Kodály/Mozart/Brahms @ Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
—Wayne Lee Gay
International artists—most often a pianist or violinist—dominate the concerto slot in most symphonic concerts. But orchestras occasionally pull a musician out of the principal ranks for a brief moment in the spotlight. On Friday evening, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presented principal bassoonist Joshua Elmore, just now completing his first season with the FWSO, in a memorable rendition of Mozart's brilliant but seldom-heard Bassoon Concerto in B-flat.
The concert as a whole, while conservatively programmed, proved revelatory in performance. Kevin John Edusei, now completing the first segment of a three-year tenure as the orchestra's principal guest conductor, opened with twentieth-century Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály's "Peacock" Variations, a showcase for orchestra based on a Hungarian folksong. The score exudes folkloric energy; conductor Edusei ably guided the orchestra through the tuneful adventures, colored by moments of Magyar darkness and bits of epic grandeur.
The full orchestra pared down to Mozartian scale for the concerto; soloist Elmore entered in a glittering gold-hued jacket, intriguingly but somehow appropriately reflecting the subtle elegance of Mozart. As in the composer’s more familiar piano and violin concertos, the bassoon concerto presents a perfect marriage of lively melody, classic structure, and quasi-operatic interaction. Along with the characteristic lyricism, Mozart hands the bassoonist some rapid-fire repeated note patterns in the first movement and treacherous leaps and arpeggios in the finale; the middle movement offers long phrases demanding pearl-diver breathe control.
Bassoonist Elmore met all these technical challenges with apparent ease, at the same time finding the delicate balance of emotion and rationale required for this quintessential artistic expression of the Age of Reason.
Full orchestra returned after intermission as Edusei, conducting from memory, explored one of the monuments of the romantic era, Brahms' Fourth Symphony. Every orchestra conductor takes on this score at some point, but Edusei made it his own, playing to the strengths of the Fort Worth Symphony, here in top end-of-season form. The strings shimmered with a bright, clear quality that blossomed, at just the right moments, into full power; as in the Mozart, Edusei brought the winds and brass unabashedly to the fore in unexpected spots. Brahms here sighs, rages, and as Edusei pointed out, occasionally emulates the operatic interaction typical of Mozart. The result was one of the finest interpretations of Brahms this listener has experienced in decades of concert-going.
Attendance was low at Friday’s one-night-only performance, with about 400 music-lovers scattered throughout the ground floor of Bass Performance Hall. Several factors played into the relatively sparse turnout: the concert was not part of the orchestra's subscription series, for one thing; and on the same night, the FWSO held a pops "Concert in the Garden" event elsewhere in the city.
However, in a promising trend, the audience at Bass Performance Hall skewed younger in average age than at the usual classical orchestra concert. (Seating was open, with tickets modestly priced at $20.) Attire ranged from full-length gowns and formal suits to clean casual. Enthusiasm was palpable from stage to audience and back again; this jaded critic felt a community of music lovers responding with joy and fascination to a repertoire of beautifully performed masterpieces.
WHEN: June 2, 2023
WHERE: Bass Performance Hall
WEB: fwsymphony.org
