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University Centre Auditorium
March 6, 2015
The advertised theme of the concert was ornithology, which could be construed as birdsong, evoking aural impressions of Saint-Saëns' The Swan and Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. In the event, the program contained some less known compositions on the same theme.
It is not surprising that so many composers have been inspired by birdsong, given the pleasant associations it usually evokes in all of us. For people who reside north of the Arctic Circle, the degree of pleasantness is sometimes put to a test in the summer when the birds carry on singing all through the night because the sun refuses to set. That is of course a small price to pay for the privilege of living out there on the permafrosty tundra.
But I digress. The concert opened with Johann Strauss' overture from the operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat), thereby departing from the declared ornithological theme right up front (the bat is actually a mammal, but at least it knows how to fly). This is classic Strauss with the main theme in 3/4 time and transports the listener to Vienna in the merry 1870s.
From Vienna, the audience was flown to Prague on the back of The Wild Dove by Antonín Dvořák. Rarely heard, this is a complex orchestral poem in five movements which tells a sad story of infidelity and regret. Even so, one had to smile when reading the program notes, which suggested that the first movement describes a sobbing young widow who follows the coffin of her departed husband, while in the last movement we find out that she had actually poisoned him.
During the second movement, Ajtony Csaba had arranged for three trumpet players to accompany the orchestra from behind the galleries, out of sight of the audience. This measure adds a pleasant and nostalgic third dimension to the music, and one might wish for it to be employed more often in symphony concerts. As indeed it was once again in The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods, taken from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Here, the orchestra was reduced to a piano and a celeste, with three clarinet players placed strategically around the balconies and taking turns to imitate the cuckoo bird. For many in the audience, this piece may have been the highlight of the concert by virtue of its strangely elegiac timbre.
The cuckoo also made an appearance in Im Krapfenwald'l by jolly Johann Strauss. To add to the jollitude, the audience was invited to chime in with bird noises in the appropriate places of the performance.
In Rossini's La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie), it was the turn of the snare drums to enter into a dialogue between the stage and the galleries, here again to great effect as conducted by Evan Hesketh with his usual flair.
The concert ended with the 1919 version of Stravinsky's mighty Firebird Suite. Rumour has it that Stravinsky was inspired by a poem for children by Yakov Polonsky. Trying to describe the harmonic complexities of The Firebird in words is futile, because the poem says it all:
And in my dreams I see myself on a wolf's back
Riding along a forest path
To do battle with a sorcerer-tsar
In that land where a princess sits under lock and key,
Pining behind massive walls.
There gardens surround a palace all of glass;
There Firebirds sing by night
And peck at golden fruit.
It is a pity that the concert attracted such a meagre audience, consisting largely of fellow students. That said, students are usually better informed about the music at hand and therefore more intensively engaged than "traditional" audiences, as was particularly evident on this occasion. The UVic Orchestra was a joy to hear. Its next concert together with the Chorus occurs on March 28, featuring Gershwin and Haydn. Mark it in your calendars!
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