‘New World’ & more @ Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Photos courtesy of DSO
—Wayne Lee Gay
The "New World" Symphony after intermission—and a new world of symphonic sound before—is on the agenda for this weekend's concerts of the Dallas Symphony, featuring German guest conductor Markus Poschner and the emerging Austin-born, Juilliard-trained violinist Charles Yang. (Final performance @ 3:00 Sunday.)
That new world of symphonic sound comes in the form of a Violin Concerto titled For A Younger Self, created by another emerging voice in the music world, American composer Kris Bowers. Premiered by violinist Yang in 2020, For A Younger Self moves a step beyond the sensuous, lavishly noisy approach that has dominated new symphonic music in recent decades, and toward leaner (but always ear-catching) orchestration and more clear-cut, defined melody lines.
The title obviously evokes personal experience, and the composer's own program note admits a strong autobiographical slant, recalling the early tone poems of Richard Strauss. Three neatly structured movements progress through Bowers' various emotional states as a young Los Angeles-born African-American musician making his way and finding his place at the Julliard School—a now progressive institution which, however, was created and functioned for many years as a center of white and European privilege.
Composer Bowers clearly understands how to display a violin soloist in tandem with orchestra. The soloist arrives against a backdrop of delicate, soft orchestration, allowing violinist Yang to display his gorgeously rich tone from the very start. Bowers moves the traditional cadenza to the second movement (the cadenza more often occurs in the first movement in traditional concertos), providing a moment of impressive virtuosic display. And the final movement wraps up the whole package with quick, cheerful acrobatics for the soloist against a lively orchestral accompaniment. Violinist Yang handles all aspects, from the singing lyricism of the work to the technical fireworks, magnificently.
Those of us of more advanced years may be slightly bemused that a youngster of thirty years (Bowers' age when he wrote For A Younger Self) reflects back on a life barely begun. And Bowers here occasionally lapses into the easy emotional formulae of Hollywood film scores. Still, the overall effect of For A Younger Self is definitely appealing, particularly with a skillful conductor at the helm and a technically brilliant, obviously charismatic soloist such as Yang.
Dvorák's Ninth Symphony (aka "From the New World") provides the second half of the program. Besides being an immensely popular work that can boost ticket sales even on the weekend after Thanksgiving, it is, simply put, a beautifully inspired, masterfully crafted piece of music. No romantic-era composer quite matched Dvorák's ability to marry romantic and folk-inspired tunes to logical classical structure; the composer's understanding of counterpoint, musical architecture, and orchestration abounds in every phrase.
The orchestra's English horn player David Matthews delivers the famous solo in the second movement magnificently. Conductor Poschner provides meticulous, meaningful attention to details of phrasing and tempo, but, like many guest conductors at the Meyerson, turns up the volume too loudly, ultimately undermining the wonderful logic of Dvorák's structure. Too many grand climaxes make the work seem as if it should be over before it actually is; more judicious dynamic levels would enhance the full and powerful effect of Dvorák's closing statement.
(The audience Friday night, alas, likewise contributed to interrupting the flow both in the Dvorák and the Bowers by clapping between movements, a sin I thought we had grown past in Dallas. Oh, well….)
WHEN: November 29 & 30, December 1, 2024
WHERE: Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas
WEB: dallassymphony.org
