Meadows Symphony Orchestra 9/11/2022
—Gregory Sullivan Isaacs
Somehow, Sunday afternoon was the first time I’ve attended a concert by the Meadows Symphony Orchestra. The concert was held on the fateful date of 9/11, so Americana was in the air.
My remarkable omission was immediately evident by my surprise at the venue, Caruth Auditorium on the campus of Southern Methodist University. This is a familiar place to enjoy chamber ensembles, recitals, and lectures. However, it is way too small to host a performance by a full-sized symphony orchestra.
It felt like the orchestra outnumbered the audience. Further, the concert blew the cramped acoustics like an overtaxed speaker and balance was nearly impossible to achieve. That elusive goal was made all the more difficult by the closeness of the players to the audience. As I learned by moving around, the concert sounded different depending on which side of Caruth you happened to be seated. In addition, there was a severe lack of helpful reverberation—the orchestra’s huge sound being restricted by the lack of air volume in which to reverberate.
But music director Michelle Merrill—who, by the way, was making her debut as the new music director and conductor of the orchestra—was unflappable. She did a remarkable job trying to overcome these sonic limitations. Merrill was a confident and helpful presence with a precise, clear, and controlled baton technique. Nothing she did was for show, yet she was always expressive and mostly in control of the rambunctious dynamics. As director of the ensemble, Merrill follows the recently retired Dr. Paul C. Phillips, longtime occupant of this storied podium.
The program was conservative and American-flavored to honor the occasion. The two 20th-century composers were audience favorites Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. The big piece on the program, however, was not by an American, but by 19th-century Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (who lived, traveled, and composed in the U.S. for some years). It was, of course, his wonderful Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”).
Bernstein was represented by his energetic buffo overture to Candide, a boisterous operatic romp through Voltaire’s satirical novella of the same name. The flavor of his music is Broadway as viewed through the lens of 18th-century operetta. Copland contributed a piece of purest Americana, the suite from his beloved bowlegged ballet Billy the Kid.
I wish I had been provided a list of the players in the program: in the Copland, both a beautiful and perfectly in tune trumpet solo and a perfect performance by the timpanist need special mention. And the English horn player gave an admirable performance of the famous solo in the slow movement of the “New World” that became the familiar song “Goin’ Home.”
I highly recommend attending a future concert presented by this excellent college orchestra with its calm podium presence, Michelle Merrill.
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