Our orchestra
07/03/16 04:46
We lived in Chicago for four years pursuing graduate degrees. In those days, Sir George Solit was artistic director of CSO. Orchestra Hall in Chicago is a relatively small venue, holding just over 2500 people. In a city of three million, that meant that orchestra programs were often repeated for several performances. Thursday night there were discount tickets for University students. 2500 seats in that hall also means that there really are no bad seats in the house. It was years ago, but I still remember the thrill of listening to one of the world’s great symphony orchestras live, with stunning power and emotionality. I have heard a few of the world’s premier orchestral performances.
We have friends who have season tickets to the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra and they were unable to attend Saturday night’s performance. They gave us their tickets and we were allowed to be there for a concert entitled “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The concert opened with the Ravel orchestration of the famous Mussorgsky piano piece. This is what I sometimes call a dangerous piece for a community symphony orchestra to tackle. It is dangerous because everyone in the audience is familiar with the music. It is featured in every music appreciation course taught. We have heard recordings of several great orchestras play the piece with perfect balance, intonation and rhythm. We know this music. As an audience, we are frequently less critical of music with which we are less familiar.
If the music critic of the Chicago Tribune were to write a review of Saturday’s concert, you might read words like, “muddy,” “mushy,” “imprecise,” and maybe problems with “balance,” “intonation,” and “tempo,” and perhaps even a complaint about the trumpets overblowing and sounding “blatty.” Those criticisms might be leveled, but such a criticism has no place in our newspaper and it would totally miss the point of the concert.
Don’t get me wrong. They are good. They are very, very good. But it isn’t technical perfection.
You see, this is not the CSO. It is not the Berlin Philharmonic. It is not the Boston Pops. And we don’t expect it to be. We don’t want it to be. This is our community orchestra. And each performance is much deeper and a much more important artistic presentation that could be captured in a musically critical review.
Allow me to explain.
This is our community orchestra. These are people that we know. We know that Bruce is the artistic director, but we know that he is also a teacher. He plans his concerts with an intention of teaching us as an audience. He also can’t resist pushing his orchestra. He wants them to improve. He sets his tempos right on the edge of their abilities. He calls for more from them than they have previously produced. We like this. We want him to be a teacher. We value his energy and his passion for improvement.
We know Tony from the piano gallery. We admire his passion for his bass, but we also trust him to make sure that the big Yamaha piano is properly moved when it is needed. We know and love Carol the concert mistress and Liz the first Cello. We want them to shine. Back in the trumpet section, Milo has been a part of the music in our town for generations. We recognize and adore his sound. When Nancy plays the English horn, we remember the times she has played her oboe in church. And back in the last row of double basses, we can’t take our eyes off of Alex. We’ve known him since he was a baby. We watched him grow up.
You see we have a covenant, those of us in the audience and the orchestra. We want them to shine. We want to enjoy the evening. We want to admire their talent and artistry. We want this evening to be memorable.
A music teacher once told me that the first half of every concert is for teaching. It is a time to push the musicians and the audience. Before the intermission, we enjoyed the familiar piece with its bombastic and triumphant ending. Some in the audience thought that the orchestra deserved a standing ovation after all of that. I, on the other hand, was waiting for what was going to happen after the intermission. I knew that for me that was when the magic would occur.
I was not disappointed. Noah had won the Young Artist Competition and part of his prize was his moment on the stage with the symphony. His selection was a Chopin Larghetto. This would not be a technical challenge for the orchestra. There would be no temptation to rush the pace. Furthermore, everyone on the room wanted Noah to shine. And shine he did. As we waited for the final tone to fade from the piano we all wished that the music could have continued. It was a magical moment before we erupted into applause.
The three movements of Russell Peterson’s “Between Two Cultures” provided a distinctive conclusion to the evening. The drum group was new to me and new to the symphony. We knew before we got to that point how deeply it was going to affect us. The audience was already more diverse than typical for a performance of our symphony. The attraction of a traditional drum group playing with the symphony was worthy of note. And what a drum group they were! Amazing! We were mesmerized. They earned their standing ovation and we were glad to give it.
