February 2, 2006 Issue                                               

©2005 The Chestnut Hill Local

Breathtaking performance by Hill musician
by MICHAEL CARUSO

‘MESSENGERS’ ROCK THE LOFT: The Blues Messengers bring their avant-garde, African blues-jazz fusion to The Loft, a new Mt. Airy music and arts venue at 7136 Germantown Ave., above the Anglesea Pub on Friday, Feb. 3, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Joined by Harold E. Smith, Mt. Airy’s own didgeridoo guru, percussion powerhouse and vocalist extraordinaire, The Blues Messengers continue to spread the Blues Message of “One People, One World, One Blues.” Seen here are Harold Smith (center); (from left) Mike Albrecht, guitar, vocals; Dave Doggett, pedal steel, tenor sax; Larry Hambrecht, harmonica, vocals; Pete Currie, drums, vocals; Tom Gittlemann, bass. They will be joined by Philly sax legend, Byard Lancaster. Call 215-247-4992.

Every now and again, one has the opportunity to witness a young musician laying out for himself a daunting challenge, one that will require him to pull himself up to an altogether new and higher level of artistic accomplishment. Every now and then, one has the chance to witness that musician not merely achieving a higher goal but surpassing it and, in the process of doing so, establishing for himself a more impressive standing than even his most ardent admirers ever imagined for him so soon in his career.

It doesn’t happen often, but it did occur Sunday afternoon when Chestnut Hill’s Ignat Solzhenitsyn conducted the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in a performance of Franz Schubert’s immortal “Great” Symphony in C major in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. From every conceivable viewpoint — as an interpreter of the score and as a conductor of an ensemble of musicians — Solzhenitsyn’s work on the podium was breathtaking.

Many young conductors wisely shy away from attempting to interpret so towering a masterpiece as Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C major. It remains one of the most sublime symphonies ever composed. It could reasonably be argued that no symphonic score written after it was completed in 1826 has ever equaled it, let alone surpassed it, for emotional depth or spiritual height. Even though Schubert was not quite 30 years old when he finished it, he had led the full life only a genius can know.

Despite his being not far from Schubert’s ultimate age of 31 years, Ignat Solzhenitsyn had the courage to take the challenge of conducting the “Great Symphony in C major. Sunday’s concert proved that his courage was well-placed. He gave the finest interpretation I’ve yet heard him give on the podium; he drew from the Chamber Orchestra the finest playing I’ve ever heard from the ensemble, and together they gave one of the most convincing readings of this score I’ve encountered in three decades of concert-reviewing in Philadelphia.

With sentiment free from sentimentality, Solzhenitsyn set a forceful tempo for the first movement’s opening Andante, then launched into a brisk Allegro that bristled with drama. He shaped the waves of sound with a sure sense of dramatic propulsion, employing swells of dynamics during the development to drive unimpeded to its brawny coda. The second movement betrayed no lessening of the level of intensity, even during its most lyrical passages. Crescendos were taken to what seemed like their final destination only to expand to even greater amplitude in their sonic impact.

It would be grossly unfair not to mention the exemplary contributions of the members of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. The entire string section played with admirable textural transparency and flawless ensemble. The woodwind choir as a whole played with a marvelous sense of balance and blend, with oboist Geoffrey Deemer offering solo playing of exquisite lyricism and a refined yet tawny tone.

ACADEMY ANNIVERSARY

Local music lovers celebrated the 149th anniversary of the opening of the Academy of Music in January of 1857 with a festive concert and glitzy ball that have been annual events since 1957. That was the year that followed the Philadelphia Orchestra Association’s coming into full ownership of the opera house, now concert hall that had become its home since its inception in 1900.

Few nowadays remember the sad condition the Academy of Music had fallen into before the Orchestra Association took it over. In an odd coincidence, the 1956-57 season was the first during which I heard the Philadelphians in a concert at the Academy of Music, and I recall two characteristics of the house.

First, it looked shabby; second, its acoustics were far more resonant than they are today, although the present situation is far better than what existed prior to the extensive acoustical improvements recently undertaken. The fundraising behind the annual concert and ball provide a major portion of the money used to sustain what is an ongoing project: the maintenance and enhancement of the oldest continuously operated opera house/concert hall still standing and still in its original use in America.

New York’s famed Carnegie Hall is a new kid on the block compared to our town’s fabled Academy of Music. As home to both the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, as well as the site of numerous Broadway musical productions, it remains an active part of Philadelphia’s cultural and civic life. Its 150th anniversary blast next year should be a humdinger.

Putting nostalgia aside, Saturday night’s concert featured Charles Dutoit — “the man who should have been king” — on the podium to lead the Philadelphians in a program that featured the Overture to Rossini’s opera, The Thieving Magpie, Respighi’s The Pines of Rome, and opera arias by Cilea from Andriana Lecouvreur and Puccini’s La Rondine and Madama Butterfly with Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu. I can’t help but wonder what the Philadelphia Orchestra’s fortunes would be like today if Dutoit had been chosen to succeed Ricardo Muti when the Italian maestro retired from his post as music director in 1992. A project to record all the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich with Dutoit was in the works at the time, but fell through once Dutoit was passed over.

Gheorghiu’s highly anticipated appearance only half-delivered on its promise. She gave a touching rendition of Cilea’s “Ecco: respiro appena” and scored a solid triumph with Puccini’s “Chi il bell sogno di Doretta.” But for anyone who remembers either Renata Tebaldi or Leontyne Price as Butterfly, Gheorghiu’s “Un bel di vedremo” was a disappointment. Her voice failed to blossom in amplitude along with Butterfly’s hope for Pinkerton’s return, and her singing strangely lacked the intense passion that is revelatory of the young mother’s fear that the father of her son has, in fact, abandoned her. It’s an aria that rarely fails to clutch at my heart — but sadly that’s what it failed to do this time around. As for the one encore — “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady — it’s best to write it off to bad advice.