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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

REVIEW: BAROQUE ORCHESTRA CHASES WINTER BLUES WITH ECLECTIC PROGRAM

Sheila and OreoBy Sheila Abrams

If you’re planning a concert program for maximum impact, you probably could do a lot worse than by bracketing the day’s music with works by Beethoven. That’s what Maestro Robert W. Butts did at Grace Church in Madison last Sunday, as the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey presented its annual mid-winter concert.

According to Butts’s introduction, all these weeks later, we are still feeling the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Because of logistical issues—rehearsals and so forth—the original program was changed to one the maestro described as “eclectic,” noting his uncharacteristic inability to find a theme to tie the program together. No matter. Eclectic can be a good thing and the inclusion of Beethoven in the mix is sort of like insurance.

The program began with the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, composed in 1801 and sometimes seen as the beginning of Beethoven’s “middle” period. The overture was part of a score for a ballet, written on commission, the only ballet music Beethoven ever composed. The ballet itself, choreographed by a popular dancer of the time, is rarely if ever performed, but Beethoven’s overture has survived.

The mythological Prometheus was a Titan who brought humanity out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of art and culture. He in fact is credited with giving humanity the gift of fire. This must have been an irresistible subject for Beethoven, who had reportedly just emerged from a deep depression.

This is all reflected in the heroic tones with which Beethoven opened the overture, a powerful call to attention. The music has the urgency that ultimately characterizes Beethoven’s music, a departure from the measured and rational formalism of what came before. It’s a great way to begin a concert because it alerts the audience that something special is in the works.

That, of course, was the case on Sunday, but what was coming was not necessarily what you would have expected. The overture was followed by the presentation of two pieces by an operatic baritone, Mark Fitzgerald Wilson (right), who recently sang the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Opera at Florham.

Gifted with a powerful and lyrically beautiful voice, not to mention movie-star good looks, Wilson sang a dramatic aria from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale followed by one of the most familiar baritone arias in the opera repertoire, the Toreador song from Bizet’s Carmen. While an audience always enjoys hearing something it recognizes, this is not without danger. They know if you don’t do it right. Wilson absolutely did it right and left the enthusiastic audience wanting more.

In the realm of the eclectic, the next item on the program could not have been more surprising. It was a mini-recital by the Grace Gargoyles, Grace Church’s own young male a cappella singing group, coached by the church’s distinguished choir director, Dr. Anne Matlack. (Matlack is also director of the chorus, Harmonium, which was reviewed here in December.)

The 13-member group, ranging from 7th to 12th graders, sang a charming set of numbers, ranging from spiritual to rock, charming the audience in the process.

Next on the program was possibly the most eagerly awaited selection, at least for this reviewer: the Winter Suite, or Suite for a Winter Afternoon, by Robert W. Butts (left). He explained that he has always composed but never in a long orchestral format. This piece, he said, is symphonic, but he is not ready to structure it as his first symphony.

If the suite is any indication of what is to come, we are really looking forward with anticipation to that first symphony. We assume, maybe not always correctly, that music in some way represents the emotional makeup of the composer. (We see Beethoven, for example, as a turbulent man, because that turbulence is evident in much of his music.) Anyone who knows Robert Butts knows he is a man passionate about what he does, fascinated by people and by the world as it evolves. That comes through the music.

The suite, composted in five movements, is lyrical and optimistic, a piece reflecting a pleasure in a wintry landscape. Sleigh bells and, at one point, a cowbell accompany the more traditional orchestral instruments. The second movement, titled “Processional Snow Play” includes a short but beautiful tune for flute and piccolo. There is nothing dark and brooding about this music, nothing jarring, ugly or atonal. It has melodies that make you want to hear where they are going. I look forward to having the chance to listen to it again.

Incidentally, it should be noted that Butts is a very busy man. His original opera, Mark Twain and the General, with a libretto by Jewel Seehaus-Fisher, had a full performance on Saturday, Jan. 12, in Stockton, and will be presented again at NJIT in Newark on Feb. 6.

The final piece on the program was a return to Beethoven, with guest artist Ron Levy performing the Piano Concerto No. 1. Though not Beethoven’s first chronologically, it is traditionally identified that way. It was composed in 1797-98 and played in public for the first time in 1800, with Beethoven at the piano.

As Beethoven inched toward the emotion-rich music with which we usually identify him, he was, in this beautiful work, still strongly exhibiting the influence of Mozart and Haydn. The first movement, allegro con brio, is bright and youthful, perhaps Beethoven’s tribute to the woman to whom it was dedicated, a student of his. The second movement, largo, is slow and soulful. The theme is presented first by the piano and then picked up by the whole orchestra.

In the final movement, marked rondo-allegro scherzando, the music becomes breathlessly fast, a melodic line so intense that a listener wants to reach out and hold onto it. Levy played with great intensity and passion, particularly breaking loose in the third movement. His powerful interpretation was matched by Butts and the orchestra.

The BONJ concert originally scheduled for November, called The Bach Family Album, has been rescheduled for March 10 at Dolan Hall on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth in Madison. It will feature pianists Beatrice and Christina Long playing music by J.S. Bach and his sons.