It was what we expect of community orchestra. It was what we expect of our orchestra. Our agreement with our orchestra is different than you would find in a city with a professional orchestra. Our agreement is that they will do their best each time they perform together and we will support music that is greater than our performers and our audience. We are, simply, very fortunate to have an orchestra in a town the size of ours. We are eager to share the beauty of music performed live. And we are grateful for our orchestra.
It was, in short, a delightful evening.
We have friends who have season tickets to the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra and they were unable to attend Saturday night’s performance. They gave us their tickets and we were allowed to be there for a concert entitled “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The concert opened with the Ravel orchestration of the famous Mussorgsky piano piece. This is what I sometimes call a dangerous piece for a community symphony orchestra to tackle. It is dangerous because everyone in the audience is familiar with the music. It is featured in every music appreciation course taught. We have heard recordings of several great orchestras play the piece with perfect balance, intonation and rhythm. We know this music. As an audience, we are frequently less critical of music with which we are less familiar.
If the music critic of the Chicago Tribune were to write a review of Saturday’s concert, you might read words like, “muddy,” “mushy,” “imprecise,” and maybe problems with “balance,” “intonation,” and “tempo,” and perhaps even a complaint about the trumpets overblowing and sounding “blatty.” Those criticisms might be leveled, but such a criticism has no place in our newspaper and it would totally miss the point of the concert.
Don’t get me wrong. They are good. They are very, very good. But it isn’t technical perfection.
You see, this is not the CSO. It is not the Berlin Philharmonic. It is not the Boston Pops. And we don’t expect it to be. We don’t want it to be. This is our community orchestra. And each performance is much deeper and a much more important artistic presentation that could be captured in a musically critical review.
Allow me to explain.
This is our community orchestra. These are people that we know. We know that Bruce is the artistic director, but we know that he is also a teacher. He plans his concerts with an intention of teaching us as an audience. He also can’t resist pushing his orchestra. He wants them to improve. He sets his tempos right on the edge of their abilities. He calls for more from them than they have previously produced. We like this. We want him to be a teacher. We value his energy and his passion for improvement.
We know Tony from the piano gallery. We admire his passion for his bass, but we also trust him to make sure that the big Yamaha piano is properly moved when it is needed. We know and love Carol the concert mistress and Liz the first Cello. We want them to shine. Back in the trumpet section, Milo has been a part of the music in our town for generations. We recognize and adore his sound. When Nancy plays the English horn, we remember the times she has played her oboe in church. And back in the last row of double basses, we can’t take our eyes off of Alex. We’ve known him since he was a baby. We watched him grow up.
You see we have a covenant, those of us in the audience and the orchestra. We want them to shine. We want to enjoy the evening. We want to admire their talent and artistry. We want this evening to be memorable.
A music teacher once told me that the first half of every concert is for teaching. It is a time to push the musicians and the audience. Before the intermission, we enjoyed the familiar piece with its bombastic and triumphant ending. Some in the audience thought that the orchestra deserved a standing ovation after all of that. I, on the other hand, was waiting for what was going to happen after the intermission. I knew that for me that was when the magic would occur.
I was not disappointed. Noah had won the Young Artist Competition and part of his prize was his moment on the stage with the symphony. His selection was a Chopin Larghetto. This would not be a technical challenge for the orchestra. There would be no temptation to rush the pace. Furthermore, everyone on the room wanted Noah to shine. And shine he did. As we waited for the final tone to fade from the piano we all wished that the music could have continued. It was a magical moment before we erupted into applause.
The three movements of Russell Peterson’s “Between Two Cultures” provided a distinctive conclusion to the evening. The drum group was new to me and new to the symphony. We knew before we got to that point how deeply it was going to affect us. The audience was already more diverse than typical for a performance of our symphony. The attraction of a traditional drum group playing with the symphony was worthy of note. And what a drum group they were! Amazing! We were mesmerized. They earned their standing ovation and we were glad to give it.
It was what we expect of community orchestra. It was what we expect of our orchestra. Our agreement with our orchestra is different than you would find in a city with a professional orchestra. Our agreement is that they will do their best each time they perform together and we will support music that is greater than our performers and our audience. We are, simply, very fortunate to have an orchestra in a town the size of ours. We are eager to share the beauty of music performed live. And we are grateful for our orchestra.
It was, in short, a delightful evening.