019-2020 season opened this past Friday in Nashville with a spectacular concert by the Nashville Symphony at Schermerhorn Hall. The concert featured world renowned pianist Garrick Ohlsson performing Samuel Barber’s fiery Piano Concerto as well as Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and contemporary composer Adolphus Hailstork’s sparkling composition The American Port of Call. As I walked across the pedestrian bridge at the golden hour, I thought about how lucky we are here in the Music City.
The Nashville Symphony’s season, tied to the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, has prepared a classical line up this year in which chestnuts from the standard repertoire will be recontextualized by their presentation alongside works of living composers. This evening, for example, the program featured composers “…whose search for a voice is bound up with issues of cultural identity.” In the current political climate of the United States, certainly, cultural identity is a very important issue and one imagines relevance will never be far from center.
Obviously, the symphony isn’t the only game in town. Nashville Ballet is bringing out a production of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet next weekend and Nashville Opera will present Puccini’s Madame Butterfly on October 10 and 12. Meanwhile, on October 5th contemporary music ensemble Intersection will present Renewal in which they will partner with the vocal ensemble Portara to present a concert that privileges the conservation of our planet’s beauty. Gateway Chamber Orchestra, who have a remarkable season planned, will be present Schubert’s 4th Symphony on the 29th and virtuosa flutist Lorna McGhee playing Reinecke’s Concerto. Alongside all of the other things happening this month around town, it’s going to be a very busy time for MCR’s intrepid reviewers. Interested in joining the team? We are always looking for new writers!
As I often like to do, after the concert at the Schermerhorn on Friday, I stopped over at Rudy’s Jazz Room for a 
late night snack on the way home. There I was extremely lucky to catch a set from the New York based Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet. Their interpretation of standards like Wayne Shorter’s “Fee Fi Fo Fum” or Vernon Duke’s “Autumn in New York” were both transcendent and intimate—Kreisberg’s back phrasing on the latter channeled Billie Holiday. This autumn Rudy’s will feature a wonderful collection of local and visiting names. Coupled with the daily jazz available at Skull’s Rainbow Room, the Jazz Workshop or even the City Winery where the Tennessee Jazz and Blues Society’s Great Albums Series continues with a performance of Thelonious Monk’s classic LP Misterioso on Sunday, jazz too continues to thrive in the Music City.
In all we are seeking to expand the MCR’s coverage of things going on in and around Nashville. If you have a concert you would like to review, or would like to submit a review for publication please contact us! We are always looking for new, local voices. Finally, if you like what you read and see here and wish it to continue, perhaps you might consider a monetary donation? The scene deserves so much more attention and a little help can go a long way. Also, maybe we could hire a real photographer.
Anyway, leave a comment below if you’d like and here’s to a great season!
Coming to TPAC:
Evan Hansen Lottery!
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Described by the Los Angeles Times as a “cultural phenomenon,” Dear Evan Hansen makes its Nashville debut Sept. 10-15 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Jackson Hall. In advance of the one-week engagement, the production announces it will host a digital ticket lottery through Lucky Seat, offering fans the chance to purchase a limited number of $25 tickets per performance.
Lucky Seat will begin accepting entries 48 hours prior to the first performance at TPAC in Nashville and will be accepted until 9 a.m. CT the day before the performance.
Fans who have been selected will be notified daily via email and can then purchase up to two (2) tickets at $25 each. The ticket lottery will continue on a rolling basis for every performance in the engagement. All entrants are encouraged to follow Dear Evan Hansen on Instagram (@dearevanhansen), Twitter (@dearevanhansen) and Facebook (@DearEvanHansen) for additional lottery news and information.
Entrants must be 18 years or older. A valid, non-expired photo ID that matches the name used to enter is required for pickup. Seat locations awarded by the lottery are subject to availability. Additional lottery requirements can be found at www.luckyseat.com/
Dear Evan Hansen features a book by Tony Award winner Steven Levenson, a score by Grammy®, Tony® and Academy Award® winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”), and direction by four-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (“Rent,” “Next to Normal”).
Declared “One of the most remarkable shows in musical theatre history” by Peter Marks of the Washington Post, Dear Evan Hansen opened at the Music Box Theatre to rave reviews on December 4, 2016.
There, it has broken all box office records and struck a chord with audiences and critics alike, including New York Times critic Jesse Green, who, in his May 2019 re-review of the show, declared it “more and more ingenious with each viewing. It is more hopeful than ever.”
In addition to winning six 2017 Tony awards and a 2018 Grammy Award, Dear Evan Hansen has won numerous other awards, including the 2017 Drama League Award for Outstanding Musical Production and for the off-Broadway production, two Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards and two Helen Hayes Awards. Dear Evan Hansen is also the winner of the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards three years running and was just proclaimed the Best Long-Running Show and the Best Touring Production in the 2019 Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards.
Dear Evan Hansen, produced by Stacey Mindich, features scenic design by David Korins, projection design by Peter Nigrini, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, and hair design by David Brian Brown. Music supervision, orchestrations and additional arrangements are by Alex Lacamoire. Ben Cohn is the Associate Music Supervisor. Vocal arrangements and additional arrangements are by Justin Paul. Danny Mefford is the choreographer. Casting by Tara Rubin Casting/Xavier Rubiano. Sash Bischoff, Adam Quinn and Danny Sharron are the Associate Directors. Judith Schoenfeld is the Production Supervisor. U.S. General Management 101 Productions.
