DSO tackles virtuoso new concertos by Kernis, Williams
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has been on a bit of a new-music roll as of late. This week's concerts include not only the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis' Flute Concerto, but also a performance of John Williams' 20-year-old Trumpet Concerto. These come on the heels of last week's world premiere performances of Mohammad Fairouz's "Desert Sorrows," a cello concerto.
All of this activity, however, feels very much like business as usual for the DSO, where music director Leonard Slatkin has made contemporary music integral to the orchestra's current identity. The appearance of two large-scale new (or newish) concertos on the same program might count as a tsunami at some other orchestras. At the DSO, it's normal operating procedure — a powerful symbol of an orchestra connected to the music of its own time.
Co-commissioned by the DSO and three other orchestras and institutions, Kernis' Flute Concerto proved to be a corker Thursday. It's a big piece, cast in four movements lasting nearly 30 minutes and putting soloist Marina Piccinini and the entire ensemble through a series of athletic technical challenges. Piccinini's solo part in particular was full of challenging leaps, passages that whizzed by at supersonic speed and, in the finale, strutting melodies where she was required to sing and play at the same time in the manner Jethro Tull's flutist Ian Anderson.
The concerto was more abstract, with more dissonance and density than much of Kernis' music, which tends to traffic in lush melody and easily digestible harmony. Here the dominant feeling was one of mercurial mood swings, as the flute skittered quickly between dreamy reveries, sprightly dances and intense furies. All proceeded smoothly, including a charming use of a mandolin, until the last movement Tarantella, where the drum set and "ride" cymbal beat and rock-inspired bass lines stumbled like an awkward teen trying to dance. PIccinini's gleaming virtuosity, including the variety of articulations and colors she drew from the flute, was a source of wonder, and Slatkin led a sharply attentive, if not always note-perfect, ensemble.
In recent years, the DSO has played (and recorded) a gaggle of John Williams' concertos with DSO principal players as soloists. Compared to his Oscar-winning film scores like "Star Wars" and "Schindler's List," Williams' pieces for the concert hall are more abstract in terms of melody, harmony and structure. Trumpet Concerto, which is smartly constructed but a little dry, cuts a particularly austere profile, even in its more lyrical moments like the central movement that winks at the blues without every really sounding bluesy.
The opening movement has a ceremonial cast with fanfares, while the finale is a kind of breathless sprint. The piece also puts severe technical demands on the soloist in terms of register leaps, exposed high-notes and rapid-fire passages. On Thursday, DSO principal trumpet Hunter Eberly's execution wasn't as supple as it usually is, and I bet he brings more sparkle to the piece in Saturday's performance.
DSO opens new season on adventurous note
The concert opened and closed in the standard repertoire. Slatkin led a sweet and vivacious performance of Bizet's "Carmen Suite" that hit all the highlights of the opera, with especially evocative solos by oboist Alexander Kinmonth. On the other hand, Ravel's "Bolero" sounded a little drab, the individual solos inconsistent in character and the effect of the long crescendo falling a little flat compared to the Slatkin-DSO performance I heard in 2012.
Contact Mark Stryker: 313-222-6459. mstryker@freepress.com
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, Orchestra Hall
Program repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday, Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-576-5111. www.dso.org
$15-$50