NBSO Shows its Many Facets

The April 9 NBSO concert encapsulated in one evening why the orchestra is so vital to the South Coast. An add-on to the already full program was a charming piece, “Adaptations in Motion” that was written by Music Director David MacKenzie based on themes written by area 3rd graders as part of the NBSO’s educational outreach program. This past year’s Learning in Concert program focused on adaptations in motion of animals and music, and the children were asked to compose melodies describing how different animals moved. The finished piece was performed at the Young people’s Concert earlier and for us April 9. The short symphony had overtones of John Williams and delighted the audience, and I am sure thrilled its young “composers.” The next piece up was Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, masterfully played by husband and wife Jean-Efflam and Andrea Bavouzet. While Poulenc will never be one of my favorite composers, the programming of this piece clearly shows how the NBSO takes us out of our comfort zone and exposes us to new and interesting works. The first and third movements were energetic and frenetic, while the middle was almost Romantic in its melody. After one piano was removed from the stage, Jean-Efflam returned for a stunning rendition of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The concerto was written after World War I for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during combat. The piece begins dark and brooding, evoking tanks moving over battle fields, and demands enormous artistry from the pianist during the solo parts. Indeed it was difficult to tell without watching that only one hand was used. Although not a “big name” in this country, Mr. Bavouzet is very well-known in Europe and an accomplished soloist and recording artist, and typical of the first-class guest artists that NBSO brings to New Bedford. After intermission we had a well-known and familiar piece of the classic repertoire: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5. Beginning in a brooding, “Russian,” manner, the themes recur in following movements. A beautiful horn solo highlights the second movement. The ending is a typical “big” finale with lots of brass and percussion. This piece allowed the NBSO to demonstrate the high level of professionalism that it has achieved under Maestro MacKenzie, rivalling that of any regional orchestra. One concert remains in the 2015-16 season. Do not miss it.

Acting tour de force at the New rep

Blackberry Winter, a new play having its “rolling” world premiere at the New Rep is a one-woman tour de force. The concept is simple: Adrianne Krstansky plays Vivienne, a middle-aged woman who is primary care giver of her mother, who is suffering from advancing Alzheimer’s dementia. The actress speaks directly to the audience, describing her mother’s situation and all the attendant stresses. The playwright clearly has either been down this road or has close friends who have done so, as the descriptions ring very true to a primary care physician caring for such patients and their families. We become familiar with Vivienne’s sister and husband through her descriptions and get a picture of the assisted living facility in which her mother is staying until her condition progresses and she must go to a nursing home. The pain and conflict of the daughter are heart-rendingly portrayed by Ms. Krstansky. There is also a “play-within-the-play:” a myth supposedly thought up by the daughter to explain the origins of Alzheimer’s disease using a white egret and a gray mole played by Paula Langton and Ken Cheeseman. The talents of these two fine actors is largely wasted in their scenes, which seem pointlessly engrafted, perhaps to give the star a moment to catch her emotional breath. While depressing in its veracity, this play is worth seeing if only for the talented Ms. Krstansky.

Nice: a cornucopia of music

Nice has become our favorite city in France. Small enough that you can get to know it well, it is large enough to support a huge variety of music and theatre. Our recent stay highlighted the variety of concerts available. The day after we arrived, we took the tram up to the Nice North Forum and saw a world music event – the first half Jo Badou, a singer/percussionist from North Africa playing with a local pianist, and the second a fascinating duo – French cellist Vincent Segal and West African Ballike Sissoko, master of the koral, a harp-like instrument. We later returned to the Forum for a concert by a group of American jazz musicians from the 70’s and 80’s reunited as a group called The Cookers. Days later a short bus ride up to the Chagall Museum took us to a chamber music concert. The concert hall features magnificent stained glass windows, worth the trip by themselves. The three musicians from the Nice Opera orchestra began with a piano-violin-cello trio by Aaron Copeland, relatively short and very “modern,” with the requisite dissonance. This was followed by a magnificent Tchaikovsky trio that was everything chamber music should be. The next weekend you could visit the 14th C Church of St Augustine on Friday evening or Sunday afternoon for baroque liturgical music – the beauty of the music matched only by the magnificence of the surroundings and the discomfort of the seating. The highlight of the stay was a performance of Les Huguenots at the Nice Opera. This rococo gem of a concert hall has wonderful acoustics amid opulent seating, and typically sells out soon after seats go on-line for sale. The orchestra and singers were predictably superb, though the attempt to “modernize” the setting was of mixed success. The shift of the characters from modern to 17th C dress was distracting, as was the use of both swords and firearms as weapons. My only complaint about performances at the Opera is the use of 20+ minute intermissions, leading to very late nights. If not sated, you could drop in on any of dozens of small jazz clubs around the city or listen to the buskers found everywhere people gathered.