For more information, visit DearEvanHansen.com, or find the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
If You Go:
Dear Evan Hansen
Sept. 10-15, 2019
TPAC’s Jackson Hall
505 Deaderick St.
Tickets:
TPAC.org
615-782-4040
Traditions in Music City
Plaza Mariachi: Come for The Music, Stay for The Circus
Nolensville Pike, south of downtown Nashville, is known for being one of the most multicultural parts of town. Mexican taquerias are next door to Indian markets, Middle Eastern restaurants, and Korean churches. There are ten international markets in a three mile stretch alone. Back in 2016, Nashvillians in this area were wild with curiosity as to what an abandoned Kroger building on Nolensville Pike would become when construction began on the site. The Plaza Mariachi opened on May 12th, 2017 to great fanfare, and it has grown to be wildly popular. Looking at it from the outside, one might walk in expecting a
typical shopping mall. But when you step inside, you are instantly transported to a Latin American market with enticing food stalls around a central food court, and little streets lined with shops carrying everything from folk crafts to the most Gorgeous quinceañera dresses imaginable.
The tactile design of the space is remarkable, with different business fronts sporting tile, thatching, adobe, stained glass, and mosaic, many with flowering vines gracefully overflowing from the roofs. While the space feels like an open air plaza, it is in fact the renovated Kroger; the airiness is provided by three enormous skylights that give the food court a sun dappled feeling. Depending on the time of day and day of the week, your journey might be accompanied by a flamenco guitar, violin, or a full Mariachi band, who perform on a stage while people wander by eating paletas (Mexican popsicles that shame all other popsicles), street corn, or all other manner of tasty treats.+
A recent visit to the Plaza Mariachi allowed this reviewer to take a look at the breathtaking new mural of Frida Kahlo on the side of the building, and nab a pico de gallo paleta (it might sound odd, but was utterly delicious) before settling in to enjoy some music. The Gustavo Guerreo trio, featuring Gustavo Guerreo on guitar and vocals, backed by drums, sax, and flute, provided a heady counterpoint to the paleta. The band was tight, the energy on stage was contagious, and Guerreo’s charisma and supple voice charmed the audience with his original songs- a stylistic blend of Latin jazz and folk music- and the occasional Beatles cover in equal measure.
Speaking to Guerreo after his set was a treat, as he is a young man with the skill of instantly putting one at ease, and making it seem as though you have been friends for years. Guerreo hails from Honduras, but spent much of his later childhood and teen years in North Carolina. He is a passionate advocate for DREAMers; his bilingual cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” recorded with Youtube sensation Alex G., was chosen by the Democratic National Committee to be part of their fight for the DREAM Act in 2017. It’s a beautiful video, you can check it out here:
Guerreo’s set ended, and two women in sparkly unitards from the Nashville circus group Beyond Wings took to the air, in a very literal sense. Plaza Mariachi has two sets of aerial silks installed in the center of the food court, and these ladies performed a breathtaking routine 30 feet above the diner’s heads. One of the women, Grace Good, is also an accomplished hula hooper and performed a dynamite hooping routine, finishing with seven hoops undulating around
various appendages.
Live music can be heard daily, and circus performances are weekend staples, but the fun doesn’t end there. The Plaza Mariachi boasts salsa dance nights, Mexican folk dancing, karaoke, and trivia nights. Sometimes it transforms into a latin dance club, other times a wrestling ring is installed and patrons can enjoy Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling) while they eat. Not to mention there are slamming lattes and equally slamming margaritas available, depending on your mood.
Scanning the crowd, one gets the impression that the Plaza Mariachi is part Hispanic community center, part Hispanic ambassador ship to Nashville. The majority of the patrons are indeed of Latinx origin or extraction, but the atmosphere is welcoming to those from outside of that community. Families, couples, groups of “girls night out-ers,” and highschool kids that primarily hang out at the arcade (did we forget to mention the arcade? Yes. They have one.) co-exist peacefully and pleasantly. Every color of humanity is represented, because who in their right mind doesn’t appreciate delicious food, beautiful music, and circus babes in an idyllic setting?
For more information about the Plaza Mariachi, please visit https://plazamariachi.com/ . To hear more of Gustavo Guerreo’s story and music, please visit https://www.gustavoguerreromusic.com/ , and subscribe to his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/GustavoGuerreroMusic . To learn more about the Beyond Wings circus company, please visit https://beyondwings.webs.com/ .
Coming Event:
Popsicles & Pointillism from Intersection
Saturday, August 24th – 5:00-7:00pm
1416 Lebanon Pike
Nashville, TN 37210
POPSICLES & POINTILLISM is a fundraiser for Intersection with live music, small bites, art creation, drinks, and a tour of the Clay Lady campus. Join us for this fun, casual, family friendly event supporting Intersection! We’ll have popsicles and live music from Intersection musicians along with creative activities. You’ll hear the news about our upcoming sixth season – ACTION. Guests will also be able to take a tour of the Clay Lady’s Campus enjoying casual indoor spaces, a lovely outdoor courtyard, and original works by resident artists on campus.
Coming September 20-22 at TPAC
Nashville Ballet: Romeo and Juliet
Choreography and direction by Paul Vasterling
Fight direction and choreography by Tim Klotz
Music by Sergei Prokofiev
Live music performed by the Nashville Symphony
William Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers return to the stage to open Nashville Ballet’s season. The most iconic love story ever told, Romeo and Juliet sweeps audiences away in a whirlwind of forbidden passion and swoon-worthy romance. Featuring action-packed fight scenes and lush period costumes, this timeless and theatrical production whisks audiences to the streets of fair Verona as the Bard’s famous tragedy unfolds. Forbidden passion, action-packed fight scenes, and swoon-worthy romance whisk audiences away as the timeless story of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers unfolds this September 20-22.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dhGCAKEgT0&feature=youtu.be
