Edward Gardner brings Passion to the Podium with Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Betthoven's 7th Symphony

By -

Edward Gardner is the Guest Conductor this weekend with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra as they perform Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No 1 with Leila Josefowicz on Violin, and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The night was filled with passionate music and Gardner took the symphony through the paces of some amazing music.

The program started with Night on Bald Mountain, a bold program opener that closes with a tender sigh. Maestro Gardner shifted and pointed, swayed and pounced his way through the piece trying to capture every nuance. He focused on each member of the orchestra as he built a musically picturesque tableau.

Leila Josefowicz joined the orchestra on stage to delight the audience with Prokofiev's Violin Concert No 1. in D major. This is a demanding piece for both the conductor and the soloist. The opening is tender and melodic. Ms Josefowicz' performance was exceedingly expressive almost demanding the orchestra match her intensity. Maestro Gardner rose to the challenge and the two danced through the opening movement with virtuosic performance. As the cellos get playful, so does the solo violin, Ms Josefowicz matching their style perfectly. As the piece intensifies, Maestro Gardner intently watched both Ms Josefowicz and the orchestra keeping them finely balanced both dynamically and emotionally.

There are moments of frolicking play and lush richness. The performances of orchestra, conductor and soloist showing their skill with Prokofiev's very demanding music. Toward the end the emotions of the music are too much and they slowly melt into a delightfully tender finish.

The second half of the concert was all Beethoven; his strong and passionate seventh symphony. In a quote by composer Louis Spohr who played in the violin section during the premiere performance:

"Beethoven had accustomed himself to indicate expression by all manner of singular body movements. So often as a sforzando occurred, he tore his arms, which he had previously crossed on his breasts, with great vehemence asunder. At piano he crouched down lower and lower as he desired the degree of softness."
Obviously Edward Gardner took the Beethoven school of conducting. Watching him throughout the performance it was crystal clear what he was asking of the orchestra, from bombastic punctuations from the timpani, trumpets or horns, to the lilting dance of the flutes, prancing of the clarinets or bassoons and a myriad of emotions from the strings. The symphony is filled with punctuations and sudden dynamic shifts. Maestro Gardner captured each of these and so much more with his constant movement and bodily expressions.

In the end the audience erupted with the applause and cheers. While the Prokofiev swelled the audience's emotions, then allowed them to ease, the Beethoven brought them to the boiling point.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more