University of Virginia Library

MUSIC

Minnesota's 'Musical Bag' Proves A Point

By TERI TOWE

Every once in a while I go
to a concert at which the
performers seem to be trying
to prove their worth to the
audience. Usually this type of
concert is restricted to those
wonderful New York recitals in
Town Hall or Alice Tully Hall
when a recent graduate of
Juilliard or Manues, for
example, will make his
"official" debut playing to an
audience composed of
teachers, friends, musical
cognoscenti, and those of us who
attend simply because the
program is either intriguing or
downright weird.

Virtuoso Orchestra

Occasionally, however, I've
come across concerts where
performers of major standing
seem to be trying to prove
themselves, and Tuesday
night's concert given by the
Minnesota Orchestra in
University Hall was definitely
one of these. The orchestra and
its musical director, Stanislaw
Skrowaczewski were out to
show Charlottesville that they
are a great virtuoso orchestra.
They proved their point
magnificently, I admit, but
music, I regret to say, suffered
greatly in the process.

On paper, the program of
music by Rameau, Chavez, and
Bruckner was inventive,
original, and a refreshing
change from the usual one of
classical symphony or overture
to begin with, then a concerto
of some kind, intermission, and
finally a mammoth and well
known Romantic Symphony.
In performance, however, the
first half of the Minnesota
Orchestra's program was
disappointing.

The concert began with a
suite of five pieces arranged
from the Six Concerts en
Sextuor by Jean-Philippe
Rameau. When I first saw the
program, I expected that the
transcriptions, made by
Skrowaczewski himself, would
be tonally and instrumentally
inventive like the Stravinsky
arrangement of Bach's Chorale
Variations on Vom Himmel
hoch da komm Ich her. No
such luck.

What we heard instead was
an arrangement for the
orchestra's entire string
section. Considering the fact
that the Concerts in Sextour
were intended for a handful of
string instruments,
Skrowaczewsk's enlargement
of the instrumentation to
titanic proportions produced a
result that was virtuosic if
somewhat awkward and
elephantine. The effect was not
unlike the kind of ride one gets
if his automobile tires,
intended to be inflated to 20
pounds of pressure, are instead
under about 45 pounds of
pressure. The effect is bouncy
and euphoric at first, but the
wear and tear is immediate and
disastrous.

Distinctly European

Second on the program was
the Sinfonia India by the
twentieth century Mexican
composer, Carlos Chavez.
Written during one of Chavez's
extended visits to New York in
the mid '30's, the tone of the
work is distinctly European
but with a thick veneer of
Mexicana. The thematic
material is largely derived from
native Indian melodies, and
there is great and effective use
made of native Mexican
instruments. Over all, the pace
of the Sinfonia India is frantic,
and the Minnesota Orchestra
met the technical challenges
superbly.

Yet, I came away from the
work feeling empty. I am
reminded of Napoleon
Bonaparte's description of the
letters of Mme. de Sevigne –
"Reading her letters is like
eating snowballs: One can
surfeit himself without ever
having felt satisfied."

After intermission the
audience was treated to a
performance of Anton
Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 in
D Minor. I know a lot of
people are going to think I'm a
little dotty when I say that this
mammoth work is one my
favorite symphonies, but
despite its, eclecticism and
derivative moments, the
Bruckner D Minor Symphony
is for me a moving, eloquent,
and sometimes bitter statement
from a much derided
nineteenth century composer
who, in the last 20 years,
has finally received some of the
recognition he has deserved.

Odd Little Man

Bruckner was an odd little
man, and his peculiarities show
up throughout the Third
Symphony. His obsession with
the first movement of the
Beethoven Ninth has left an
indelible mark on the first
movement of the work. There
are hints of Wagner in the slow
movement and of the Brahms
First Symphony in the last
movement. Yet, I like to think
that, without the Bruckner
Third, much of Mahler would
have been impossible. The acid,
dancelike themes that
permeate scherzo and the
finale with their bitterness
haunt almost all of Mahler's
Symphonies.

Skrowaczewski's reading
was overall highly successful.
The first movement was
particularly powerful, and the
entire performance was marked
by splendid brass playing that
should have the brass sections
of every major American
orchestra green with envy. The
only reservation I had was the
tempo in the finale; it seemed a
little fast, and the movement,
for some strange reason, lost its
momentum and grandeur at
the very end.

Looked at as a whole, the
Minnesota Orchestra's concert
was perhaps the oddest I've
attended in three years I've
been here. A musical mixed
bag played by a great orchestra
under the direction of a
precisionist conductor of the
first rank, Tuesday night's
concert was an event that
should not have been missed.
Honi soit qui mal y pense.

CONCERT—

The Fifth Dimension, Billy Davis Jr., Lamont
McLenore, Ron Townsend, Marilyn McCoo, and Florence LaRue
Gordon, will be appearing at University Hall this Friday night at
8. After coming into their own in 1967 with their version of
Jimmy Webb's "Up, Up and Away," they proved a tremendous
success when they appeared here a year later.