SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
 

‘Tales from Tchaikovsky’ : Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Redmoon Theater, Alex Balestrieri, narrator, Alexander Polianichko, guest conductor, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Center, Chicago 19.12.2009 (JLZ)

The Tempest, Op. 11
Selections from The Snow Maiden, Op. 12
Selections from Swan Lake, Op. 20

With its program entitled “Tales from Tchaikovsky,” the Chicago Symphony Orchestra offered familiar music by the composer, along with some works which are heard less frequently. The program opened with the concerto overture The Tempest, Op. 11, an early work for which Tchaikovsky took inspiration from the play The Storm (1859) by Alexander Ostrovsky. The latter drama concerns the indiscretion of a young woman, who is driven to suicide after confessing the affair. Tchaikovsky was not the only composer to find Ostrovsky’s play to merit a musical treatment, since it is the basis of the opera Katya Kabanova by Janáček, which was also performed this season in Chicago by Lyric Opera. Thus audiences in the community have the benefit of hearing two musical interpretations of Ostrovsky’s work, one more familiar than the other. As to the latter, the last performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest by the Chicago Symphony was over a century ago under the direction of Theodore Thomas, and while the work is relatively unknown, the style is familiar. From the outset the approach to the orchestration evokes the colors typical of Tchaikovsky, but the form of the work is overtly simpler than the structure of the popular concert overture Romeo and Juliet, another work in which the composer drew on a dramatic source.

All in all, The Tempest served as a fine way to open this program, and guest conductor Alexander Polianichko gave a compelling reading of the score, rich in orchestral colors and dramatic gestures. Polianichko elicited some passionate sounds from the ensemble in the middle section of the work, and then paced the tension as it led to the programmatic climax. Unfortunately at Saturday evening’s performance, someone in the middle of the hall broke out in laughter when the conductor released the final note. It detracted from the otherwise powerful experience of this rare score.

The remainder of the first half of the program was devoted to selections from Tchaikovsky’s incidental music to The Snow Maiden, another work by Ostrovsky. Since the work was presented in excerpt, it was useful to have narration guide the audience through the drama, and thus understand the contexts for the various musical numbers Tchaikovsky contributed to Ostrovsky’s dramatic fable. Comparisons may arise with the other setting of this work, such as the opera of the same name by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a work which is familiar to audiences from the “Dance of the Tumblers,” often excerpted for holiday concerts. In Tchaikovsky’s hands, though the music he conceived for the same scene in the play is more extensive, and reflects a different aesthetic. On its own merits, the music is engaging and fits well into the play. While the highly evocative music associated with the appearance of the goblin may be stock-in-trade program music, the atmospheric Andantino (Andantino, quasi allegretto) connected with the melodrama stands out as one of the more impressive movements. Likewise, the celebratory march which concludes the work was nicely performed by the CSO. Throughout Alex Balestrieri’s narration was a welcome feature in this rare presentation of music from Tchaikovsky’s Snow Maiden. A member of Redmoon Theater, Balestrieri delivered the concise narration expertly, an aspect of the performance, which enhanced the fine leadership Polianichko contributed.

The final work on the program was a set of selections from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake enhanced by Redmoon Theater’s shadow projections to illustrate the ballet. Using overhead projectors and manipulating the images by hand, Redmoon Theater collaborated well with the CSO in a fine reading of excerpts from this famous ballet. While the result resembled the lantern projections once popular in the early twentieth century, it was by no means anachronistic. Rather, the innovative Redmoon Theater brought its aesthetics into the performance, since its mission is “to create unexpected theater in unexpected places,” as stated in the program. Polianichko gave the score a seamless reading of this familiar piece. One quibble with the performance was the sometimes overwhelming sound of the brass, which sometimes compromised the string sound. This was apparent in several passages in the latter movements, particularly the Finale. Yet the famous scene depicting the death of the swan was much more balanced, and was quite touching in Polianichko’s interpretation of this familiar music. Overall, though, the result was commendable, especially in this innovative multi-media presentation at Symphony Center. While collaborations with local companies are not uncommon for the Chicago Symphony, they are often more predictable, as with the various performances in past seasons with the Hubbard Street Dance Company. Including Redmoon for a program of music with a dramatic bent is certainly a logical choice, especially when it achieves such a satisfying result.

James L Zychowicz