Cormac McCarthy at the Wamsutta

Art Tebbetts, New Bedford's troubador, finished his warm-up set telling us we were in for a real treat, and his prediction came true. Cormac McCarthy is a great entertainer in every sense of the word. His rich baritone delivered a variety of songs ranging from the poignant to the angry to the hilarious. He is an accomplished guitar player and added some mouth organ interludes. He writes most of his own material, and each song tells a story. The audience would have stayed as long as he would. Between songs, he kept the audience in stitches with one-liners and stories, some probably rehearsed and others quite spontaneous in response to the audience and environment. (Sample: "I am half Irish and half German. Have the easy charm of a German and the discipline of the Irish. When I wake up in the morning, part of me wants a drink and part wants to invade Poland.") If you get the chance, go and see him live. I’d also urge you to look at the whole Wepeckett Salon Series at the Wamsutta Club as a good way to spend a Saturday evening.

H+H goes all Beethoven

Genius is used too freely these days, as witness the MacArthur Fellows program, but there are a few true geniuses in history who have broken new paths. Einstein was one, and Ludwig van Beethoven another. Born while Mozart and Haydn were still actively working, his music blazed new levels of complexity and grandeur. He combined instruments and voice in new ways and composed music of sublime beauty. The H+H program this past weekend featured two of his works: the Piano Concerto #4, featuring Robert Levin on fortepiano, and the Symphony #6, the Pastoral. The program began with a delightful short choral work, the opening chorus from Handel's Saul, sung by a youth chorus made up of high school students from several eastern Massachusetts schools, led by Andrew Clark, and accompanied by the H+H orchestra. The youthful voices soared, and most of us felt the selection was all too brief. The concerto began with a quiet soft solo, after which the motif was echoed and reworked by the orchestra. While the instrument does not have the power of a modern piano, in Mr. Levin's hands it was a soaring voice, played to perfection. The obvious chemistry between soloist and conductor led to a perfect performance. After intermission, the Pastoral Symphony led us musically through a preparation for and visit to the countryside. The music was quiet and peaceful at times, with cuckoos and other birds singing, and crashing at others as we musically lived through a storm. The H+H orchestra was at its peak, and left us wishing for more.

A night with Janis Joplin

Some signature songs sound even better when they are “covered” than when sung by the originator. Karen Akers does a better Piaf than the little sparrow did. The same cannot be said about Janis Joplin. Her distinctive gravelly voice made all of her songs uniquely hers. Despite this, “A Night with Janis Joplin,” now on national tour, provides a great evening of entertainment. The show stars Mary Bridget Davies as Janis, telling us her life story and singing very well. The show also features four superb back-up singers who cover such luminaries as Bessy Smith, Aretha Franklin, Odetta, Etta James and Nina Simone, all described as major influences on Janis. Many songs are sung first by the legendary black figure and then by Janis with her contrasting style. The backdrop and staging are well-done, with photos interspersed with 60’s style images. The singers are supported by a great band with keyboard, two guitars, bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. The audience, most of whom were old enough to have heard the original, were wildly enthusiastic. Not the real thing, but a great night out.

A triple header hit by the New Bedford Symphony

The New Bedford Symphony under Maestro David MacKenzie has made a point of mixing the old favorites with less familiar music. Last night’s performance introduced many in the audience to Four Sea Interludes from Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, orchestrated by the composer. The opera tells the story of an English fisherman driven to suicide by the suspicious deaths of two of his apprentices, and the four Interludes served to bridge one scene to another, while telling a tale. The piece was richly orchestrated with four percussionists and a harpist on stage and a clearly emotional piece. After a scene change followed Schumann’s deeply romantic Cello Concerto, with three movements played without pause. The soloist was Carter Brey, principle cellist of the New York Philharmonic, whose playing was deeply felt and technically superb. Unusually for a concerto, the soloist and orchestra were not clearly separate, but interwove their playing, almost like a chamber music ensemble with a larger size. The NBSO strings and woodwinds filled in perfectly. Mr. Brey got a well-deserved standing ovation. The final piece on the program was Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an exhibition. There is a reason the “old warhorses” such as Beethoven’s Fifth or Dvorak’s New World remain popular: they are great music. In this pantheon must fit Mussorgsky’s opus. The death of his friend artist Viktor Hartmann prompted an exhibition of his work, and Mussorgsky wrote a piano etude describing the pictures he saw, woven together by a musical promenade taking the viewer/listener from one work to another. The piece was orchestrated by Ravel into a series of tone poems, with a finale, depicting the Great Gate of Kiev, that had echoes of the 1812 overture. The piece was again richly orchestrated. Parenthetically, I have to wonder if the Britten was programmed after the Mussorgsky, when the question came up “how can we use four percussionists and a harp in another work? The NBSO was in perfect tune with the piece, and it was a resounding success. I would also applaud Carter Brey who democratically sat in as another cellist for the concluding work.